@LKnomad, I am not sure “Life skills” is equivalent Health, frankly I never looked into it since we have no option to opt out. I am not sure it will even appear as “Life Skills” on the transcript, it may be “World History” for both semesters
Submitted DS20’s high school application today, yesterday was supposed to be the first day they’d accept applications for out of district transfers but their website wasn’t working. I sure hope he gets in, we won’t know until sometime in June. More waiting…
@3scoutsmom Good luck! Waiting is the worst! Hope they get back to you quickly.
Fingers crossed @3scoutsmom!
I’ve been an on and off lurker this school year in anticipation of this very moment of becoming a parent of a 2020. I have 3 children but D20 is my first. Her schedule next year will be Honors Eng, Honors Geometry, Honors Bio, Honors World History 2, H French 2, Coding, Arts Elective and another elective.
I’m looking forward to getting to know everyone.
Just signed up my DD’20 for summer Health online course through our city’s adult school. It’s strongly recommended by the school counselor to take it online this summer and knock it done. However my other DD’18 who attended a different local high school had to take class in school (one semester class). I don’t think summer online class will cover the same amount of material as one semester long class, and also summer class will only has passing/fail grade, which is not helping with GPA.
Welcome @EllaMomi2002!
Regarding online health, in our area, most kids choose to take health at school because it is an interesting class and most kids get an A+. Lol. If they take it online, they are not allowed to get an A+, so it actually brings down GPA for top students. Weird rule with unintended consequences as I’m sure that the school would rather have the kids take it online!
Here on-line class are not counted in the GPA at all so it doesn’t help or hurt. My S18 will be taking health on-line this summer too.
@3scoutsmom that sounds like a better way to handle an online class!!
I checked and was told that at our school district “Life Skills” is a quarter-long (half a semester) class, which then turns into World Studies, and there is just no way around it. Oh, well… Daughter’s fall schedule may still change - she is going away to a 4-week Spanish immersion program (hope she loves it there!), if she makes progress, she could skip Spanish 2 and go straight to Spanish 3. This would mean only 2 years of foreign language in HS, but hopefully within the next three years College Board would finish our native language AP test that could be taken as well, or she might decide on a fourth language if that’s available in city college or online.
DS20 took half of his 8th grade finals today and will take the other half on Thursday. This is starting to get real. Happy 8th grade graduation season to all. 
Our school ends on 6/15 so another month to go!
Any suggestions for a graduation gift? I know it’s hard to recommend when you don’t know the kid personally, but since our graduation will be right after a Birthday, I’ve already shared all my “extra” ideas of what our daughter might want with friends, grandparents, etc. Thanks!
DD20 can’t wait for summer but still has a little over a week to go. No 8th grade graduation for them, but they did a special event for families to come together, eat, and break out into homeroom groups for a time allowing for the parents to give public affirmation about their child. Such a simple, low-tech idea but was a really special experience. Not many dry eyes in the house.
This may be a bit late in the game, but thought I’d ask everyone’s opinion. Is it worth repeating Geometry in HS if
a) middle school teacher is, from what I can tell, not a very good teacher, and according to my daughter, only kids (including my daughter) who have taken supplemental geometry outside of class are doing ok there
b) geometry teacher in HS has a horrible reputation, my friend’s son (pretty good at math) got a C in his class and almost had a nervous breakdown because of this class, and I heard some similar stories from other parents, but latter testimonials don’t carry as much weight since I don’t know their kids’ math level.
My daughter was placed in Algebra 2/Trig since she took Geometry in 8th grade, and even though she supplemented it with outside course, I am not sure how solid her foundation is. She is not interested in STEM at the moment, and doesn’t plan on going being Calculus BC and Statistics AP in HS, so should I just let it go and accept that she may have weak grasp of Geometry? Thanks!
Stick with Algebra 2 trig. It doesn’t sound like the high school teacher would be any help with geometry.
@3scoutsmom, I too think it might not be worth the extra stress… Thanks!
I would skip the class room geometry but make sure she boosts her geometry skills before any standardized tests. She can do that online or with a prep book, but it should not be totally let go and forgotten.
In just a few more days we will truly have two rising freshmen (one HS one college) in the house. Senior year has been a blast but I am glad to have some time before we will be doing all that again. Next year will be all about both of them adjusting to their new environment. I will be adjusting as well. I am looking forward to spending more time with my DD’s activities and carving out some time to focus on my own wellness. Senior year left little time for that! I also look forward to building a supportive community here similar to the group I have enjoyed at Parents of 2016. This truly can be a valuable resource for all regardless of geography, target schools, EFC, majors sought, etc.