We had a great vacation in Mass and Maine - looked at two colleges with my older D19. D21 wanted to come too but her friend we were visiting was not interested so she stayed home. We go to Maine every summer so D21 will have plenty of time to do her own tours in a few years.
Sadly, we start school here Monday. D is not excited to go back but does seem excited to be starting high school. We got her schedule on Wednesday and she had an orientation day Thursday. She was able to walk her schedule a few times so I think she will be pretty comfortable.
We got good advice when D19 started at the school - if your school allows kids to have their phones out between classes have them take a picture of their schedule and make it their home screen. That way they donāt have to pull out the big paper copy and look like the new kid when they forget where to go next, they can just casually look down at their phone to see what class they have!
Canāt remember if I posted before, but this is her schedule for the year -
AP Environmental Science
AICE Marine Science
AICE General Paper
AICE Global Perspectives
AP Capstone Seminar
Spanish 1
Geometry Honors
Musical Theater
The two science classes are a block class - they are always taught together, canāt take one without the other. The next three are also a block with Gen Paper and Global Perspectives each being 1/2 year and Capstone being full year. So in total she has 7 class periods. My older daughter had same schedule except with yoga not theater - it is a TON of work but hopefully she can handle it!
And itās Interesting that a freshman is allowed to take an AP classes! At our high school, you have to take Earth Science Honors before AP Environmental. No AP science class is allowed until youāve taken the honors version first.
@homerdog AICE is another type of class like AP or IB. It was started in England and now some schools in the US use it. Similar to IB you have to take a certain number of courses spread out over a few groups plus pass an AP like exam at the end to earn an AICE diploma. It is big in Florida - if you complete the AICE diploma it can help with scholarships for FL schools. The classes will also give you credit at FL public colleges just like an AP class would, but from what Iāve heard other schools in the country do not give credit for them. The classes are worth 6.0, the same as AP classes.
For example, this year D19 canāt take just AP chemistry or AICE chem - it has to be a block of the two classes. She can take Chem honors this year then AP chem next year on its own though. I donāt understand how they decide all of it -I just go with it!
I just looked at the AP list and it looks like freshman are only allowed to take the two classes we have listed. I suppose if you were very advanced in a language maybe you could take the AP level? Not sure if there is a requirement for AP Environmental but my kids both took an honors/high school credit Earth/Space Science class in 8th grade.
Here is the description of the AICE program from heir website since i can never explain it very well!
The Cambridge Advanced International Certificate of Education (AICE) Diploma is an international curriculum and examination system that emphasises the value of broad and balanced study. Alongside in-depth understanding of a variety of subjects, students also need to master a broader range of skills critical for success in university study and employment.
The Cambridge AICE Diploma was first awarded in 1997 and has since become popular with a range of schools in different parts of the world. It encompasses the āgold standardā Cambridge International AS and A Level qualifications, and offers students the opportunity to tailor their studies to their individual interests, abilities and future plans within an international curriculum framework.
DS21 got his schedule yesterday. We were actually surprised that everything he asked for fit, as a number of the classes are probably only offered once in the day.
Math II/III compaction
AP Physics 1
English 9H (the art academy version)
Freehand Drawing (art academy class)
Spanish 1
PE
Iām worried that this will be a tough schedule for him. He is not as advanced academically as his older brother. But, this is what he wants and he was doing a lot better at the end of 8th grade than previously. So, fingers crossed.
He took Health over the summer, so got that out of the way in 3 weeks. Easy A, and he was upset that he just missed an A+. (Doesnāt matter for our GPAs.)
Since we only have a 6-period day (grrr), DS canāt take a social studies in 9th. This school actually offers AP Hum Geog to freshmen, whereas the HS DS17 went to didnāt even have a 9th grade social studies option.
@homerdog Our schools do allow AP classes without a previous class. My DS17 took the AP bio, physics, and chem classes without taking any prior science classes. But, we donāt have any honors science classes, so the regular science classes wouldnāt be much prep anyway.
DS21ās school starts on eclipse day. Grr. Iām taking DS17 up to Idaho to see the eclipse and will be gone for about a week. We didnāt think it would be good for DS21 to skip the first few days at a new school. DS17 doesnāt head to college until Sept. 17.
@momtogkc@Ynotgo Thanks for the clarification! And, yes, no APs before you take the honors class for most subjects (English H classes before AP Lang, French honors before AP, Bio honors before AP Bio, etc). The AP classes are HARD and only about half the kids in those classes get As. Thereās a much higher percentage of kids, though, that get 5s on the tests.
@Ynotgo Our high school will be in session for the eclipse but all kids are going outside (all 3000 of them!) to watch the eclipse with special glasses. Should be fun!
D21 started today and she is totally in love with her HS. She actually stated she wants to do Leadership which is shocking considering she on the shy side. She got all the classes she asked for. Did 1 semester SS over the summer.
Hon Geometry
Hon Bio
English (no Honors option for 9th grade)
Spanish 1
Health
Painting
Religion (required all 4yrs)
She plans to take Alg 2 over the summer but we will see. All sciences require the standard class prior to taking AP so this school is quite limiting.
@EGHopeful our school also requires the honors science class before AP (i.e. bio Honors is a prerequisite for AP Bio) so kids usually only get to one AP science class senior year. The option for kids who love science would be to not take any elective and take two honors science classes freshman or sophomore year and then a student could get to an AP science class by junior year. Not many kids use that option since our honors science classes are crazy hard and tend to weed out kids!
Typical sequence for most of the top 10 percent of the class would be Bio H, Chem H, Physics H, and then the student would take the AP version of one of these senior year.
@homerdog that is exactly the same here. My daughter is pretty much on the advanced track for her school. So Iām pleased.
But many parents tend to push and have kids do summer classes to get them ahead. However I fear they struggle. Attended a Shadow session last yr with the Hon Chemistry class and the students I sat with (10th graders) said they were so very lost in their Alg 2 class and the Chem class was tough. So I asked how did they do in Algebra in 8th grade. 2 of them only took an Advanced Math 8 class and 1 took Algebra. But if you challenge Algebra you can go into Geometry. THERE is the problem. I refused to have my daughter do that. She took Integrated Math 1 but she also did that online Stanford Beginning Algebra AND Intermediate Algebra and received Aās for both finals on first try. so Iām hoping sheās solid.
Hi Everyone! My D21 is starting high school after Labor Day. She is our youngest and enjoys reading, playing the piano & clarinet, tennis and being in the marching band. Her favorite subjects are Science and Math.
I followed CC for my older two but never posted- found the info extremely helpful. I have twins D/S19 at American U & Johns Hopkins.
Her course load for 9th gr includes:
Honors Bio
Honors Geometry
Honors English
French 3
World Cultures (req 9th gr)
Art
Financial literacy (req 9th gr class)
Hi all - I see some familiar people from the parents of class of 2018 thread here. Just stopping in to say hi, will probably lurk but not post much until we get D '18 through senior year. Buckling our seatbelts for a crazy year!
English 9 H
Bio H
Alg 2 H
APHG
AP CS Principles
Spanish 2 H
Debate H
Academic Team
She is getting nervous that the work load will be too much, but she always thinks that every August.
She is currently finishing her summer work for English and APHG.
D21 much more interested in college search than S18, came looking and couldnāt believe I found a page for her group already! Weāre in the NE and donāt start for 2 more weeks. Her schedule:
H English 9
H Bio
H AlgebraII / Geometry
H Euro Civil
H French II
Then some required courses, religion(private Catholic HS), Programming in Visual Basic
Sheās running XCountry and trained over the summer with some of the girls, so sheās very excited!
DS is starting Monday and has a relatively tough schedule that should be manageable. The real issue seems to be he made the JV soccer team and the amount of time it is going to require. Two games every week through end October, just over half being away. Games start at 4:30 which is not bad but they are required to stay and watch Varsity play so he will be getting home and have a shower a bit past 9 on those days. So much wasted timeā¦sports are great but it seems the coaches are out of touchā¦oh wellā¦
@yearstogo Good luck to your son. I just posted a huge rant on the 2019 thread about our S19 and the cross country coachesā¦and the demands on his time. For fear of going down the rabbit hole again, I wonāt repeat it here, but the coaches are nuts and donāt seem to give a hoot about the kids not having enough time for academics (although, out loud, they tell the kids academics come first). Track is even a bigger time suck since the distance runners have only two events but have to stay for the entire 4-5 hour meets. I hope your S can manage his time wisely and get enough sleep!
Our D21 will also need to be a time management star with ballet every day from 5:30-9 and a load of heavy classes. At least she has time between 3-5 to make a dent in the homework before class. I think itās very hard to go from school right to your sport and then come home late and hungry to face homework!
@yearstogo - yes, HS sports are very time-consuming but we are a big advocate here. Welcome to the world of studying on the bus, in the urgent care, up late and nightā¦anywhere they can - lol! But if your S keeps with it and progresses from year to year, there will be many rewards. My D18 will have earned 8 varsity letters and will captain two of her teams by the time she graduates next spring. The leadership skills she has learned will carry her though life. Sports have been a great stress-reliever, an excellent way to stay in shape and make friends. Sheās earned awards that have been good for boosting her confidence. There have been plenty of struggles too - dealing with play time issues, poor coaching, injuries, having to miss an ACT exam due to a game conflict, missing plenty of social activitiesā¦ but there are lessons in it all. Sheās poured a ton of time into it but the experiences have made her a more interesting, confident and resilient person, IMHO.
Aloha! I was active for a time on CC as we launched our '16 daughter. I met some simply fabulous folks on that parent thread & am excited to be a part of this one.
My son started his freshman year of high school last week. Eek! He is transitioning from public education to a very well-regarded private school my husband started teaching at last year. As a teacherās kid, tuition is FREE. Woohoo! He is well aware of the benefits of this school, but feels keenly what he considers the haves vs the have-nots in the Hawaii eduction/social system. He is an easy-going kid, so Iām sure heāll find his tribe soon. Still, Iām a little shocked heās wistful about attending the local public HS where his best friend mentioned he still does not have a permanent English and math teacher due to the teacher shortage than attending a school with every resource possible available. Ugh, kids.
He is my go-baby (likes sports of all kinds and is currently giving cross country a try for the first time), goofy (yesterday when the priest at school chapel greeted the new freshman with an aloha my boy answered back with an extended allllloooooha like you would at a luau - that got him a firm shoulder squeeze from his homeroom teacher), and his best subject is math (if only he would show his work instead of doing it in his head - his high school math teacher dad has been yammering at him for years).
So, unlike my daughter, it looks like the typical College Confidential issues will not be my sonās issues. I donāt think I will be stressing national merit, juggling multiple AP classes, lottery schools admission, or chasing big merit. I do love hearing about the unique journeys of awesome kids and their supportive parents though, so even though we may not all be focused on the same stuff, Iām hoping to find another great community to hang out with here on CC. :).
Oh, and the reason I decided to post todayā¦ We had freshman parent night at Sās school. During the college counselorās spiel, he mentioned reading for pleasure is six times more effective for improving test scores than SAT prep. I couldnāt find that specific stat in my Google search this morning, but I did find this article: https://www.languagemagazine.com/2017/06/read-ace-sat/.
Alllllloooooha, @palm715. I enjoyed learning about your PalmGirl on the Class of 2016 parentsā list and look forward to getting to know your PalmBoy, who sounds like a charmer. And I love that article. Letās get our kids to read more! Online bookclub for our kids, maybe?
So frustrated! Got S21ās class list and there are all sorts of mistakes. Heās not registered for his sport, he has two electives during the same period (freshman are only allowed 1 elective!) and another class scheduled at a time that will overlap with his sport when they get it scheduled correctly. This, after three emails and a hand written letter from me - not to mention at least one email from the coach - all sent to the counselors last spring and over the summer.
So today the high school counselor calls my 15-year-old sonās cell phone directly with a complicated explanation of why he didnāt get his classes and what theyāre trying to do to fix it. Why does she not call the parent?! Heās clueless of course so Iām getting urgent texts from him to call the school. Of course when I call it rolls into voicemail because the counselors donāt want to be bothered with parents calling before the start of school. I finally get a back up counselor to respond to an email and they tell me that they will ātryā to work it out and will ālet me knowāā¦Ugh!
@CatBee Our family is right there with you. S21ās school is also promoting student āself-advocacyā and requesting that the student handle the scheduling adjustments. Too bad the information on what can and cannot be done schedule-wise was not communicated (we had to learn bits and pieces from other parents or our S had to hear some verbally on the first day). The lines at the counselorās office are so long that issues cannot be handled in short order, while as each hour passes it gets harder and harder to accommodate changes. He managed to get one option that could have worked but because he would have had to switch out a teacher that he liked, he asked for more timeā¦ and the option went away. For a system so convoluted and dog-eat-dog, it doesnāt feel right to let freshman hash this out by their lonesome.
D is not excited to go back but does seem excited to be starting high school. We got her schedule on Wednesday and she had an orientation day Thursday. She was able to walk her schedule a few times so I think she will be pretty comfortable.
