We are all recovered with Covid now. DS24 did test positive with the PCR test. It was a surprise since he showed almost no symptoms.
D26’s PCR test was negative so she is cleared to go back to school on Thursday (I think) but DS24 has to wait until the following Monday.
The school’s protocol is test date + 10 day isolation and return without a new PCR test. The new CDC guideline is symptom/test date + 5 day isolation. I believe the new CA guideline is symptom/test date + 5 day isolation + negative antigen test. I’m sure it’s going to change again.
I suspect we will see a massive disruption and confusion over the next few weeks. I’m seeing the report of a dramatic increase in test positive in NorCal with a high vaccination rate. And we can’t find at-home antigen tests (amazon’s delivery date is Jan 14th).
Glad to hear you are all recovered. Hope your DS continues to have no symptoms and he can back to school.
Yes I am also expecting things to be a bit crazy with the next 2 to 3 weeks, until numbers start going down and with many people travelling over holidays and just getting back I expect to see more cases in the schools.
Glad everyone has recovered! Waiting for the CDC to approve for 12+ with boosters. Last week I booked an appointment for D24 for Saturday in anticipation of the approval. Still trying to get a Friday appointment though.
The line for the PCR test at school was really long today when I picked up D24 (cleared to play now!) from soccer practice today so we took an antigen test at home. S21 and D24 are good to go. S21’s friend’s brother was exposed and the dad and bro have symptoms. S21’s friend took one of my tests and is isolating at auntie’s house so that he can continue to stay negative and head back to UCLA on Friday. I ordered a bunch of at home tests the last few weeks knowing that I’d have any visitor take them before they can hang out here, so now I’m practically administering tests for S21’s friends by default when they visit.
We have an appointment for S24 on friday at 230, hoping that we can go if the CDC finalizes the approval by then! Appointments for boosters are almost as difficult to find here as appointments for testing and between school and weekend school if he doesnt go this weekend he may have to wait until presidents week!
Did we discuss schedules for next year yet? This is coming up in a few weeks here. So my S21 was not looking at T50 schools (performing arts major) so this was not a major issue in our house. Our school does not allow AP in 10th grade and tries to limit to 3 in 11th. He will definitely take APUSH and AP Lang along with honors pre-calculus and Italian. The question is science. He would prefer AP Bio but I think he has to take physics. Our school requires honors levels before AP. Any thoughts? His last two classes will be honors orchestra and maybe AP environmental science or the first part of capstone if they offer it.
Course selection is coming up soon here as well (I think starting at the end of the month). Our school district also doesn’t offer AP until 11th grade (I am in favor of this policy as it eliminates the AP madness and kids at our school get into excellent colleges so it doesn’t appear to be an issue). So far S24 is looking at AP Lang, APUSH and AP Spanish for next year. He may also add AP Physics 1 (as it doesn’t require honors physics first). He’d prefer AP Bio, but seniors get first dibs on that so it would be unusual for him to get it (and he’ll need to take honors or AP Physics at some point so might as well get it out of the way). Other than that he’ll be taking honors pre-calc and some electives (though not sure which ones).
Sounds like our schools think alike! I actually think it works out well. My son has done really well with his all honors schedule and if we threw in AP classes with the chaos of the back to in person schedule I dont think it would have gone as well. I am not sure he will do as well in physics as he would in AP bio so the question is which to take in 11 and which in 12? Probably the one he would do better in first, right?
I’d take the one he is stronger in if that is a possibility. My son may try for AP Bio, but I’m doubtful he’d get it – it’s super popular for seniors and they get priority. My S22 is taking honors physics this year (as a senior) and it is going OK - he is not nearly as strong in math and science as his brother but he is still getting a B+ (which he is working hard for). Because my older kiddo hasn’t taken any science or math APs I’m not as familiar with those. APUSH and AP Lit have seemed the most challenging so far of those he has taken. Lots of reading!
agreed! Ap lang seems to be highly teacher dependent, a good teacher makes a huge difference. My older S is not a science person either so it is all new! I can tell you everything about drama programs though if you are interested!
Did we discuss schedules for next year yet? This is coming up in a few weeks here. So my S21 was not looking at T50 schools (performing arts major) so this was not a major issue in our house. Our school does not allow AP in 10th grade and tries to limit to 3 in 11th. He will definitely take APUSH and AP Lang along with honors pre-calculus and Italian. The question is science. He would prefer AP Bio but I think he has to take physics. Our school requires honors levels before AP. Any thoughts? His last two classes will be honors orchestra and maybe AP environmental science or the first part of capstone if they offer it.
We haven’t had to make decisions yet on classes for next year, but I think it’ll be coming up either later this month or maybe it’s in Feb that they do that. D24 is going to take:
AP English Lit
AP US History
AP Calculus AB - she’s taking Honors Calculus this year
AP French - her school started everybody in their foreign language back in 7th grade; in 12th grade, there’s an optional French capstone/literature class (which I think she’ll opt to not take in favor of a history class instead)
AP Environmental Studies - this is instead of AP Chem. AP Chem teacher is same teacher as she has this year for Honors Chem & that teacher isn’t very good.
Honors Physics - the physics teacher is GREAT! Same teacher as who D26 has this year for physics in 8th grade. He’s fabulous.
Our school requires honors classes before a lot of APs. So, for example, in 9th grade, they have everybody take 2 english classes: Lit & Lang. Then in 10th grade, they take AP English Language and in 11th grade, AP English Literature. For the sciences, same format…you take the honors class first, then AP class the following year. School administration said that they’ve found that by doing it this way, students pass the AP exams more often at the end of the AP year.
D24 is filling her fine arts requirement through doing choir after school as an extracurricular through a community children’s choir, otherwise she’d probably be taking Art 2D next year also.
This morning, DH took D24 to the DMV so she could get her driver’s permit! Ack! Holy cow. Time is flying by now.
I am amazed by all of these kids, I continue to be shocked by the amount of school work and extracurriculars they manage to do, get good grades and still manage to seem to sleep!
I am amazed by all of these kids, I continue to be shocked by the amount of school work and extracurriculars they manage to do, get good grades and still manage to seem to sleep!
D24 definitely has less of a workload this year compared to last school year, despite the fact that she has AP Bio, AP English Language, & AP Euro History this year. She had a boatload more reading last year and has also commented that the Honors Bio class was more intense than AP Bio has been this year. I also think that what’s different is attending school in person compared to it all being online last year…and last year, most of her teachers assigned a TON of reading assignments, whereas this year, the reading is way more manageable and there are other types of assignments in the mix instead.
Plus, her elective last year was Anatomy & Physiology, which had a boatload of reading. This year, her elective is Robotics, which has turned out to be an easy class with hardly any HW. At her school, it’s mostly middle schoolers who the Robotics elective & she’s the oldest kid in that class (even though high schoolers can take it, too).
D24 has friends who are in a ton of extracurriculars, but her extracurriculars aren’t a big time suck so far. She’s in the yearbook club - that meets once/week for an hour after school on Wednesdays. She & D26 are in the VEX Robotics club together - that’s after school for an hour-ish on Fridays…they have a Robotics competition on a Saturday later this month. D24 & D26 are just doing it for fun; no pressure or anything like that. 1 of D24’s friends is on the team, too. And D24 does choir for 1.5 hr every Thurs evening.
When she was younger, D24 & D26 both were on a swim team. That was a major time commitment. It was obvious that if they were to stick with it, that swimming would be pretty much the only thing they could do as an extracurricular. They enjoyed it, but didn’t love love LOVE it, so the sports thing sort of dropped off. Now they swim occasionally for fun. And our bank account is appreciative because OMG the constant fees & costs of year-round club swim teams! Swim meets every month, parent volunteer requirements, practice 5-6 days a week. It was crazy.
ha! yes! my S does a high time suck and expensive single extracurricular (music) and it is only worthwhile because he loves it. School work and practice/music school takes up almost all of his time, these kids definitely do a lot more than was expected of us in the late 80s
Ah, the days of being a comp swim mom behind me…at least S21 is still swimming for leisure in college.
D24 is still deciding and she’s planning with S21 who’s still home for winter break. I think she plans on taking AP Calc AB, AP Bio, AP Lang, APUSH, Honors Biomed, and maybe AP Stat because she could end up with her current Honors Math teacher whom she adores.
S21 is lecturing her on balancing. This is the “Hey, your 99% in math was still the same A as my 90% in math.” But according to him, if she took any of the reg classes, she’d still have homework. And some of his AP classes weren’t bad his junior year. He took AP Bio and AP Physics, along with AP Cal, Lang, USH but swapped engineering w/ biomed class. Both of my kids would rather do a little more homework and be with friends than take classes w/o their friends in them.
We still need to decide the next year’s classes but I expect something like
AP Lang - we might change to another dual enrollment class, philosophies on literature since S24 is not very strong with his writing.
APUSH, AP BIO, PreCal (path to take AP Calc AB next year). He is finishing Spanish 3 this year but he wants to stop. Human physiology (H) or AP computer science principal might be an option.
He is also continuing with 3rd year of the photo studio (UC honor level for next year). He enjoys it and is pretty good at it.
Circling back to the college/major/cost discussion. I want to find a good balance of challenging classes so that he has a chance for T30-T50 schools while not overpressuring him early in his life.
My personal view is that most kids (80%+) don’t know what they want to become and major in college. For those who know what they want, a large chunk will change their major while in college. I really think they have time to figure things out first 2 years of college.
The way I see it, there are 2 obstacles to getting ahead in your adult life after college, college debt and down payment for a house (assuming you have a job that can support yourself). If a person has no college debt and is able to purchase a house early in his life, it makes things a lot easier/quicker. At least this is my experience and observation in silicon valley last 25 years… I could be wrong.
I will either pay for their private college tuition or UC tuition + help with the down payment. But I can’t do both $80k tuition + down payment help.
Class selection for next year starts on Feb 1st for us. We had a prelim discussion and so far we are leaning towards:
AP Cal BC
AP Lang
APUSH
Physics honors (school does not offer AP Physics1 they go direct to AP Physics C)
French 4 honors.
Art → Not sure which one yet. He may choose drama or photography.
Varsity tennis
Since we are in the California and the UC system treats our schools honors programs equivalent to APs for GPA we decided to French 4 honors instead of AP French.
This is what we are thinking and if there is a change one change I can see is it will be do regular US history and then do AP CS A. Our school guarantees only 6 periods also only one science class per year so if we want to do AP Chem and Physics honors we may not get a spot this year. In senior year there is a better chance of getting two science classes.
I here AP Lang is one class that can help with college essay aspects. That is one reason we have decided to do AP Lang. So even if he does not do AP lang may be some class that helps his writing may be a good choice.
I agree with you if the kids can come out of college with out debt that is ideal and helps them in life moving forward. Our plan is similar to yours if he goes to UC we will pay for grad school or help else where as needed (whether it be a car or down payment for house). So far we have not told him beyond paying for college though and may do so this summer.
“Hey, your 99% in math was still the same A as my 90% in math. @MommaLue this made me laugh. This is what my son tells me many times and we have to have a discussion about doing your best.
Is your D24 done with the foreign language requirement? Interesting she is planning to do math classes.
