Sorry to hear about the kiddos’ struggles with honors precalc. That class kicked D23’s butt last year, and having it entirely online for most of the year didn’t help. She’s breezing through AP Calc AB (so far); it’s so much easier.
I’m feeling some angst about her senior year course selections, though fortunately her small school is flexible with changes, so her schedule is not set in stone. She’s been leaning in heavily this year toward creative pursuits, and is considering majors like creative writing and digital media (film/television) – probably in schools that offer a BA, not BFA. Some schools require a creative portfolio or audition, others don’t. At Northwestern, for example, a student can actually major in dance (another interest of hers) without an audition. (Of course, a student has to get past their 9% acceptance rate first. )
Her current senior senior schedule is:
creative writing (she’s taking this year, and recognizes that in addition to teaching her a lot, the class keeps her disciplined with regular writing)
theater 2 (not just acting, there will be some writing and directing as well)
Eng honors (the required course; at her school AP Lit is an elective)
AP calc BC (hopefully she won’t regret this the second half of senior year, but she says she thinks stats is boring/annoying)
AP Econ - just because it seems interesting
AP Psychology - ditto
So, no world language or science. She does have four years of science because she took a year over the summer. In Spanish, she took AP in 10th grade and is in a post-AP class this year, so she has reached a good proficiency level. I dunno, though. I’m surprised her college counselor allowed this schedule. There is a 7th slot, but they typically don’t recommend 7 courses for seniors.
Courses: the preliminary plan is set but the details on exact courses are never known until the end of the year.
She is in BC calc now, so next year will do Linear Algebra and multivariable, AP foreign language, a required senior humanities course, Honors English(taking AP literature this year–English is done somewhat differently here and not technically called AP so the test stays optional but is encouraged and she chose Lit first so AP language will be next year if opts in–all other AP tests are always mandatory if you take the course). Electives are her 4th yr of her fine art, An AP humanities(Gov or Econ or a semester of both), and the science is still being debated (she will have done Hon Chem, Hon Bio, APChem, APPhys1, APPhysC by the end of this year). The options left will depend on if there are enough kids, but hopefully will work out.
With 4 AP tests at the end of this year, her focus is just continuing to work hard in those classes and deal with the science issue once she has all the information.
Please post your thoughts after your tours. My D isn’t considering any schools in Texas (too flat, not green enough she says…I know, it’s silly) but I’m still working on her, especially for Austin College.
They’re quite generous, and it’s all stats-based, thus easy to predict—just remember that they do not superscore the ACT, though (if I recall correctly) they do superscore the SAT.
Exactly. My son has many talents and doesnt lack intelligence. He has the emotional maturity but some executive function skills like advanced planning and follow through lag. This isnt unusual for teen boys brains to not be fully developed. Some kids thrive under pressure where my kid will actively avoid it.
He teaches ski lessons and works at a bar running food and helping cook in the kitchen. He sings, plays 3 instruments, and weight lifts for football and track. Hes pretty good at gaming and his gaming videos on social media have about 1 million total views.
I know he worries about money a lot. So I feel its my job to help collect solid information to present to him so he can make an informed decision.
What is Boy’s State? I’m not familiar with that program and don’t believe I know any kids who have participated.
S23 is busy with science fair and build season so I’m trying not to add more to his plate. However, we casually discussed class selection and he will likely take IB Physics 2, AP Lit, MVC, and IB Comp Sci 2. He’s currently enrolled in his fourth year of foreign language and has met his graduation requirement for history, so he doesn’t have to take any more classes in those areas. Still, he might take IB World 2 or Econ. For electives, he’s considering debate or public speaking.
I always encourage him to balance tough classes with some easier/fun classes and suggested yoga or pottery to round out his schedule. We have some time to discuss it as class selection doesn’t happen here until late March.
@FourAtShore - Looks like a great schedule! Love the opportunity to try some different classes and maybe spark some new passion. Just did the online tour of Boston College, they have a dance minor and don’t require any audition. You are also free to just take elective classes in the theater department
Since there’s been some talk about senior year schedules here, my kid’s is starting to take shape, though she won’t be able to actually register til April. Here’s her current plan, all DE except for the senior seminar, which is mainly a preparation for/applying to college/apprenticeships/military class:
Senior seminar {½ HS credit}
Econ {undecided between micro or macro, either way 3 college/1 HS credit, an econ course is required for HS graduation here}
First-year composition {3 college/1 HS credit}
Music Theory I/Aural Skills I {co-requisites, respectively 3 college/1 HS and 2 college/½ HS credit}
Physics lab {1 college/½ HS credit}
They like to limit the students in her program to 12 college credits/semester, but she’s been doing well enough that they’ll probably clear her for 15, in which case she might take German 201 (which is where her AP German score places her), but that course is only ever offered in the evening and so it might present scheduling issues for the family; another possibility might be Intro to Literature, but then again she might just stick with 12 credits.
I don’t think I’ve posted in this thread in a long time, probably back when it first started.
Are there any 23ers here in the IB Diploma Programme? D23 is my last of four, and the only one who chose this option. The philosophy of teaching/curriculum really interested her and she has really been enjoying it. I was worried about it when she first started, as I heard how stressful it can be, but she seems to be managing quite well so far. She’s getting ready to choose her schedule next year though, and she is a bit bummed because in 9th grade, her counselor who was new and unfamiliar with IB, had her take APUSH in 10th grade, and apparently that was a mistake - she should have taken a different history that year b/c for some reason (I can’t recall what she told me), she is now having to take some other required history course as an elective, so she doesn’t have room for an elective she would have liked to have taken. Not a big deal in the grand scheme of things and she is not the only one who has this issue.
She is starting to compile her college list but has a strong desire to attend university in either Ireland or the UK. She has that list already put together and will apply, but also will apply to US schools. She’s having trouble putting together a list b/c she wants to be “in a city” and so far, not so interested in anything other than the Northeast. I’ve thrown a few midwestern city options out there but so far, she hasn’t been too enthused.
We were hoping to do a spring break tour of Dublin and several UK schools, but I’m too worried about getting stuck overseas if one of us tests positive for Covid, which would then mean she would miss school. So now we are thinking of possibly going to NY/Boston instead. Her break is not until mid-April so we still have some time.
She has a day off coming up in a couple of weeks so we might visit Univ of Richmond. We live near DC so it would be an easy overnight trip for us.
Jumping in with the Honors Precalc struggles! My D leveled down from Honors. She started really struggling with the pace second quarter, despite hours of studying and going in for extra help. The extra help didn’t actually help though, since the teacher would just go over the same problems in the same way at the same pace. I wish we’d realized a little earlier what was happening and found a tutor who explained things differently to help it all click for her.
As far as classes for next year, she has a few weeks to decide. So far she’s thinking:
AP Psychology
AP Spanish
Honors Calc
Honors Anatomy & Physiology
Honors Gov
Personal Finance (required, semester class)
Senior advisory (required, semester class)
Plus another year of English. She’s in AP Lang now and doesn’t want to take AP Lit. Her high school offers some cool English electives so she’ll probably pick one of those.
Accelerated Pre-calc/Trig
Anatomy & Physiology
Creative Writing 1 and 2 (she, too, took AP Lang and doesn’t want to do AP Lit)
Gov’t/Econ (each a semester long course)
AP Chinese
PE (required all 4 years)
She will have a study hall 1st semester to help give her time to work on college applications and get a breather, she is still trying to figure out which elective she might want to take 2nd semester senior year (after she is done with college apps).
I felt so helpless - I could see the struggles reflected in his grades, but he was doing so. much. studying.
I - and he - really believed that if he just kept throwing hours and brain cells at it, he would overcome it.
But it’s just not happening.
@4kids4us - my kid wants a city also. On our list are schools in Philly/Pitt/Richmond/Atlanta/New Orleans. Plus a bunch of big state Us that might squeak in as acceptable because they’re just so big, the lack of a city wouldn’t be as glaring. Boston, despite being a college mecca, just doesn’t seem to have any big merit candidates, so it’s not being considered.
He also wants overseas - University of Melbourne, specifically. It might still happen; we are dual nationals and he can get domestic rates, he’s been told by the admissions rep.
Our high school offers a full slate of IB and AP classes and kids can choose which level of class they want to take. S23 likes both and tends to pick IB classes in subjects where he wants more depth. For example, he enjoys math but he doesn’t want to do a math IA so will choose multi-variable calc instead of IB Math HL.
That’s a bummer about the elective history class. Which history class should she have taken according to her counselor? Our typical social studies pathway is Pre-IB Govt/Geo>IB/APUSH>IB World Hist>IB History of the Americas or IB/AP Econ.
American Legion Boys State and American Legion Auxiliary Girls State are summer leadership and citizenship programs for high school juniors, which focus on exploring the mechanics of American government and politics. The programs are sponsored by the American Legion and the American Legion Auxiliary respectively. (Boys/Girls State - Wikipedia)
You basically spend a week at the State Capitol, participants are divided into “cities” and then mock elect municipal leaders, state representatives and legislators and then state government officials like governer/lt governer etc. They run mock legislative activities etc.
I never got around to watching it before my free trial of Apple TV expired, but “Boy’s State,” about the Texas iteration of the program, looked like an interesting documentary.
Thanks for the info! That is exactly the kind of thing D23 needs to be researching.
I actually think both Psych and Econ could be useful for a career in the creative arts - Psych for character development and Econ for an understanding of the business side. So those courses, besides just sounding interesting to her, make sense for her admissions “narrative” so to speak.
@Gatormama yep, this is an issue for us as well, which is why I was trying to have her look at alternatives in the midwest. She is convinced that she wants to be “in a city” environment but can’t explain why.
@mountainsoul I misspoke. She is required to take three years of history/social studies. She wanted to take AP GOV as a sophomore but her counselor mistakenly thought it was only open to juniors and seniors so she took AP Psych, not APUSH. Then she found out this year that she has to take a government class as one of her “history/soc studies” courses. Her IB history class apparently satisfies the US History requirement but there is not a government component so she now has to take a separate Government class in addition to the IB History class next year.
She is all annoyed b/c her counselor was unaware of all of this despite knowing D was planning to apply to the IB programme. As mentioned, she’s not the only IB kid in this boat though.
I had to look up what classes the twins registered for, there was so much back and forth and as soon as it was submitted I tried to forget. The big decision was both boys dropped foreign langauges. One will have 4 years of French and the other 3 years of German. Luckily for the math twin, it looks like German 4 won’t be offered next year so Guidance Counselor can write it wasn’t an option in her letter. Also Math twin decided after taking Diff E at CC, he is going to return to taking math classes at the HS.
Math Twin: AP English, AP Stats, Linear Algebra, Band, AP Physics C E/M, AP European History and AP Micro
Econ Twin: AP English, AP Stats, AP Calc C, Band, AP Enviromental Science, AP European History and AP Psych (which he will probably drop to TA for Econ teacher)
It’s crazy looking at their schedules that they think they may not have enough rigor. I really pushed them to consider mental health and time commitment to ECs and college applications. They hope to have essays done by start of school next year, that would be great, but not sure it will happen. They are spending a lot of time with very stressed seniors who are getting lots of surprise deferrals, which makes me not look forward to this time next year.
Finalized class schedule here and my D seems to feel comfortable with it. She will take Honors Econ this summer through our virtual program vs taking AP Econ at school. That class tends to be a gpa killer for a lot of kids at our high school especially if you have no interest. Otherwise, she’s lined up to take AP Spanish, AP Lit, AP Stat, AP Environmental, AP Gov, AP Art History and a free period where she interns in a class/office and earns service hours. She’s not a stem kid and already took AP Calc AB and no desire to take AP Chem or AP Physics.
Starting to get her list down to something manageable. We will spend Easter touring on our own some LACs in Ohio to see if she likes the feel/look of the campuses. Then hopefully one last trip to see Vassar in May (and a little fun in NYC) and then we can start discussing if any of her schools is the one that she wants to consider applying ED. My D19 got turned down by her ED choice and that was brutal for a while although it worked out much better in the end. Not sure I’m ready for that roller coaster again!
We did get some good news that our county is offering a free ACT test on a school day for all Juniors. She did well getting a 33 on her first try but was “pointy” with a lower than desired score in math. Hopefully, she can bring it up just a couple of points and maybe we can be done with the standardized testing.
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