thanks!
@LOUKYDAD - your kid’s got a lot of heavy classes there! Not a bad idea to do some mapping of classes.
so – my S15 took AP calc AB jr. year. He liked it, and from that class decided to study something math related in college. To get a solid math background he took senior year AP calc BC. The HS would not count AP calc BC as any sort of credit towards graduation as they said it was a duplicate. Luckily he didnt need the hours, but that was a surprise. SO . . . just fyi.
Yes, DS18 is a machine. Makes it all look easy. DD20 is a good student also, but definitely needed a slower pace in math and science in order to master the material.
That is a strange policy for your HS. Definitely different where my kids go. AP Calc BC not only counts, but will count as a weighted grade for GPA/class rank purposes. They do struggle with AP Calc BC and AP Chem to field a large enough group to have a normal class. In some cases kids have had to do as an independent study, but they still count as a weighted grade.
Yes S18 is a machine. D20 is a good student also, but definitely needed a slower pace in math and science classes in order to master the material.
Strange policy for your HS. Where my kids go, BC not only counts but counts as a weighted grade for GPA/class rank purposes. They do struggle to field a full class for BC and AP Chem also, and some years kids have had to do as an independent study, but still for a weighted grade.
Great that S15 found his passion. What are his future plans?
At our high school you either take CAL AB or CAL BC not both because CAL BC covers everything in CAL AB in the first semester and then more advanced math the second semester. CAL AB goes much more slowly and takes both semesters to cover what CAL BC does in one semester.
How to figure out science progression where the kid gets AP Chem, AP Physics 1, AP Physics C, and Calc AB and BC or just BC has been a struggle for us. If she ends up wanting to add AP Bio that will be even harder to figure out.
Be grateful if your school has truly qualified teachers who can do a good job teaching calculus or other STEM APs. Last year S started the year in Calc AB with a retired teacher who wasn’t able to finish the year out. No official teacher for the remaining few months of the year. They were able to get some tutoring help from an outside organization, but in large part the kids were in a self study mode for a big portion of the year. Somehow S was able to pull out a 4 on the exam, which I considered awesome given the situation.
DD’s school requires Chemistry and Biology (either regular or Pre-AP) before taking the AP versions. The school does not require a physics class before AP Physics, but it does require completion of Algebra II with a B or better.
As for math, it does require Cal AB before taking Cal BC.
There seems to be a lot of variation.
For AP Biology, DS’s school officially requires Biology and Chemistry and permission of the department. An extra lab is take for one marking period. However, I handful of kids can get special permission to skip Biology and go right to AP Biology. I’ll let you know how that works out since most of the kids in the class will already have had Biology. 
AP Chem and AP Physics require completion of the corresponding honors class first. DS is busy trying to map out how to hit all of those sciences while keeping the rest in balance.
Hi, all. Hope this group is still accepting (sort-of) newbies! I think I see some familiar faces from my last two go-rounds. Anyway, I’m back with DS3, who is ten years behind my HS '09 DS (and 13 behind HS '06 DD). DH and I swore we’d be super laid back with this one, and so far we have been. But all of a sudden I felt the need to check in here. Is there a roster somewhere?
Welcome @HarrietMWelsch ! No roster but you will be able to identify the regulars soon enough.
DD just got back from a two-week band camp at a university in the next state and loved it. I was worried that she’d be really homesick, but I was wrong. She only texted me 3 times, each time just to tell me how much she loved it there. It looks like she’ll be fine if she eventually ends up at a college far away.
Her sophomore year of HS revs up next week, with a week-long Leadership (like student council) camp and then HS band camp the next week. Regular classes start the following week. I can’t believe her “summer” is almost over. This is all going way too fast!
Welcome to the group @HarrietMWelsch!
Thanks, Cheeringsection! I’ll take notes. =)
. . . and Vineyardview too. Wow, that’s an early start for your DD!
My daughter starts back to school Aug. 9th - seems so early. I remember starting back to school the Tuesday after Labor Day!
Beginning of August! Yikes! That’s around the corner!
My kids have until September.
Drowning in summer homework. Drowning…
Summer homework? Yeah, my S has that. He hasn’t picked it up yet and is in no hurry. :-<
She’s got online Government and that’s taking about 6 hours a day right now. Yes, she is painfully slow. After that’s done she’ll dive in to language arts and AP Euro, which I ecpect to also take several hours a day until school starts.
AP CompSci - there’s no way. I hope it is not actually required, because it would be 1-2 hours a day all summer and it ain’t happening. She may need to drop the class. She got maybe 1/3 done.
This is on top of 3 hours of cross country camp 6 days a week.
DS20 gets home from camp on Saturday he’ll start on summer homework and driving lessons next week.
@VickiSoCal It’s hard to believe how much summer work kids end up with now.