<p>Hi. So, we’ve been advised since DD18 is training and trying out for a HS sport this summer, she should take Health/Careers AB during summer for initial credit (to “get it out of the way”). We’re trying to decide between our options (online vs in-seat) now, thinking she’ll probably take it online. What are your kids doing this summer? </p>
<p>Oops! My last post probably didn’t make any sense to you guys! It was brought to my attention today that the class I mentioned (Health/Careers) is only mandatory in a few school districts in Ca, ours being one of the few. :\ Because of this, I’m pretty sure nobody on this thread knew what I was taking about. It’s such a bummer… I guess this is why so many students want to take it during summer!</p>
<p>@SunnySoCalMom - nope, I got it! My senior D is currently taking it on line. It’s actually worked out well saving it for senior year (that was DH’s suggestion - he’s a HS teacher). Since it’s online, she only has 5 classes at school & comes home early. </p>
<p>@SunnySOCalMom–we’re MI residents, but my DS’18 plans to take the required health class online this summer. He wants to make room in his freshman schedule for Computer Animation and Game Design. The online class seems like an easy way to take care of the health class requirement!</p>
<p>Ditto. S’18 will be taking HOPE online this summer to get that requirement (and the requirement to take at least one online class during his HS career) out of the way. We’ll see if he is organized enough to pull it off - I figure it will take some reminding to get him focused on school work during the summer. Heck, I have a hard time focusing on work in the summer.</p>
<p>Thanks for the input @GertrudeMcFuzz and @bookgeek! Any idea how demanding the online course is? Neither of my kids have ever taken summer courses. I think DD18 would really like to just crank it out and get it done. How realistic is this? I really like for them to have summers available for fun and extra curricular opportunities.</p>
<p>@jjkmom, yes S18 will be taking two languages, but that is because he goes to a Jesuit school that requires 5 years of Latin and four years of a modern foreign language in the honors curriculum. If it gets to be too much, S can always drop Latin later (which is actually what I did when I went there). And he will probably take French I instead of French II. He has studied French since he was quite young, but French I honors is supposed to move quickly!<br>
My D15 will be NMF, and we are looking at some of the schools that give NMF scholarships for her. S18 is a different student. Sometimes he does very well on standardized tests, as with the recent PLAN test he took, and sometimes he bombs them (7th grade Duke TIPS SAT comes to mind).</p>
<p>I’m can’t imagine an online health course will be too demanding or time consuming. I believe the online vendor used by our district says ten hours a week of study per class. I’m thinking that’s not necessary for a bright kid taking a health class? My son’s course is six weeks, possibly eight. He should have plenty of time for other activities!</p>
<p>The Health class has not been any source of stress for D, or else I would hear about it!</p>
<p>I really appreciate all the helpful input. I’ll try to contact the counselor today to switch from in-seat to online.
Thanks again! :)</p>
<p>Whoa, S reports today that 30 kids in his geography class got caught cheating on tests. A single student figured out what web site the teacher was using to construct his tests, and emailed the info to other students. Has been going on for a while. The originating student is facing expulsion, with others looking at failing test grades and other punishment. S swears he never received the emails and doesn’t really know the primary cheater. Such a stupid thing to do!</p>
<p>In our HS, Health and Future are strong recommendation elective courses for upcoming freshmen, or US History MUN course. I didn’t know if school would offer or allow my DD take online Health, but I will check. For the past few days we visited Stanford University, UC Berkeley. And UC Davis (visiting my neice and nephew). Although my DD has no clue what she wants to be or major in college, I just want her to know starting HS, everything counts, and whether she wants to have the options to pick whichever university she wants to attend will be all up to her. I was worry that I might bring this up too early, but I realize she still has no clue but has a bit more motivation now. :)</p>
<p>SunnySoCalMom - wish DD could take her mandatory health class over the summer! She can only take a math class to move ahead, but she is already “1 year ahead” and we are not to keen on pushing it beyond that. She will be training with the H.S. sports team this summer . We may put her a non-credit art class. Still working on that.</p>
<p>This evening was 8th grader day - she got to meet many of her future classmates. Fun!</p>
<p>First post and new to this site, wish I found it four years ago </p>
<p>Feel like I am behind, everyone planning and knowing. My oldest just picked her college that she will be attending next year, so now I will be focusing on my other two, my 10th grader and 8th grader</p>
<p>my son who is in 8th grader will be taking geometry over the summer - because both his sisters told him that it is a class that shouldn’t be a year long and that also you don’t want to have the teacher that teaches it during the school year, he will also have swim practice at 4:45 am three times a week, really looking forward to that for the next four years, he was on the varsity swim team in 8th grade and made regionals but not states in his swim events</p>
<p>His schedule for next year will be algebra 2, honors English, honors biology, AP human geo.,bible - private school, orchestra and Spanish 2</p>
<p>He is hoping on going to university of Florida, only because the Coach’s sons are there along with many of his teammates from swim club. </p>
<p>@glido My DD is currently in honors algebra so we were hoping she could take geometry this summer. Math is her best subject and we thought it’d be a good time to get ahead (or caught up, depending how you look at it). Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear to be possible. But, her school does offer options for health class in summer. We thought the “in seat” option (7:30-1 M-Th 6wks) would be perfect… so I signed her up. I was SO bummed when I spoke with H.S. coach the next day who informed me that the team she’ll be training for works out at 6-9am daily.</p>
<ol>
<li>Public charter - in seat 4x/wk for 6 wks (NO FEE)</li>
<li>Online (private) Course - *SEATED TEST AT END OF 9th GRADE ($280) </li>
</ol>
<p>Welcome @Katvis :-h </p>
<p>I can’t believe I stumbled on this thread! As a newly-minted “My kid has made a decision” mom from the Class of 2014–it’s unbelievable to think that four years of high school are ahead for go2boy! go2girl recently accepted admittance to Vanderbilt University. She will be studying in the College of Arts and Sciences–most likely pre-law as an Ingram Scholar.</p>
<p>We live on the west coast so venturing into the South will be a new experience for all of us. Can someone explain to me the difference between polenta and grits? 
</p>
<p>Go2boy is very different from his very organized, highly-motivated academic sister. Where she thrived in a competitive AP school environment, Go2boy is sensitive, theatrical, very social and working on his organizational skills. We intentionally put him in a college-prep high school with more aof an arts focus and no AP classes. Having witnessed how grueling and ridiculous the AP “system” can be (Full confession: I am not a fan of the “non-profit” College Board), I felt this time around we would just do without. I’ve learned that it did not seem to make a lot of difference in go2girl’s admissions; in fact, quite the opposite. </p>
<p>I do believe that rigor is incredibly important within the highly selective college matrix; however, I do believe that once you take HYPS out of the mix, your student has the potential to shine during admissions provided that they truly follow their passion and tell their story. Their story can’t be manufactured–it has to come from the heart. Freshmen year is a great year to dabble and experiment–find at least one thing and commit. In a culture that can often find commitment degrading or unworthy–it does help in the end.</p>
<p>We focused on schools that provided substantial merit aid and it culminated in some great scholarship opportunities. We feel very blessed that our D will graduate without debt and we won’t have to postpone retirement.</p>
<p>I feel really fortunate to have been part of the Class of 2014 parents group with CT1417, glido, 2014Novamom and GertrudeMcFuzz (I still crack up at your name!) There is a lot of wisdom to be gleaned from those who have recently traveled this path. Here’s to the next amazing 4 years!</p>
<p>Welcome @gotomom!! Looking forward to doing it all again, but maybe taking a little time to chill out first!</p>
<p>welcome @katvis and @gotomom.</p>
<p>As a transplanted Yankee in the south (FL), I have to admit that I have not been able to acquire a taste for grits. And I don’t care much for polenta either. But when I asked my wife she said the consistency and the type of corn is different. I looked it up and she seems to be pretty right on both counts (<a href=“http://www.thekitchn.com/polenta-versus-grits-whats-the-difference-187807”>http://www.thekitchn.com/polenta-versus-grits-whats-the-difference-187807</a>).</p>
<p>And congrats to both of you on making it to the HS finish line with your HS’14 children and starting to shift focus to your HS’18 children. Enjoy your child this summer, as life does change after you drop them off at college. That said, my S’13 is finishing his first year of college next week and it really has gone by much quicker than I had expected.</p>
<p>@gotomom - Congrats to your D (and you) on the Ingram scholarship - Vanderbilt is a great school. I agree with your approach to focus (at least in part) on schools with the potential for merit aid. Those scholarships are very hard to come by, but the value of finishing debt free is worth the effort of your child at least putting themselves in the running for one. This is particularly true for families that fall in that area of not being eligible for significant non-loan financial aid, but really can’t afford to pay full freight without some help. </p>
<p>Another placement test at the H.S. this morning . . . then on to a track meet.</p>
<p>(Hi go2Mom and GertrudeMcF!)</p>