DS17 is taking AP World History now. He is thinking about taking AP Lang, APUSH & AP Computer Science next year. However our school recommends that kids only take 2 AP’s classes junior year. DS13 took AP Lang & APUSH junior year and he did fine when he applied to colleges. He attends Georgia Tech so I’m thinking DS17 should only takes 2 AP’s. IMO they should have some free time to enjoy High school.
AP CS is not challenging, assuming one is computer-literate. My son took it in 9th grade and was fine, but he is overly fond of programming so perhaps not a good reference point. Did not study for AP exam and still scored a 5. And he is one who studies for regular school exams.
Now, AP-USH is supposed to be a bear everywhere, so its workload should be considered in balancing.
I would say that AP CS is either not very challenging or challenging. If you’ve programmed before in any language, all you have to do is learn Java syntax. If you’ve used Java, really all you have to do is learn what parts of Java aren’t allowed on the test and practice writing code on paper (ick). If you haven’t programmed before, you may not know whether it will come naturally. Also, not all AP CS teachers are created equal. (DS took the test in 8th grade and got a 5. He had taken online programming classes through AoPS. He was also “overly fond” of creating Minecraft mods in Java at the time.)
I hear the same about APUSH–lots of time-consuming note-taking every week. But, AP World History may be similar at your school, so he would know what to expect from that.
Sseamom, your D’s school sounds cool. DS’s engineering sequence is project-based, and they learn lots.
Ynot-we LOVE the school. It is the first school D has attended since kindergarten-really, where all of her interests are met, she is challenged, AND it’s diverse. We’re so lucky it runs from grade 6-12. The downside is that with projects when the deadlines hit-watch out. We just got her home after finishing her design project for tomorrow’s big exhibition. It’s after 9 p.m. here.
DD17 is taking AP physics 1 and AP Euro this year. She is also in Honors Pre-Calc which is usually acknowledged to be the hardest class at the school, harder than the AP Calc BC by far. Rumor says its harder than the AP Physics C courses…
For next year she’s signed up for an AP heavy load with AP Bio, AP Spanish Lang, Calc BC and AP Lang and APUSH. For the first time AP Lang and APUSH are being combined in an Honors “American Studies” where the instruction will be combined and students are “expected” to take both the APUSH and AP Lang test. She is following the path of her brother who took the same schedule. I’m not entirely sure it is the correct path for her, but she is the only competitive one in the family and would hear of taking less than he did.
She’s a bit of a perfectionist, so she may be stressed, but at this point she’s earned our trust to try to do what she wants.
This forum has been quiet lately…how is 2nd semester going? We finished off 1st semester with excellent grades, but VERY glad to see a couple of projects behind us. The language class is over and D now has speech, which includes both methods you see on speech and debate teams, but also about other forms of expression, so there is writing, making movies and the like as well. D loves it but was surprised to find out how many of her more STEM-oriented classmates are completely stressed by it.
I didn’t think it possible, but she has added even more to her schedule and now she is literally booked 7 days a week. Which means, so am I. Ah well.
We are still working on getting permission to change to an online language course for next year-she’s decided on Swahili and we’ve found one at an accredited online HS so we shall see. Her other classes are what all juniors will take-physics, pre-calc, and Humanities, which will include LA 3 and US History. Then all we have to do is wait for summer program acceptances-or not.
@sseamom – I agree it has been very quiet! Not much to report, and zero summer plans. I want him to do something other than code.
Ever expanding list of ECs, all which make a busy calendar even more busy.
Son is downstairs taking a practice SAT (my idea, not his!) on this snow day. He plans to sit for the AMC-10 in a couple of weeks so I gently suggested he look at a practice test for that also, but since the AMC is just for fun, I have no stake in having him practice, whereas the SAT is coming up next month.
Will any of the tech types be attending Code Day this weekend? Hack-a-thons held in approx 20 locations throughout the US. I admit that I was a bit wary the first time I deposited five boys in an office building in NYC and then was told to return 24 hours later, but they loved it, so they try to attend each time it is offered.
S is finishing up Part 1 of robotics. The team has to complete the robot by next Monday and send it off to wait for regionals in March. That has been keeping him busy 6 days and nights/week. Luckily, his new semester started after MLK day, so he had half of the “build” season w/o school work too! His class work is the same as last semester, so he is pretty dialed in now. Their advising for next year’s classes is coming up. He is planning to take world history, Am. lit, calc, advanced physics, and some other classes TBD when he meets with the adviser. Meanwhile, the driving practice continues. He finally hit the freeway (although I am not sure my nerves are up to it) and is more than halfway through the night driving requirement. I am trying to force him to complete those hours while it is easier to do. It will be more difficult as the days get longer.
Nothing dramatic planned for summer. He will work, and we will probably do a college visit or two to schools w/in driving distance. He will probably go to a summer programming camp and maybe work at a summer camp at the local U. By summer he will hopefully have his drivers license in hand!
@mtrosemom – a night driving requirement is a good idea, but I don’t think we have one in CT. Student must be 16 to take permit exam, must have permit for four months and complete 40 hours of road driving (plus eight hours in classroom, but I don’t think that is a requirement but it is what the local private driving schools offer—maybe insurance discount?). Once driver has his license, he can’t drive anyone for six months, then siblings for months seven through twelve and then others once licensed a year. But, no night driving. Might want to try that ourselves.
Will the programming camp be residential? We don’t have any local universities, unless 40-50+ harrowing minutes on 95 to Yale counts as local!
I am trying to dissuade my son from taking APUSH b/c of the volume of reading, but I know I will lose that discussion.
@CT1417, The summer programming camp he may attend is out of state residential. It is a program that has camps at different locations throughout the country; there is one at Harvard, but not at Yale! He went to Stanford last year and had a fun time and met kids from across the country.
It is funny to hear about the different driving requirements for getting a license. Permit here at 15-1/5. Minimum of 6 months w/permit, 30 hrs classroom, 50 hrs driving, 10 of which are at true night, 6 months after license where you may only take siblings, and then if you have had no infractions, anyone after 6 months. S really isn’t chomping at the bit to drive on his own. He will probably have his permit for 9+ months before getting his license. His older sister had her license as soon as she was able to test for it. Now we barely see her!
Still no movement on the driving front here and I don’t know when S will ever work on it. With school and ECs, there is no time. He will also be away at a summer intensive for 6 weeks in starting late June. I’m trying to figure out when he will do college visits next year. Do any of you have older kiddos? How did you fit in college visits junior year? I know it seems silly to think about it this early but I think most visits will require a plane ride and lots of planning.
I have 1 older son. Graduated in 2013. We did the majority of our college visits the summer before Senior year. I just put a map together and we spent about 3 weeks visiting them. However it was all driving starting in Georgia and going up to the UP and back a different way. We did not consider colleges out west. Then he ended up at Georgia Tech 35 minutes away. lol. although my other kids went along and the current 8th grader really liked a couple of the colleges so maybe he will end up at one of them. I don’t think it’s too early to start thinking about visits if your kid has some idea what he wants to major in and you have a good idea how much you can spend on college. There are colleges we didn’t visit like Duke because I knew we could not afford it.
At this point my 10th grader has no idea what he wants to major in so I’m holding off on college visits for now.
Lol @jedwards70. I have been going out of my way to pick up S from his after school ECs so he can get night driving time in. I will need a vacation soon!
We will start visiting schools this summer for S. That is what we did for D. Started looking the summer before junior year by visiting the schools w/in driving distance. We made family vacations out of the visits. Then the summer between jr and sr year we flew to an area that D wanted to check out schools and did a road trip to see those schools. We flew into one airport and out from a different airport. Both serviced by Southwest, so it wasn’t an additional fortune. By the end of the summer before senior year, D had her school list and was getting the essays done. She went back to visit some of the schools during senior year for scholarship completions. Then, when we have the short list done and the money part figured out, she will go back to the final schools, stay over night, go to classes, and make s decision.
Younger son went along on visits with current college freshman, so I do not feel the need to take him to see schools just to see what ‘college’ is like. Older son was unfocused so we did the big/little, urban/rural approach, visiting a city or friends at the same time. To start, we picked three schools in one area and visited them during the course of two to three days. So, if this is your first, I would suggest visiting some schools this summer, just to gain the exposure to a campus tour and info session. Try to visit big/small, urban/rural, sports/non…if the student does not have an opinion on these things. It is impossible to get a feel for the student body during the summer, but there is not all that much free time during the school year.
Some schools will require an interview so that will force a second visit, but applicants can’t interview until spring of Jr year, at the earliest. If possible, take advantage of any fall school holidays. A lot of colleges curtail their visit schedules even by Election Day b/c the ED apps are in hand and need to be read. Take a look at school visit calendars now to see availability for next winter and spring. Some schools offer fewer info sessions during April break b/c they are busy wooing the accepted students in mid-April. If you look at their calendars now, you will know what to expect for next year. The fall Saturdays are booked weeks in advance so you can’t leave everything until Sr year. Also, if student plays a fall sport, may not be able to visit during season.
If applying ED or SCEA, the early timetable is essential. And, even with best-laid plans, weather or other events can upset your schedule. We had appointments in Boston the day of the hunt for the marathon bomber. Had to push those appointments off until August.
My sophomore needs to refine his area of study before we fly anywhere, so it will be Feb or April of Jr year for him.
The big problem for us this summer is that S will be in Salt Lake City for most of the summer and then starts back to school a couple of weeks after he gets home. Salt Lake City isn’t within driving distance to any colleges that I think would be a good fit. To further complicate matters, he might want to dance professionally or in college or just go to college and dance with a college dance company. Or, maybe no dance at all. Frustrating to say the least so I don’t even know where to start looking. He says he wants to go to a big city like NYC. He says he doesn’t want to be in the middle of nowhere and thinks the state flagships will be like high school. I will definitely take him to our state flagships in the fall but I may have to try a trip out to CA and NYC in the fall as well. Any suggestions on schools that are artsy but also academically challenging? Honestly, he has no idea what he wants to do and has many interests so I want to try to visit well-rounded schools where he can choose a major after he gets a feel for what he’d like to do.
@jedwards70 – you might want to include academic stats so we don’t send you too high or too low.
NYU: http://dance.tisch.nyu.edu/page/undergraduate.html
Vassar: http://dance.vassar.edu
Vassar is up in Poughkeepsie, which is an hour and a half north of Manhattan and not a city.
Those are the first two that come to mind when you mention dance and academically challenging in NY area.
Bard:http://dance.bard.edu
Less challenging and two hours from NYC.
There must be other schools in NYC but academically challenging ones with dance are not popping to mind.
D has been to local and directional colleges in WA for various school events and programs, so she knows which she will choose as her safety(s). But her plan is to go to an HBCU (Historically Black College) and there aren’t any in Seattle (no kidding) so we actually made a vacation/college tour trip down south last summer. It was worth every penny for so many reasons. She does know what she wants to major in but it was helpful for her to see the different sizes and types of schools-she goes to a very small HS and has decided on a small college. She is going on another HBCU tour this spring break. It is part of a college-prep program. We didn’t mind that some schools were not in session on our trip-we got personalized tours and had lots of time to meet people and ask questions. At one school even the president came out to meet us!
My S went into the military, then community college locally. My older D toured some schools with her dad, who lives back east, during the summer and during February break. I took her to the ones in the SW she was looking at during April break.
Jed-I don’t know if it’s known for dance, but Carnegie Mellon is known for its theater program and is challenging. My BIL became a successful actor (and did spend time in NYC) after attending there. He’s well-known in the Canadian arts world.
S has an ear infection, but went to school for most of today–after the ibuprofen and Sudfed kicked in. The antibiotics seem to be working now after 3 days. He also had an ear infection back in November. Before that, none since he was about 6 years old, so I’m a little mystified about why he’s getting them now.
@CT1417 Code Day looks like it would be fun, but the closest one is 2 hours (plus traffic) away. Hope your S enjoys it! My son really enjoyed a Startup Weekend last fall that went 54 hours, but he did get about 4 hours sleep a night. There are local hack-a-thons that create things (as opposed to the computer security hacking), so maybe he’ll do one of those. He got to the 2nd level in USACO, so will keep working on that.
Summer plans are actually figured out! He sent a resume to an astrophysics professor at the local UC, interviewed, and now has summer work/research lined up. That lab takes a number of kids for the summer high-school research program he did last summer (he was on a computer science project). He won’t get paid, but at least I don’t have to pay like I did last summer. He may actually start sooner–probably after volleyball season ends.
He did manage to get into the required Health class this semester. It will be good to have that out of the way, since some kids end up having to take it zero period as juniors or seniors. Other than switching PE for an afterschool sport and Health, no other schedule changes here. He was hoping to perhaps switch to a different English teacher, but we couldn’t see a way to make that work with his other classes. He has early morning volleyball tryouts for two more weeks.
@mtrosemom Congrats on them being almost done with their robot. DS has only seen prototypes of the seniors’ robot (only seniors can be on the FRC team here). They are very secretive. There is a new regional only an hour away, so we may attend as fans. Will you be traveling to a regional with your DS? They are fun, but stressful for the parents.
Still (!) not much progress from DS on driver’s training. He must have done a bit, because he was asking about how one merges onto a freeway when the other cars are going fast. He was skeptical that the other cars would cooperate. I think our driving requirements are pretty much the same as what mtrosemom listed. I think some number of hours (10? 12?) with a professional driving teacher are also required for kids under some age.
I’m also concerned about how to fit in college visits with just spring break available as a time when his school is not in session and colleges are. Has anyone found summer visits gave a good impression of the colleges, or just seemed empty and uninviting? We don’t have much in the way of fall holidays other than the required ones. We are thinking of visiting a college or two in SoCal over this year’s spring break in combination with some fun-for-the-whole-family things. Then maybe NorCal next spring break. He will be traveling to Carnegie Mellon probably next month with his hacking team (the computer security kind). That will include a tour, sitting in on a class, and some other things. He’ll have to miss 2 days of school for that.
@jedwards70 you could look into Fordham, which has two campuses. Lincoln Center campus has fine arts, including dance. I have not been posting on this thread, but I have a sophomore and a senior student.
@kidsinky yes, I will definitely look at Fordham. I looked at their site a few months ago and think it might be a good match.
@CT1417 I will also look into Vassar and NYU. I hate to put stats because I feel like I’m bragging but if it helps get more good suggestions for visits, I’ll give you some background info: S has a 3.9 unweighted GPA. He takes Japanese and German, PreAP chemistry, PreAP Algebra II, Pre AP English, Honors World History, and AP Human Geography. He will take 3-4 ap classes next year. He hasn’t taken any standardized tests yet but I think he will focus on the ACT because of all of the changes to the SAT. I am not even going to worry about NMF because he took the new PSAT field test and did not get a good feel for the changes. He loves languages and history but also loves math and science. He started a comic book club at school and loves to dance. His interests are very broad and wants to find time to do everything.
@Ynotgo We did a couple of visits last summer while on vacation. We toured Williams and Skidmore because they were an easy drive. It was tough to get a feel for the schools because it was summer so I think we will try to do as many visits as we can in Sept/October. I loved Skidmore but he felt the town was too small. We live in a suburb of a big city and I think most places will seem small to him.
@sseamom I will take a look at Carnegie Mellon.
I love to hear about the robotics competitions. It seems like a lot of fun.
One more thing, it sounds like some of your kids are going to take their standardized test in the fall of junior year. Are any of you using outside or online prep materials? Which ones have your kids liked?