Checking in from FL. Just posted the same thing on the 2019 thread, but we are safe from Irma and only had a few tree limbs down. Lost power for 6 hours which is nothing compared to our friends who are three days into it so far. We told a bunch of our kids friends they could sleep over to get a good night sleep with air conditioning - not sure how much of a good sleep it will be though now that we are at 12 kids sleeping over! Gathering all the air mattresses I can find but I am sure some will end up with couch cushions thrown on the floor.
We donāt have built in study halls at our school. If you are on the advanced track you canāt really fit in a free period until at least Junior year. My D19 has last period free this year but it is because she is doing an online class so she still has a full schedule. I told her Junior year is the most important so I didnāt think she should take a completely free period.
I also donāt love the AP situation. We are doing them so we have a rigorous schedule, not to get college credit. I now the private schools are starting to get rid of AP because they say it forces them to only teach one way, they canāt expand into areas that arenāt āon the test.ā As of now our school still has them though and the kids want to stay in classes with their friends and they know it should help come college time so we just keep doing them.
The two biggest advantages of taking APs at our school are better teachers and better group of kids. Simple as that. This according to D18 who has taken 7 APs.
The advanced courses are our school are AP or IB. So if one is trying for a rigorous schedule they will have to take AP coursesā¦
Since that is the case, I sure want D have exposure to AP calc based physics, AP Chem, Calc BC, etc before college. I think it will make her second run easier if she has had exposure before.
Weighing in on AP: our two kids in college did not get any ācreditā for their courses, though they had many friends who did and/or who were allowed to skip intro courses at our public uni and other places. Both older kids had huge numbers of AP and IB courses. Our high school junior will have completed ten AP courses by the end of this year (1 as a freshman, 4 as a sophomore, and 5 this year, along with two IB courses). By the end of senior year, heāll have a few more APs as well as all six IB courses, some of which comprise two years. Our D21 has one AP this year (Geography); I wish our school offered AP Government because if it did she would have two. AP and IB are very different programs, and I like both. I think the reason I like them is that the tests are a referendum on how well they did within a national or international arenaāand they are only competing against themselves. In general I like the curriculum. I also agree with those who talk about rigor and better teachers.
I do think there are different views on APs and their merit, and I acknowledge that many feel differently with good reasons.
Uggh, D21 is struggling with her AP Gov homework at the moment, a couple of short essays due tomorrow that had her in tears. I had to help her calm her stress level enough to proceedā¦yes, I want her to do her best and to stretch herself beyond her comfort level but not make herself sick over the first homework assignment in the class with a little substance. The class does seem to presuppose a knowledge of the workings of government (as it should, after all, if itās supposed to be a college level class) but that is WHY Iām doubting whether itās a good idea for any except the most precocious of students ( grade-wise, D was in the top group of her middle school class, but I still donāt know that sheās intellectually ready for this.) She did learn some of the basics of government in her U.S. history class last year, and we do a fair amount of talking about current events and issues at homeā¦but to write these essays with any sophistication, I think she would have needed a basic government class first. Sheās struggling to articulate opinions about public policy when she doesnāt have nuts and bolts information about how public policy works yet. And writing about complex ideas really isnāt her forteā (yet.) Itās too late for her to drop the class. Iām sure sheāll learn a good deal but I think we may be in for a stressful year. I had to reassure her that itās OK, itās a process, it doesnāt have to be perfect, just her best shot, and that I care more about what she learns than about than the grade she gets in the class. Sigh. I think tonight is the night when high school really began. Bring it on! X_X
@inthegarden Oh no! Can D go talk to the teacher and get some guidance? Iām willing to bet that, if she can get a good relationship going with the teacher, the class will get better.
At our high school (and I think at some others that were mentioned above), AP Gov is a semester class only for seniors. Seems a little odd that itās offered to freshman. From what weāve experienced with S19 all AP history classes require quite a bit of sophistication when it comes to writing.
Thanks, @homerdog, I think the teacher is actually very approachableā¦she has won some teaching awards and has a reputation for being good-humored. But I also hate the idea of getting the rep of being a helicopter mom right off the bat (even though I probably am one, lol) or sending the wrong message to D. There are a lot of freshmen in the classā¦I have to assume that not all of them have this complete knowledge either and that the teacher works around it, somehow. Iām just wrapping my head around the idea that sheās barely turned the corner from childhood and is now grappling with essays that require some understanding of geopolitics before sheās learned some basics. She was trying to write about the current crisis with North Korea and what āwe the peopleā can do about it. Sheesh! No one seems to know the answer to that one!
I have heard multiple times that many consider AP gov one of the easier onesā¦still! I will just have to repeat the mantra ālearning is a process, itās OK, just jump in and give it your best try!ā D is a bit of a cautious type who is afraid of making mistakes.
^Oh, I see, you meant for D (not me) to approach the teacher. Yes, thatās a good ideaā¦problem is, D probably wouldnāt do that. Doesnāt like to bring that much attention to herself, even if it would benefit her. She will probably just slog along and hope for the best (while stressing over homework.)
@Bingewatcher, I donāt know if most do, but probably most of what would be considered the top 20% or so doā¦by all means, many are not gifted or highly precocious kids, just reasonably bright, solid academic kids slightly above grade level.
@inthegarden Do we have the same child? Not wanting to approach the teacher? That is definitely frustrating.
I have three undergraduate degrees - two of them are in history and political science, which are closely intertwined. I butted heads a LOT with my older daughterās history teacher last year. A truly awful teacher. She did approach him, but it was useless. I actually went to the guidance office over one thing - he didnāt let her make up class work she missed because she was being inducted into National Honor Society. I had to help her at home in that class, because he was no help. I never felt guilty about it. If he wasnāt going to teach her, I was. She got a B for the year ā¦ a lot of the kids got Cs and Ds. It really made her hate history, which broke my heart.
Helicopter mom? Iām more like Air Force One. =))
DS21 has 3 APs (Calc, Physics 1 and Comp Sci) and he has very little homework so far. My fear is that he will make As in the courses but have a very difficult time on the actual AP exam. I am not too concerned with getting credit for college but he hopes to apply to our state science and math school for 11th/12th so he will need great scores on the AP exams. We purchased the Princeton AP books and told him he might want to start working through them if he wants to do well on the actual AP exams.
He is taking Honors Spanish III and we were concerned he might not be ready for it but his teacher gets easily distracted and seems to love history and culture so discusses it for most of the lessons. The class is interesting but he is not learning the language. We were hoping to take AP Spanish next year but unless he supplements a lot of the material he will not be ready.
DS is very STEM-oriented and the material should not be overly difficult for him. His middle school gave very few writing assignments and it shows in his writing. Next year he will probably take AP World History and that will be a tougher challenge.
Advocating for yourself is so important! Our kids used to be uncomfortable with it until I basically insisted. Now, whenever they have questions (especially before a test), they go in early to talk to the teachers. Itās especially important because (1) theyāll need recommendations for apps eventually and teachers get to know them better, (2) learning to advocate now means theyāll be able to do it when they go away to school and (3) it builds such confidence and that snowballs and makes them better students! Oh, and one moreā¦I think their grades get better because, when the teacher knows you personally, they sometimes look out for you a bit.
I get the auto email l for any grade in any class less than a 100, so I keep up with how she is doing.
Well she has gotten an 80 and 90 in English far.
The thing is she works really hard on her homework and is a cross your T and dot your I kinda girl. She is down right anal about school work.
So I asked her to talk to her English teacher to see if he has office or tutoring time she could meet with him to see how she can improve. Hopefully she does this today.
At D21ās HS, only a few freshmen are allowed to take AP courses.
For those taking pre-calc as a freshmen, not many mind you, a student may take AP Stat simultaneously. And this is the 1st year for the āspanish immersionā kids entering our local HS (they started spanish in K), so some of them tested into AP Spanish. But thatās about it. Otherwise no AP classes for freshmen. And APās are very limited for Sophomores as well.
My D isnāt taking an AP class, nor do I think sheās ready for that level of rigor yet.
@BingeWatcher Do you get the papers back? I found it frustrating with my older DD in Literature last year when there would be grades entered online but neither of us saw many of papers to see what the comments, if any, were.
The ones I did see, I disagreed with the assessments from a writing standpoint (Iām a long-time writer and editor). But that kind of thing is subjective, unless it involves grammar and sentence structure. And even then, sometimes sentence structure can be loosey-goosey if it helps the flow.
And I hate to keep talking about my DD18 here, since itās the wrong thread, but she is my bellweather for a lot of things. She even named herself āfirst pancakeā on my snapchat.
Hi! Iām new here. I have an S21 whose been in HS all of two weeks now
Heās not the most motivated of students but has tended to be a B+ student in a mix of honors and regular classes in middle school when I stay on him about homework. His strengths tend to be in math and social studies while he hates writing and foreign language. Most of the time, heād rather be playing videogames with his friends. Iāve been riding him a bit since school started about what heās going to do for extracurriculars because heās dropped his sport (played rec-level soccer) and dropped out after a brief try of Boy Scouts. But heās decided to take guitar lessons, participate in a new church youth group (he worked at their summer camp), and just applied for a local government internship program.
Heās at a new high school in our district, a project-based learning school that integrates college-prep core with science/technology/career classes. So, his schedule includes:
ā¢ Algebra 2/Trig Intensified (aka honors)
ā¢ World History Intensified
ā¢ English 9
ā¢ Biology
ā¢ French 3
ā¢ PE
ā¢ Elective rotation ā currently in TV production and then will take Animal Science, Engineering, and Automotive Technology throughout the year.
Itās a small program right now, only about 100 kids in his grade and Iām hopeful that the smaller classes and project & career focus will help spark some interest from a kid who thinks all school is boring. Two weeks in, he doesnāt love it but doesnāt hate it and at least generally likes his teachers. Misses his friends but still keeping an open mind. If it isnāt working for him after 9th grade he can transfer back to the regular high school.
Commenting on the AP discussionā¦our HSs only offer one AP for freshman ā AP World History and when I went to an info meeting for the regular HS the counselors discouraged kids from taking it. There is also an āintensifiedā level offered that they recommended for most higher-achieving kids.
My sonās school actually wonāt offer any AP classes but most of the 11th-12th grade classes will be dual enrollment so they will get college credit for those and can take the AP tests if they wish. If he goes to a state U the credit transfer should be straightforward and thatās likely where he will end up. But, really, I donāt have huge aspirations of HS credits reducing time in college, I just want him to take challenging classes that prepare him to do the college work and the dual enrollment seems like it will serve him as well as AP for that.
Looking forward to joining in the discussion here!
So far for D, Debate is the class that is causing the most anxiety. She is signed up for something called āCXā debate where you have a partner. this is going to require texting and meeting with her partner outside of class, not Dās strong suit.
