<p>S1 has to pick his HS classes sometime in the next few days. He is taking the required Health class next year to get it out of the way. He also has to choose a fine arts class and none of them appeal to him. He would stay in band but it’s mandatory to do marching band and a week-long summer band camp and he refuses to do that. I wish marching band wasn’t required bc a lot of kids drop band bc of that. He’ll probably wind up in Studio Art and we’ll pray for the good teacher. His core classes will be English, Geometry, Earth Science, Pre-AP World History and Spanish. He has one more elective to choose and he’s still not sure what that will be.</p>
<p>Thank you 2014novamom. 2014novamom - I totally agree with you that kids get better at time management and do well when involved in activities. I see that with my children too. However, my dilemma was there are so many choices that she likes and which one to choose. Should we focus on where her strength her is (academics) or focus more on sports. She decided that she will do tennis outside of school. Phew!!</p>
<p>dadotwoboys - Thanks for the detailed response. Your advice echoes what I read on some of the posts on this site. </p>
<p>I agree that ECs force students to become could time managers. If you have a block of time, you have to use it productively - studying, sleeping, working ECs or spending quality time with friends. It all adds up to 24 hours at the end of each day. </p>
<p>Hi, all, I’m so excited to see this thread. My dd1 is in 8th grade, and our HS registration wont start until mid-march. My dd1 is a good student but shy and not aggressive. She does her homework and projects well, but don’t seem like spent enough time to prepare and study for test. She has gotten all As in 7th grade but 1 B+ with 89.55% in history, her teacher lost her assignment but refused to give her A- because she didnt fight for her grade. We thought she will learn from that experience. But this semester, she got another B+ with 88.95% in Geometry. We are very concerned for her HS Math option, because in order to go to Algebra 2/ Trigonometry honor for her HS, it require all As in Algerbra 1 and Geometry. Maybe she will just take regular Algerbra 2 and catch up in summer…</p>
<p>jjkmom…our school has an appeal process for kids on the bubble like your D. It happens over the summer and involves an essay of why the student should be placed in the advanced class. Maybe your school has something similar.</p>
<p>Welcome, @jjkmom! Is your daughter wanting to be on the higher math track? Sometimes “being on the bubble” can be an indicator the kid needs to stay on a less-demanding track. It doesn’t mean a thing except that the student will be more comfortable and confident wherever he or she is. My advice would be to have a heart to heart chat with your girl and see what SHE wants to do, not what peers, etc., think she should do. </p>
<p>Hi, keepmecrisin, thanks for the note, I will check with high school to see if there is appeal process, but I also want to see if she will stay on the bubble again this semester, which will be the indicator for less-demanding math level. HeliMom74, DD1 is in Math, science honor, but she doesn’t like STEM areas and don’t want to talk about college majors now. I hope that will change once she starts high school.</p>
<p>How come no one continue discussion after my post??:p. Anyway, anyone wants to discuss pros and cons for taking honor classes in 9th grade? Have a friend purposely remove her DD from honor math and Spanish 2 to regular math (algebra 2) and repeat Spanish 1 so her DD can get good grades while adjusting first year in high school… I don’t have older kids, but was told its tough for kids to adjust to high school from middle school…kinda worries me…</p>
<p>Every kid is different, but it usually helps to find a group that shares your interests. That’s why extra curricular activities can be so beneficial to a high school students overall h.s. experience.</p>
<p>Did everyone already start their DD and DS with ECs? My DD has been in Girl Scout since first grade. And I’m hoping she make in the Jr varsity. sport. With my DD’s personality (shy and not aggressive), I don’t know if she will join anything without my suggestion… she does like drawing and photography, not sure if her high school has such clubs? </p>
<p>jjkmom - re: honors classes in HS. You know your kid best, but I know that colleges are looking for kids to challenge themselves. Colleges we visited for my older son said they would prefer to see a B in an AP or honors course, than an A in lower level class. Ideally you would get some As in those classes as well. It also depends on what type of school you are talking about.</p>
<p>As for ECs, I think it will depend on the high school, but there should be plenty of clubs, sports and other activities that your kid can explore and figure out what they want to spend there time doing. These activities would ideally be something your child could really be passionate about and be a place here they could get some leadership experience (for your daughter maybe yearbook or the school newspaper would let her explore photography more, for example). Colleges also like to see kids take time doing community service activities, something your daughter would have a leg up in doing with Girl Scouts. Our local high school has several service clubs, so the kids can get some community service experience and maybe gain some leadership as well.</p>
<p>Hi, dadotwoboys, thanks for your feedback. I was reading treads in class 2017, one mom suggested to repeat taking classes that received lower grade in middle school. I dont know if DD should just take regular algebra 2 or appeal for Algebra 2/ Trigonometry honor or just repeat taking Geometry in 9th grade. She has one B+ in Geometry in 8th grade and I’m not sure if this grade will affect college app or not. Somehow I was always under assumptions that whatever grades received in middle school won’t be viewed by college but u might be wrong.
Regarding EC, DD is currently in middle school yearbook team, I hope she will continue involve in yearbook when she attends high school. </p>
<p>You might want to ask a HS guidance councelor which math to take. Frankly, a B+ is a pretty darn good grade and shouldn’t affect college acceptances (even at tippy-top schools) unless the B+ is followed by many other B+s (which would still result in a very good GPA and should be good enough for some very good colleges). My experience (limited as it is) would indicate that straight As do not guarantee acceptances and a handful of Bs do not guarantee rejections. Colleges (particularly those that claim to have holistic acceptance practices - most schools these days) look at the whole package. In the end, you want your child to be challenged, but not overwhelmed. That, at least, is my perspective.</p>
<p>@jjkmom—would your child’s HS even allow the student to repeat geometry after having earned a B+? In our district, a B+ in geometry might prevent placement into accelerated Alg 2, but it would not allow student to repeat geometry. I realize that every district is different. </p>
<p>I have been surprised to see that some schools include some middle school grades in the calculation of HS GPA. Our HS transcript only includes courses taken during HS, so if a student was two years ahead of the standard math curriculum, the first math grade that would appear is Alg 2. Colleges are meant to know that the student took Alg 1 & Geometry before HS. The same applies to foreign languages taken in middle school.</p>
<p>I agree with dadotwoboys’ advice about ECs. My older son just found clubs once he was settled in school for a while and joined those where he knew the faculty advisors, other than athletics which he started immediately. My younger son reviewed the list of clubs before starting HS and sought out the ones he wanted to pursue. Another advantage of being younger!</p>
<p>All HSs are different and it never even crossed my mind that a B+ would limit your ability to take the higher level course or the ability to take it again I suppose from the schools perpsective, a B+ would indicate that the student more than understood the material and would be reluctant to allow the student to take the course again just to up the grade a bit.</p>
<p>In our school district, HS grades are on the HS transcript regardless of when they are taken. Middle schoolers and their parents are warned of that and the Middle School will suggest that a student withdraw from a class if they see that the grade may be damaging to the student on their HS transcript. So, in our school district a middle school student could start HS with a total of 4 classes (a total of 8 semester grades) already on their HS transcript (Algebra, Geometry, Spanish I and Intro Physical Science).</p>
<p>When should students start keeping track of the community service hours? My daughter volunteers at the local senior community and couple of other places. Do these hours count when applying for colleges? </p>
<p>@dadotwoboys—our HS is even more inconsistent! As I mentioned earlier, HS courses taken during middle school do not appear on the HS transcript, but grades earned in those courses can affect placement in accelerated/honors courses in HS. I think the 8th grade Alg 1 grade can affect placement in 10 grade honors Chem! All 8th grade course grades affect placement for 9th grade.</p>
<p>Every honors or AP course has strict placement requirements, allowing placement with a lower grade from an honors course than from a non-honors course. </p>
<p>I am now curious which practice is more common: carrying HS course grades forward to HS transcript of suppressing them. Just idle curiosity. </p>
<p>Dadotwoboys and CT1417, u are right about each district is different. With my DD only in 8th grade, I always hesitate to contact high school counselor, but I’m motivated to find out more now since parents in this treads know a lot about their HS already… based on the hs handbook i downloaded online, many 9th grade classes uses 8th grade grades and CST placement scores as pre-requisites, with CST replaced by CCSS (common core state standards), I don’t know how this changes will impact DDs 9th grade courses… the article on ppic.org says California school API was based on CST scores but other States have found alternate ways to measure HS accountability such as FL, MA, CO. Wonder if any CC parents in the state of California figured this out already…</p>
<p>Ccinfo2, I think the service hours will be counted for college application AFTER starting 9th grade.</p>
<p>I believe school only counts community service hours After starting 9th grade…yes, it will help with college application but I heard its best to have larger # of hours in just few activities instead of involving in many things and spread the hours thin. My DD is not outgoing or too active, so I don’t expect her have too many hours besides her girl scout community service projects…</p>