I agree with @carolinamom2boys. You are working within the system to remedy a situation that was created by earlier systematic problems in elementary and middle schools, not gaming.
If my DS has to sacrifice two hours a week of videogaming in summer (one hour for whining, one hr for working, 20 minites a day, 3 times a week) to work on problem solving while building logical thinking and math muscles (so that he can pursue science and engineering that he loves,) so be it.
It is the same as spending summer afternoons kicking a soccer ball around with a kid who loves soccer but lacks the skill and may not be invited back to his team without a remedy.
DS may not thank me later but certainly will not blame me for not pushing him harder when he was little.
Utmost respect to you @2019hope for your summer math regimen ^:)^ ^:)^ ^:)^ ^:)^
I had DS19 solve all the problems in the book PreAlgebra (by Art of Problem Solving - it is a very difficult book geared for competition math) during the summer after 6th (or was it 7th ?) grade.
He achieved mastery and confidence then. I did not have to do anything else on Math afterward.
He took Honors Geometry in 8th. Taking Honors Algebra 2 in 9th. He mentioned doubling up to take Calculus in Sophomore but I said no. I know my child, and he does not need any more acceleration. He is certainly not a mathy child.
He is excited to be allowed to take AP Chemistry in Sophomore thanks to his math track and grades. That is the reward.
It seems many schools donât require it, or AB is part of BC, or not a full year. Most kids can get to AB but not BC. I have one on each track.
Our school doesnât require Calc AB either, but it seems that one has to follow the draconian school rules.
AB is incorporated into BC as part of a year long class at our school.
Gotta love you guys! Thank you for giving me permission to obsess and plan my childâs high school career :x I like the soccer analogy - Iâm gonnaâ book that math class - itâs time for some new blood!
OT - weâve all been invited to our first Quinceanera on Saturday!!! I spent a somewhat disheartening day trying on cocktail dresses and actually bought something.Took kiddo to get her eyebrows and hair done yesterday. Iâve never seen her so pleased - she keeps looking in the mirror and saying âEyebrows can really change your faceâ
We also experimented with sunless tanner last night. Oh. My. Lord. in. Heaven. What a scary, unattractive, patchy, orange disaster. @-)
@messifan Welcome!!!
@2019hope Did you exfoliate before tanning? Consider a spray tan, theyâre more realistic and you can adjust the level of darkness.
@carolinamom2boys We didnât exfoliateâŠbig mistake. If it doesnât look better by tomorrow, weâll go get a spray tan. She has soccer uniform tan-lines that we were trying to blend out.
âI can tell you this though, a 28 ACT and an GPA of 3.5 would definitely not be top 6% at our school.â
Yep DS17 has an unweighted 3.5 and a 32 ACT and he isnât even in the top 50%⊠At our school they go by the unweighted GPA and there isnât any added weight to Gifted classes either⊠So any kind of merit scholarships that have class rank in them are out of range.There is a large part of me that wishes I had âgamedâ the system with him and had him take regular classes, not gifted and also not so many APâsâŠDS19 had a 4.0 last semester and should have one after this semester too. But I doubt he will be in the top 10%âŠI canât âgameâ the system with him because he wants to go to Georgia tech like his oldest brother and even if he graduates with a 4.0 and takes a rigorous schedule it is a crap shoot on whether he will be admitted.
DS19 class schedule next year is.
AP Stats
AP World History
Gifted English
Gifted Chemistry
French 2
Band
FYI, rank also depends on the size of the school and those are state standards for scholarships. Those scores are in the top 6% at my school either.
My school doesnât rank and itâs a good thing because DD is not having a good freshman year. Mostly Bs so far. Sheâs dealing with a teacher in Chinese who doesnât like her â WHO IS ALSO HER FACULTY ADVISER. Ugh ugh ugh. Weâre letting it play out and crossing our fingers about the grades, but the adviser thing I think weâre going to ask for a switch next year.
Yâall seem to have STEM-oriented kids and my daughter is on the other end of the spectrum, all creative, no STEM leanings at all (since both her parents are writers, itâs not surprising).
And we live in PA, where I think the state schools cost more than just about anywhere else and thereâs, like, no aid to speak of. I think I priced it out that it would cost less for us to send our kids to UF (my alma mater) OOS than in-state PennState. Wish we could move, but thatâs not in the cards.
Just noticed my post is inaccurate. It was supposed to say not in the top 6%
@gatormama I am right with you. My son is the king of Bâs and B+'s. He just received his first high school Aâs - in gym and cooking. Iâll take my victories where I can get them. He will most likely be in the top 50% but will not make top 25%. I donât think he will be able to get into our state flag ship. Weâll be looking at the second tier state schools for him, or maybe some less competitive privates.
I think there is a big difference between gaming the system and being a responsible informed parent helping your child achieve his or her goals. Of course we probably all draw that line differently.
For example my son is in jazz band which shows up as a full class and is a guaranteed extra A, GPA boost because it doesnât meet during the school day but is an evening once a week so itâs a straight up extra course. Heâs in jazz band because he loves to play. If he hated band but I made him do jazz band just for the extra course/A that would be gaming the system.
I think at this stage the important thing is to be on top of things so that choices made now donât eliminate good options in the future but also to realize that if all of high school is about setting your child up to get in to the best school you risk your child crashing and burning when either they donât get in to the schools they wanted (since the best schools turn away tons of kids who have the grades and ECâs), or they do but they are so stressed out after high school they fall apart.
I feel like this parenting gig is a constant tightrope battle of guiding my kids and stepping back to let them be the people they are going to be.
I heard an AO from CWRU say âAP Stat is not a math class.â
Coming from a tech/engineering school, he notices if a student takes less rigorous classes to protect GPA (regular vs AP when the school offers AP.) Taking AP Stat post Calculus is okay if math offerings at the school are exhausted. I take this as Multivariable Calculus/Differential Equations is looked more rigorous than AP Stat, post AP Calculus.
He, as an AO of STEM heavy school, does not like to see someone doing âHonors Algebra 2 > Honors PreCalc > AP Statâ sequence to avoid Calculus when it is available at the school.
Someone asked, why would a PreMed take AP Calculus?
To which the AO said that a PreMed needs regorous Math and needs to take AP Calculus.
Thinking about pre-med requirements for our 19ers seems early, and yetâŠ
S13 told me he was required to have a stats class for pre-med requirements; I believe he used a college math-emphasis econ course. S13 also needed calculus for pre-med requirements; he received a 5 on AP BC Calc his junior year in high school and thus waived his need for calculus as a requirement for med school.
S19 has AP Stats currently alongside Common Core Secondary Math 3, so for him it is not either/or, but I believe many people feel that if a student is not STEM focused, AP Stats can be more useful than AP Calc.
Two math classes in one year sounds like it might be difficult. Especially if some Algebra 2 concepts require Geometry knowledge.
My DD went to a âgiftedâ middle school and they specifically recommended all of the students to take Algebra 1 in their freshmen year. I thought that was huge mistake because the PSAT/SAT requires Algebra 2 knowledge. So I thought sheâd be better off taking Algebra 2 in sophomore year, thus taking Geometry her freshman year. The school district actually required her to speak to a teacher in order to be placed in Geometry her freshman year. Luckily for us, her geometry teacher happened to be her 7th grade match teacher and readily recommended her.
It was no worry at all. Geometry is no problem for her. I think there are only 3-4 other freshmen in her class. I really have no idea why the school district recommends this path.
Thatâs the path my school recommends too. Yikes. So unless youâre on the accelerated math track, your PSAT score is doomed, is what this tells me. Just great.
You are not alone, @me29034 D19 is ending third quarter with not-at-all-good grades, mostly due to time management/procrastination issues. Sheâll be lucky if she ends up middle of the pack academically. We may be looking at a community college-transfer to state flagship option down the road.
I always swore that would be the road my kids took, @OrangeFish ⊠it makes so much sense from a financial standpoint⊠But Iâve since had two epiphanies. The first was watching my stepdaughter blow it at a CC because she wasnât fully invested in the whole college thing to start with and got hung up on stuff like living at home and having to commute an hour each way to classes and not âhaving the college experience.â Community college, if youâre not a motivated student to start with, can be a waste of time. And if youâre a motivated student, chances are you did well enough the year before to get into a four-year place. The second was realizing that college credits donât automatically transfer, and some schools are just snooty enough to make the two years of basic college courses a waste, if they donât like your CC - this is especially true of privates or if theyâre out of state.
We are likely not looking at privates because (1) we will not get financial aid and (2) our state schools are pretty good. In addition, our state has articulation agreements at the community colleges to guarantee admission based on a minimum GPA over two years. So it may serve as the best option for D19. @Gatormama â you do raise a good point about the âcollege experienceâ but our school system is incredibly competitive and my sense is that D19 has pretty much thrown the first year of high school away (sheâll be lucky to have a 2.6 UW).