We are a mix of 90 minute and 45 minute classes that are completed in a semester. The core classes are 90 minutes but some electives can be 45 minutes. The AP courses run 90 minutes for the fall then 45 minutes for the spring. They actually list it as two separate (ex AP Calc AB then AP Calc AB Seminar). There is one free 45 minute period for the entire school that the students use for club meetings or to meet with teachers
we have block lunch as well, kids a can eat and attend club meetings or study in the library
My kids have seven classes. One meets daily for 50 min. The others are every other day for 90 min. Some AP classes are a single slot. Others, I think mainly the lab sciences, take up two slots.
Our upper campus (7th-12th) switched this year to an A/B block schedule Mon-Thurs with Fridays alternating between A and B days. 8 total classes for 80 minutes each. My D23 has done just fine with this set-up and liked having the room to take an extra elective (only 7 classes previously) but my S26 has struggled a bit with the long class periods and not having the same classes every day. Theyāve started taking with the students about next year but we havenāt had course registration yet.
11th grade registration is complete!
Thing 1:
AP Lang
Honors Chem
Honors Pre Calc
Dual Credit US History
Band
Comp Sci
AP Psych
PSAT Team (offered by invitation, itās only a 9 week class in the Fall leading up to the PSAT in Octoberā¦AP Psych is also a 9 week class)
Thing 2:
AP Humanities Block (AP Lang + APUSH taught together as a year long class)
AP Physics 1
Honors Pre Calc
Band
AP Psych
Sociology
Comp Sci
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Must be that time of the year! We met with S23s counselor Monday The 3 AP classes will all be in the fall with the seminars in the Spring, for the rest we will have to see how the scheduling works out
Junior Year
AP CALC AB (5)
AP CALC AB Seminar (2.5)
AP Chemistry (5)
AP Chemistry Seminar (2.5)
Honors English 3 (5)
Honors Latin 3 (5)
AP US History 2 (5)
AP US History Seminar (2.5)
Honors Religion Service (5)
Ceramics (2.5)
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March 13th 2020 was the last time my kids were on campus. Looks like not going back till fall (August).
Havenāt posted in as long time. My S23 is having a rough time and definitely dealing with covid fatigue. Grades tanked, really badly, mid December. Our HS is synchronous hybrid with cohorts alternating weeks in person. He went back full time in person after winter break. Doing somewhat better but far from normal. The struggle is real, especially with a sister ('21) who doesnāt know the meaning of slide and has 3 consecutive quarters of 5.0 wgpa. Course selection is going to be a real challenge.
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Iād love to get more merit aid but I also know my kid and Iād rather have him happy. Heās well rounded and has a strong work ethic. But heās content with some As and some Bs. He didnāt lose sleep getting a C in precalc. He simply looked at things realistically and realized math isnāt his passion and itās not coming as easy as it used to and thatās okay.
While its great that some kids are able to keep their straight As in the pandemic, I donāt think it means your kid is inferior or doomed to failure if their grades dropped.
Eta: Junior schedule
English 11 (Iām not pushing AP and he doesnāt want to take it)
Intermediate College Math (gets tech school credits, he doesnāt want to take AP Calc and this is his only other choice for math. I guess itās a good ACT prep)
Physics
Spanish 3
Band
Choir
AP Music Theory (1 semester) and a college credit Personal Finance class (1 semester)
Hes looking forward to next year. Grades are popping back up. He should be able to hold his 3.4-3.6 range.
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We are trying to finalize my Ds schedule now. Although good in math and science, she doesnāt love it, so that makes things a little more challenging trying to determine which ones to take her Junior year vs her senior year.
AP Lang
AP Spanish Lang
AP US History
AP Euro
AP Bio (or AP Chem, not sure yet)
AP Calculus (or AP stats, not sure yet)
AP 2 D art
The AP 2 D art is a happy accident. Her freshman year she got place in creative photography as an elective (not her first choice). She ended up liking it enough to take Photo 2 and has excelled (won a scholastic gold key award). They are recommending she skip photo 3 and go straight to AP which means she has to put together a portfolio as their exam. I figure thatās a great thing to get put together Junior year and possibly submit with her college applications to those schools that have a creative supplement.
Any recommendations on taking calc or stat Junior year? Sheās in honors Pre calc now so she was leaning towards going right into calculus.
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@1923girls I dont know if your school is different but my son did consider taking AP Stats or AP Computer Science because he knew he didnt want to take AP Calc (hes struggling in precalc and doesnt like the teacher and his current teachers wife teaches AP Calc and hes heard they are very similar so hes digging his feet into the sand on taking it).
Anyways, my sons guidance counselor told him that he couldnt take AP Stats for his math credit his junior year (well, she highly recommended and basically told him she would likely not approve it). She said she wants kids taking the traditional sequence courses of either Algebra 2 junior year or precalc or AP Calc. She said kids can take AP Stats along with one of those other math classes as an elective but she doesnt like them just doing AP Stats the year of ACT prep. She says that unless a kid loves math, she has seen lower test scores with those kids not in a āmore traditionalā math course their junior year leading up to the ACT/SAT.
I know its different at each school and every school is different but just a thought that my sons GC made us consider. (Which is why he is taking the tech college Intermediate College Math course instead-its still listed as a ācollege prepā course yet not as intense as AP Calc). As my son has enough math credits to graduate already his sophomore year, hes considering just doing AP Stats or Computer Science his senior year to see if he likes either of those. He doesnt mind math completely but he would rather try to do some real life application stuff versus feeling like hes just doing equations (his words).
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The option for that art portfolio for your D junior year sounds great.
My D also doesnāt particularly like math or scienceā¦and they arenāt her greatest academic stregnths either. So sheās been facing similar decisions regarding her schedule. Sheās in what our school calls Accelerated Pre-Calc now and is opting for AP Calc AB for junior year, saving AP Stats for senior year. For her the reasoning was that it might be harder to do Calc after having a year away from that kind of mathā¦easier for her to do it right after pre-calc. Also, she is pretty adamant about making her senior year a touch easier, so sheād prefer to save AP Stats for senior year and get AP Calc over with. (Sheās definitely going with AB not BC). Similarly, sheās in AP Chem now but is planning AP Envs for senior year. She debated quite a bit on AP Chem vs. AP Bio for her sophomore year, but now that sheās done chem and will have AP Physics next year, since sheās not a STEM kid by any means, she just doesnāt want AP Bio senior year, so Envs is her plan.
Iāve been a little concerned about her workload for junior year, but we went back and forth on all the choices, and she really wants to take the things sheās signed up forā¦your Dās looks like a heavy workload, too!
@2plustrio thatās interesting about the Stats class in relation to ACT/SAT prep. I can see that Algebra 2 and some bits of precalc are helpful for the testing, but I wouldnāt have thought that of Calculusā¦there are a fair number of graphs, charts, and statistical reasoning type questions on the SAT - not just on the math section but also in the reading/writing sections, so I would have guessed a stats class might actually be more helpful than a calculus class for that particular purpose. Interesting that your GC has seen the reverse.
@1923girls -hoping your daughter enjoys those AP art classes!
my D16 is artsy - and loved the AP art classes and the relaxing way they were taught. (PS - a humble brag here - she just got in Rhode Island School of Design for grad school!
)
@2plustrio - good ideas over math. thanks
My question for you all: my D23 has no interest in science. Her private school has very few options for AP classes (maybe 4) - but they do include AP chem and AP bio. Iām wondering if she should take either of those for how they look on her record. Or would Dual Enrollment classes look the same? Thoughts?
I am hoping she can have a ārigourousā schedule on her transcript, but this year was a setback with changing schools, not taking any foreign language, switching some classes to include music, pe, and art. Need to step it up a bit, but iām not sure how.
She says Calc is great, but sees lower scores than expected for kids who only take AP Stats junior year and not one of the other math classes (Alg2, precalc, college math or AP calc). As stats is a math credit, some kids try to take it in lieu of one of the other math sequence courses and she wonāt allow it unless itās a special circumstance.
I wanted ārigorousā as well but after a disappointing start to sophomore year, I had some heart to heart talks with my son and we both have a renewed approach. His options may be more limited but he will still have many options. He said he would rather take regular classes and get more As than take AP classes and lose sleep and get Bs. And if a handful of schools say no because he took regular English over AP English, he will accept that.
Hes taken a few āhonorsā or accelerated courses, he will take an AP or two, a couple of what our school calls ācollege prepā where he can earn either tech school or college credits. He will get into a college thatās right for him and he will do fine.
Some kids are super motivated and do awesome in all APs but I donāt want my kid stressing and increasing his anxiety just to add a few more options to his college choice list.
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Just read your post. Think I need to have the same talk with my son as well.
Thing 2 just submitted his application for the summer Senate Page program with our US Senatorās office!!!
I know itās HIGHLY selective but he has a glowing LOR from an extended family member (my nieceās brother in law who is also my childhood friend) who is a Lieutenant Colonel with the USAF. I hope maybe that gives him some help. His other LOR is from his AP World History teacher. His Honors English teacher has spent the last month helping him with this essay. I donāt know who is more nervousā¦Thing 2 or me lol.
Does anyone have a kid who did the Senate Page program?
If youāre so inclined, please whisper a prayer or send some good juju our way!!
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Good luck! S21 paged in our State House and enjoyed the experience.
D23 is waiting for notification for a summer program, too. We wonāt get really nervous until late March, I think, since sheāll find out in early April.
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New here!
S23 is getting a lot of promotion emails from colleges already which seems to be a bit more than S21 got when he was Sophomore. Not sure if colleges have become aggressive in marketing in 2 years or S21 checked a box somewhere and he is in a huge marketing database!
@mozwo123 yes indeed, that and a lot of actual physical mail as well. My S23 does not want to throw any of it away so we just put a big box in his room and we dump them in there when they come in
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