Planning high school curriculum.....

Parents Forum
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<p>How is the guidance counselor at your school? Even at our school, which is not the greatest, my kids worked this kind of thing out with the guidance office. They certainly came home and discussed it with me, and I would sometimes talk with guidance or go with them in the first year of high school, but your daughter-and you-should be able to go in now and talk with guidance folks about questions.</p>

<p>Some of the answers depend on your particular high school. For instance, our high school does not have very many AP classes, and the first year anyone takes them is 11th grade.</p>

<p>The first year of high school brings many stresses, so starting with a lighter load might be smart. This might mean not taking all honors classes, but taking classes in the recommended sequence so that honors classes can be picked up later.</p>

<p>Generally, math needs to be through Algebra II for graduation at our school, and most colleges want this too. But if a kid is not a math person, Algebra II is fine. Three years of language is generally fine too, but perhaps senior year would be the time not to take that class, because the college application process takes time.</p>

<p>If you kid is into theater and animals, as you said, then I would also strongly recommend keeping academic rigor down if, as it sounds, your daughter is a slow worker and therefore has trouble combining extracurriculars and academics. In hindsight, the best thing I did for my kids (without feeling sure of myself at all at the time) was helping them strategize to keep those extracurricular interests growing.</p>

<p>There are lots of colleges out there that your daughter can go to without undue stress in high school. I would avoid talking much about it at all, other than to make sure she does an adequate college prep curriculum, which, again, guidance will ensure. Things will work out fine.</p>

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<p>You see, that is the dilemma. I don’t want “keeping her academic rigor down” to come back to haunt her in the end if she wants to pursue, say, Zoology. She balances her studies and Ec’s well, but she works hard on her studies to achieve good grades. College admissions are so competitive these days, I wouldn’t want the lack of a 4th year of a language or history to keep her from her “safeties”. So, we would need to plan ahead for that now. She doesn’t seem like the type of student to double up subjects, especially since she works so hard now.</p>

<p>And marite, her midle school does offer languages, but they are more “elective” type classes. They aren’t for a full year, and she gets no type of credit for HS.</p>

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<p>At this point, all you really need to decide on is freshman year classes. I think it would make sense to start out with a foreign language freshman year, so that you have the option down the road to take up to 4 years. The school will probably make her take classes in math, english, social studies and science. Whether to take honors or not will probably depend a lot on her middle school teacher recommendations, although you might have the ability to request the honors class if it wasn’t recommended.</p>

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<p>I get that it’s elective which is too bad because the earlier one learns a foreign language, the better. That is why I was surprised. But why should she get high school credit for middle school classes? Middle school prepares students for high school. That’s all. </p>

<p>Zoology is an acadmic subject. If she is interested in it, she should work hard on her math/sciences. If she is interested in the theater, she should also work on her English.</p>

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<p>marite, there are many middle schools that count a year of a foreign language as your actual first year in high school - just like taking Algebra 1 in 8th grade counts as her first year of math.</p>

<p>I think that I may not be clear about my question. Right now, my concern isn’t mapping out her entire HS schedule, or even honors (so much). I’m really looking at which subjects to take during her freshman year (not which level), that will guarantee that she has the minimum qualifications for most of her matches/safeties. </p>

<p>I originally thought that she could wait to take a foreigh language until her junior year, but after seeing that many of the NJ colleges recommend three years (and more elite colleges - 4), I am now seeing that she should start as a freshman. Same thing with the sciences. In trying to not overload during her first year of HS, I found that she may end up short changed in minimum requirements for college. And sacchi, her school allows them to take their first history class as either a freshman or sophomore, thus the dilemma.</p>

<p>Honors/AP - she’ll look into that later.</p>

<p>Continued appreciation for everyone’s feedback.</p>

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<p>the key is balance…there is no need to throw your daughter into all honors classes freshmen year. She can take a few to get her feet wet and see how it goes. From what I’ve heard, never risk getting a “C” in a honors course…better off with an “A” or B+" in academic.</p>

<p>You will find that here on CC, many answers pertain to those inspiring on their kids going to an Ivy league school. These answers will not necessarily pertain to many here who are looking for their kids to get into a selective college, but not necessarily Ivy league. Keep that in mind when reading some of the threads here…</p>

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<p>Doesn’t the high school have its own curriculum? In ours, a 9th grader would not have the option of deferring taking foreign languages until whenever it suited him/her. Ditto for all other subjects. The only option would be CP or Honors (or AP for the few who were prepared for them).</p>

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<p>Our guidance counselors’ “guidance” was geared to the requirements with which they were most familiar: those for the local LAC and the middle of the road State U’s. No telling where the OP’s counselors are on the spectrum. Had our son chosen one of the routes more typical for our area, that would have been fine. The reason I got busy educating myself was that I wanted him to have options, not just limitations as a result of what is typically done around here.</p>

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<p>I think this is true of most schools. In our high school, a 9th grader would be expected to take a foreign language. S/he might decide to drop it after 3 years, but not taking one in 9th grade would not be an option. Ditto for science. One had to take a science class in 9th, 10th and 11th grades. Most other subjects would need to be taken over four years (S, who graduated in 3 years, had to double up on English to be allowed to graduate and had to have PE waived). DEspite having taken AP Calc in 8th grade, he still needed 3 years of math. The areas where there was flexibility were electives (in the arts, for instance), choice of subjects in different required fields (eg. AP-Government instead of APUSH, AP-Stats or 4th year math instead of AP-Calc) as well as levels of difficulty (CP/Honors/AP). This applied to all students, not just the high-achieving ones.</p>

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<p>mafool, that’s exactly our experience. Now I see the issue - many kids on CC are at schools where there is no “choice” in freshman subjects, per se - just levels. I keep forgetting that the CC kids experience is a little different than my child’s.</p>

<p>By putting on their website that kids need to take two years of a language, it makes you think that this is enough. But even at some state colleges here, it isn’t enough to be competetive. Had it not been for CC, she would have just followed their example. marite, our kids’ schools are definitely different, which is why I come here for extra iinformation . When you say “most” schools, I wonder if you mean most CC schools- and from what I read here, CC kids are not the average kids. Before coming here, I had never heard someone say that their GPA of 3.7 was crap. :)</p>

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<p>9th graders in NY don’t have much choice in courses. They take:
English 9
Math (whatever level they are ready for)
Science (in our school usually Earth Science, Biology or Honors Chem for those who took Bio in 8th grade at our school)
Foreign Language (2nd year if they took it in middle school)
History (Two years of Global are required, plus a year of American)
Elective (usually the arts requirement)</p>

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<p>mathmom, it would probably make things a little easier if my kid didn’t have a choice :slight_smile: She can fulfill her two year language requirement at any time before graduating. She doesn’t have to take her history as a freshman either. Amazing how things are done differently in different areas.</p>

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<p>same here, sydsim. Unless 4 years of a subject are required for graduation, the student can start the freshman year or later. So you are wise to educate yourself now so you understand the implications of various choices. Do you know parents of older students who have undertaken to keep their options open?</p>

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<p>At our high school, D didn’t have much of a choice with courses in freshman/sophomore years. It was only this year as a junior, that she had choices and tough ones at that. Scheduling concerns are a pain!</p>

<p>In post # 12, Marian said
Also, remember that “four years of foreign language” does not mean “four years of foreign language taken in high school.” It means “foreign language through Level 4.” Students who take foreign language in middle school and therefore complete Level 4 before their senior year of high school have “four years of foreign language.”</p>

<p>Is this true? Even if the foreign language taken in middle school is not listed on the high school transcript? D made the tough choice to drop her foreign language this year to take APUSH. She plans on getting back to it next year - so she’ll have 3 years of a foreign language. But she does indeed have two years of the same language in middle school as well (so, if she takes it again next year, she’ll be doing French V).</p>

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<p>mafool, unfortunately, the parents around here look at me like I’m a little cuckoo :slight_smile: Heck, some don’t even realize that the school’s curriculum is on the website, so no help there. People around here predominantly expect their kids to go to community college, so I haven’t spoken to anyone who is making sure that their kid has the right courses for a 4-year college. The internet is my friend ;)</p>

<p>Arisamp, from my understanding, if she is taking French V, then she has 5 years of a language.</p>

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<p>arisamp:</p>

<p>The foreign language requirement varies from district to district. Some do seem to expect three years of foreign language in high school. Most of S’s classmates placed into either Spanish 1 or Spanish 2 after taking Spanish for 2 years in k-8. A couple placed into Spanish 3; S was the only one who actually took up that option. The other student decided to go into Spanish 2. Several decided to study another language altogether.</p>

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<p>At DD HS all subjects were open to placement for freshman.
English I - Hons. or Regular
World History - Regular, Hons. or AP
Physics - Regular, Hons. or AP Physics B
Math - Algebra 2, Geometry/Trig, Pre-Calculus ( All with Regular or Hons.), AP Calc AB, AP Calc BC or Math electives.
Foreign Language - Placement according to last class up to AP Language.
Elective - Anything from Debate to AP Computer Scince.</p>

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<p>sydsim, both my daughters did not take foreign language in middle school either. They both wanted to take French and only Spanish was offered in middle school. I plan my daughter’s highschool curriculum around some of the books I’ve read: 4 years of science, english, foreign language, math, social science. The rest of the class like health and art, I have to sneek in somehow either in the summer or zero period. But I don’t want to overload my daughter with too many courses. I rather keep them around 5 academic subjects and just one sport.</p>

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<p>In our school district 2 years of the same language in Junior High counts as ONE year of language at the HS.</p>

<p>To graduate with academic honors students need 3 years of one foreign language or two years of one language followed by two years of another. I’ve encouraged my daughter just to stick with the same one for three years. Those who took 2 years in MS, only have to take 2 more years at HS. Those who’ve only taken 1 year at MS have to take a minimum of three years at HS.</p>

<p>Also, for academic honors 4 years of math (Alg I, Geo, Al II, and Precalc), 3 years of Social Studies, 3 years of Science (2 years must be lab sciences), 4 years of English, and 1 year of fine arts. They are also required to take 2 AP classes w/exams.</p>

<p>Kids in our state who graduate with academic honors are looked at more favorably than those who just get a regular diploma.</p>

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<p>At our D’s high school, and like some of the other posters, there were not many choices for freshman. Take a language? Yes, no choice. What language? Greek, French or Spanish. What level? Placement exam determined. What math? Placement exam determined. English was same for everyone. Elective was simple. Art, Choir or world history. Those were the choices. You took the opposite elective as a sophomore. PE for two trimesters and health for the other. Seven classes a day. Freshmen and their parents sat down with the adviser over the summer, went over the results of the placement exams and planned the freshman schedule. The adviser had a spreadsheet and encouraged the student to think ahead through all four years. A bit overwhelming but very important. You do have to make choices based on your child, their likes and dislikes and their goals for college. Colleges look at freshman year but some/many don’t include the grades in GPA calculations. </p>

<p>It’s never too early to start gathering information. Isn’t here a saying about information being power?</p>