I am in MA also, our schools are definitely solid and I think our kids in honor classes are probably comparable to the AP classes in other states.
Thanks! I am debating because he will also be taking
AP Language
AP Research
AP Physics
AP Comp Sci A
Honors Trig/Pre-Calc
Honors Application Development
I donāt know if we should just opt for honors US History or if itās that much of a difference between honors and APUSH. Heās a STEM kid and not particularly interested in history. Might be something to discuss with the counselor. I donāt really care how he ends up doing on the AP test, but I wouldnāt want him to get a bad grade or just be totally overloaded.
@helpingthekid73 LOL. You and me both!! I have been trying to find something for this Friday so we would have Sat and Sun to recover (she was fine with the first two shots) but everything is booked thru next week in our area. CVS site is down right now. However, if you guys google Costco COVID appointment, you may get lucky. I got one just now for this Friday PM.
I canāt say whether I agree or disagree with this, but I can imagine a lot of parents where I am would be really mad. My kid went to private middle school where only one year acceleration was allowed, so he entered high school in Geometry. Heās in a specialty program and most of the kids entered in Algebra 2. Some of them even entered in Trig/Pre-Calc. There are definitely parents who put their kids in programs like Kumon to accelerate them very early in math, and I think they would be VERY against this.
Mine had two days of high fever with the second dose so this is a prime weekend to get this done with his saturday music program online and monday an easy school day. I am taking my illegally booked appointment and running with it, good luck!
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So my S24 went to private school for 4-7th grade and his 7th grade accelerated math class was a hot mess so he had to repeat algebra when returning to public school in 8th grade. He is therefore "on level for math. It is the best thing that we could have done for him. He is excelling again in math and finding the high level honors class easy when his brother struggled at a younger age. There are certainly many who do wonderfully with accelerated math but keeping kids on age level is not a terrible thing.
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I agree with this. Math is one of those topics where you donāt want to make sure you get it right and get the foundation right. Most students have to take math of some sort in college and you just canāt short cut it. D24ās friend is smart but math isnāt one of his strong topics. He made the choice to take reg math (he was in accelerated the first two weeks) and heās thriving. Heās understanding the concepts and heās doing well, which is such an important confidence booster for him. He wants to study in a STEM field (wonāt require advanced math but will require some like calculus) and I know this move will have him prepared for college. I think he wouldāve been miserable in accelerated, just get by, and not sure if he wouldāve been able to grasp the foundational concepts he needs.
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Just learned about this the other day and wanted to share in case anybody wasnāt aware of this yetā¦Univ. of New Mexico and New Mexico State University both have WUE (Western Undergraduate Exchange) program merit scholarships which can make the total COA (cost of attendance) pretty attractive.
In our case, being AZ residents, is takes a total of $11,000-$12,000/yr off of the total COA compared to ASU or UofA.
NMSU is in Las Crucesā¦reminds me a lot of the geography, look & feel around Tucson. Nearest airport is El Paso (~ 1 hr drive from Las Cruces).
Theyāre both going on our list to tour some time down the road (i.e., in 11th grade). Both schools have honors colleges and the WUE scholarship renewal requirements arenāt painful (15 credits/semester & 2.5 avg GPA).
New Mexico Tech also has WUE scholarships (and Colorado Reciprocity scholarships)ā¦itās a STEM school, so if you want to major in the Humanities, donāt go here, but it has a really good reputation in engineering & computer science disciplines amongst employers. Itās kind of in the middle of nowhere (Socorro, ~ 1 hr from ABQ), but they do offer an explosives class (I think itās in the mechanical engineering department?) where students get to blow stuff up. 
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Thank you to those of you discussing the booster. Iād been watching the CDC like a hawk and kept trying to make a CVS appt this morning but kept coming up ineligible. I recalled there was a slight delay in CA last time too. But Iād stopped trying around 2:00 pm. When I saw some of you having success, I tried again. Well, this time CVS said she was eligible, but there were no appointments in a 50 mile radius. So I kept tapping on other locations. Actually found a single appt for tomorrow at 9:45 am in our area. I snagged it. I did have to say she was immunocompromised because Albertsonās/Vonās hasnāt updated their system to let normal 12-15 yr olds register, but I feel no guilt because 1) all 12-15 yr olds are now eligible, their system is just behind. And 2) my daughter has had numerous medical issues and whoās to say one of them wouldnāt put her at higher risk? So Iāll take her out of school for about an hour tomorrow and get it done! The next available appts in my area arenāt until later next week, so I feel like I seriously lucked out. The kids went back to school this week and I know our town is already getting hit.
I also wanted to report that DD24 managed to get an A in that Chemistry class with the bad teacher. She got an 89.63 which got her the A-. We also got her a different teacher. Turns out she wasnāt the only student trying to get out of the bad teacherās class. At least one other student switched into her new teacherās class with her. A few others went to other classes, but a few more didnāt make it out. She did wind up with one B (a B+ in Algebra 2+), but she worked hard, so hopefully she wonāt beat herself up about it.
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My son (DS22) had accelerated himself by taking geometry in summer school after freshman year and weād been considering the same for DD24. She had actually been accelerated and taken Algebra 1 in 8th. But even though she had Aās both semesters, it had taken me doing her assignments with her side-by-side to get those grades because her teacher didnāt explain things very well. So she requested to repeat Algebra 1 in 9th to feel more comfortable (and she doesnāt have the best memory for math). I supported that since Algebra is so foundational. Her school changed the order for geometry and she wound up in Algebra 2+ her sophomore year and is scheduled to do geometry her junior year. Sheād been planning to do geometry in summer school but has decided against it now. So sheāll stay on the normal path. When she wanted to be a vet, weād planned on calculus for senior year. When she planned on business, I figured AP Statistics. Now sheās decided to major in English but still wants the possibility of going to Cal Poly SLO (if DS22 gets in there.) For SLO sheāll need a higher level math class. So I may still have her do AP Stats that year.
Iāve used this chart before to gauge the various AP classes:
Based on what my son took and what Iāve heard about other classes, it seems pretty accurate.
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If I had to do it again I would not have accelerated my older son in math - although he started geometry in 9th he ended up only taking college prep level and, at the end of the day, he didnāt end up taking calculus this year (just stats). I think he would have been fine in the honors level if he had stayed on the traditional path and we would have avoided math angst in middle school (he has breezed through the college prep. level in HS). S24 is a different animal - breezing through honors Algebra 2 this year with a 99 average. He learns mathematical concepts very, very easily and finishes assignment really quickly. Has never studied for a test that I know of - it is just really intuitive for him in a way I donāt understand (he has never taken any math enrichment or done a single extra math related activity in his life).
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Thatās great news about the vaccine for your kiddo & her chemistry class!
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re: COVID boosters - CVS and Walgreens in our area at least both now show 12+ kids as eligible for booster shots, but thereās no appointments available until late next week. Called our pediatricianās office and itāll be at least another week until they start offering boosters for 12+ kids, so Iām taking D24 & D26 to a COVID vaccine event at a local elementary school on Saturday instead. We donāt want to have to wait longer than necessary!
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Iām doing the same with my kids, moving them to the lower math track. I always have been good at math so I assumed my kids would be the same. It turns out they are not me.
Both were in the higher math track in 6th grade but they were miserable and just getting by. When I tried to help and teach them, it damaged the relationship. Donāt teach your own kids!
S24 could have done AP Calc BC in his junior year based on the original track/plan including a summer class. After accepting that he is not going into an engineering or math-heavy science major, pushing him didnāt seem worth it. We slowed down so that I can do AP Calc BC in his senior year but Iām seriously thinking of slowing down again so that he does AP Calc AB in his senior year. I would rather have him take another interesting/rigorous class instead of spending time/energy on a challenging math class.
D26 was traumatized by a series of bad math teachers (including myself). We had her repeat a class this year at a new school. With an awesome teacher, she is doing well and understanding the concepts now. She still thinks she needs AP Calc BC to get into her dream school but I wonder what a criminology major would do with Calc BC.
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I would guess that some form of statistics would be more helpful for a criminology major. Iām not sure where kids get the idea that they need to take AP Calc BC to get into a selective college because in my experience that isnāt true. Perhaps if they are looking at MIT or Caltech or Stanford or are planning on a CS or Engineering major at a very competitive school it might be an unofficial requirement, but I think many kids who get into great schools donāt necessarily have AP Calc BC on their resume.
Californians are going to get a bump at the UCs because they will take less OOS kids. UCLA and Cal took a lot (10+ each) from our school last year, but the counselors already warned current seniors the numbers will be a lot less this year.
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Weāll see. UC is nice and transparent at least. A lot of kids at local publics (especially the better one of three here) got into Berkeley last year, fewer at UCLA. With so many applications to process, one wonders how much the high school factors in.
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My husband loves Math and was eager to teach our son but quickly realized as son got older that only led to issues. He still discusses Math with S24 but not as frequently as before or does nto try to teach.
Math does come relatively easy to S24 
it will stay that way with AP cal. We do plan to take AP Cal BC next year. S24 was upset that I did not let him take it this year a couple of his friends skipped precal and did BC this year though one of them has had a hard time at it.
Teachers do make huge difference hopefully your D26 will have good teachers moving forward. IS D26 interested in engineering or STEM feilds?
I am hoping for the bump and will see what happens this year. In general it is easier to get into UC as out of state than instate as they have less yield from OOS due to costs. Last few years lot of parents have gotten frustrated with the UCās.
From our school we used to have 35% of kids attend UCās before 2020 and now it is 30% who attend UCās. More kids going OOS due to the unpredictability of the UCās and some kids choosing to go OOS even if they get in because of some issues like housing and ease of getting classes they want once they go to UC.
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Depends on the school and on the student: over half our school takes APUSH in 11th(test-in college prep private HS), so it is one of the easier APs to get into, similar to the work in APBIO, but is much much harder than Econ or Gov or APES. Our known āhardestā are AP Chem and APPhysicsCādouble the workload of APUSH and APBio, with Chem easily the most intense and hardest graded AP course in the entire school. For some kids its too muchāfor the super -top kids they are told not to avoid them if they want to challenge themselves.
The best thing for you to do is ask around how much the workload is in your school, or if you have someone who is and advisor for your student, have them ask the advisor if they should take it.
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