For S24 also sleep is a priority and I am glad about it. I know many kids in our school district complain that they get only sleep for 4 to 5 hours and S24 says I don’t know how they function. He need 7 to 8 hours everyday.
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We go back and forth on the rigor in our house also . We did a couple of mistakes in 10th grade selection where we did not with as much rigor as he could have handled. So we want to make sure he chooses the right rigor but does not go all the over the top also.
I am hearing that with Test Optional in CA the UC’s are paying more attention to rigor than before at this point. Its a a double whamy for schools like ours as people still will take SAT/ACT and will have to increase rigor more than they already do.
D24 just finished up course selection and once again has preserved her study hall space. She has some friends asking to drop lunch and go in for ‘zero hour’ (basically school starts early to do some double period classes offered, mostly AP STEM courses) and she is adamant that she wants a built in study hall for both semesters junior year. She also loves her lunch period to decompress with friends and have a breather during the day.
She has had a study hall every year of high school thus far even though she could have packed her schedule to the gills from the get go based upon the high school entrance exams.
Looks like her courses will be:
AP English Lang
Accelerated Trig/Pre-Calc
Physics (she turned down reco for AP Physics, not terribly interested in STEM)
German 3
AP Psych
PE
Lunch
Study Hall
She’s ok with the schedule, we’re fine with the schedule - can you tell this is our third child?, her GC (I think) wishes she would conform to taking APUSH and AP Physics like most of her friends. But she took US History last summer to avoid having to spend an entire year on the subject.
As others have said, it will all work out. She will have options when it comes to college and she isn’t looking for the absolutely most prestigious school she could be admitted to.
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Each morning he gets up and says, ahhh got my 9 hours, hahahaha, so ridiculous! But it is great when they know themselves and what they need. He doesn’t want to overload himself and lose out on sleep for some vague benefit. I do think it will make him happier in the long run to be rested!
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Why no history class at all?
She has already taken world geography (summer before entering 9th grade), AP world history (9th grade) and us history (last summer). She has taken some of those during summer school so that she doesn’t have to take those classes during the school year (preserving her study hall time).
We live in Illinois, students are only required to have 2 years of social science (US History and Gov’t/Econ). She will have 4 years total by graduation - she’ll take Gov’t/Econ either the summer before senior year or senior year depending on what the schedule looks like, she just isn’t willing to use an entire class period every year for her least favorite subject.
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I’d have to imagine that with more schools going test-optional rigor will definitely be looked at more. These kids all seem to work harder than I ever remember doing in high school - hoping they don’t burn themselves out before they ever get to college.
I didn’t know that those classes counted for the history requirement! So interesting how each school does it differently.
Some colleges spell out specifically which classes are expected for admission. Here is the CA UC’s minimum history requirements:
Two years of history, including:
- one year of world or European history, cultures and geography (may be a single yearlong course or two one-semester courses), and
- one year of U.S. history or one-half year of U.S. history and one-half year of civics or American government
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Being on CC definitely has shown me that each state really does stuff much differently. And even within a state, each district might set up their own requirements/recommendations past the minimum state requirements. We really do have 50 separate experiments going on at the same time!
I grew up in a state where you had to take World History, European History, US History and Gov’t/Econ in high school. Those were considered core courses everyone took to graduate. History and Social Science courses (beyond US History and Gov’t/Econ) are literally electives here in Illinois. Blows my mind every time I think about it.
The state I grew up, foreign language was considered a core course as well. Here in Illinois, students need to take 1 year of either music, art OR foreign language to meet the “arts” requirement. As a family, we value foreign language learning so all three of our girls have taken or are taking a full 4 years of foreign language at the high school (each of them will have completed the AP class in their language of choice). Oldest also did symphony orchestra, middle one has done choir every year, youngest said no thanks to music, but has also taken art classes last year and this year. But there are lots of students at our school who don’t take any foreign language class, which seems unbelievable to me even now.
What I have come to realize is that there are many ways to skin a cat (in education in America). It is kind of neat to see the differences; it has helped me figure out what I think is important in education and also given me the flexibility to realize that it is ok if one of my kids doesn’t want to ‘go all the way’ in a certain subject. Every single student will have gaps in their knowledge, classes they can’t take for whatever reason. Helping them figure out what they are interested in, where their curiosity lies and how to make choices gets them ready to adult, imo.
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Sleep is definitely a priority for D24, too. She’s super grumpy when she hasn’t had 7 hours of sleep in a row. 
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I suspect that in the next couple of weeks, course planning/selection for next school year will probably start. Usually what kicks it off is the school publishes their elective ‘catalog’ in the weekly parent email newsletter on a Friday.
Most of D24’s subjects are already pre-determined based on what she’s taking this year, with a couple of exceptions. She’s not going to take AP Chem next year…it’ll be the same bad teacher as she has this year. Classes we know of for sure so far:
AP English Lit
AP US History
AP Calculus AB
Honors Physics
AP French
that leaves an elective or 2 open, depending on how much of a workload she wants. She’s interested in taking AP Environmental Science, so if that’s an option next year, she’ll take that. DH wants her to take AP Computer Science or Statistics. I think she should just stick with 1 elective, which will mean she’ll get a free period in the middle of the day for a study hall…which will help with HW load each evening.
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Our school does not give the option of skipping lunch and we don’t have study hall as period choice. The school only guarantees 6 periods with a max of 7 (in this case you go early or stay late). So far my son has only done 6 periods and the 7th is his sports that will cover his PE requirement.
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Ha ha. S24 takes a nap also sometimes after coming back from school if he does not have his debate or tennis
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Exactly burnout is something to keep an eye on. Recently I was talking to friend how has had kids finish high school recently and she said that in Junior year this is something to watch out for. She strongly advised us to think twice about taking 5 AP’s Honors classes in our school district it will be pretty hard with that work load and kids may burn out before senior year. She suggests no more than 4.
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That’s great advice. I know junior year is usually the hardest year, but it shouldn’t stress them out so much. D24’s school does not allow them to skip lunch and has put more restrictions in place for being allowed to take AP classes, but it is still easy to get overwhelmed. I’m putting good thoughts into the universe that the Class of 24 is able to enjoy the rest of high school without feeling too much pressure from this whole college process!
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Good to hear there are other nappers here. D24 is a come home, take nap and then start her evening kind of kid. Nice to know her brethren is here. 
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Can someone help me with this? My D21 is currently in college but planning to graduate early and do a job a for a year and start her already admitted professional college starting Aug 2025. As you all know, my D24 graduates in May 2024. Can I still claim that D24’s sibling is in a college? Will D24 have any advantage of the situation with finances. I was running NPC for NYU and noticed 25K more if I say she has sibling in college vs not in college.
Can someone help me with this? My D21 is currently in college but planning to graduate early and do a job a for a year and start her already admitted professional college starting Aug 2025. As you all know, my D24 graduates in May 2024. Can I still claim that D24’s sibling is in a college? Will D24 have any advantage of the situation with finances. I was running NPC for NYU and noticed 25K more if I say she has sibling in college vs not in college.
It might depend on what you mean by ‘professional college.’ Are you talking about grad school? If yes, then from what I understand, grad schools consider students in terms of financial aid to not be dependents anymore of their parents…in which case, your D24 would not have a sibling in college (i.e., “college” = getting an AA or BA/BS degree).
@sbinaz , Thanks for your quick response! Yes it’s grad school. She will be graduating into a medical school. Looks like she will not have any advantage from your response. 