My son is in 8th grade currently. Should he take World Geography Honors in 9th grade? It is not a social science graduation requirement in our district (only 3 yrs need in world history, us history and econ/gov’t). I personally feel that he should allocate more time in his other classes to avoid overstressing himself (which i feel he may be feeling a little bit now since he’s taking Bio Honors and Geometry Honors - both for high school credit while in 8th grade).
The rest of his proposed 9th grade schedule is as follows:
Alg 2 Honors
Eng Honors
Chem Honors
Spanish 1
Sculpture
PE
Study Hall
He said that most of his friends are taking either AP Human Geo or World Geo Honors, but I’ve been reading on many posts on this forum that Top 50 schools really want to see an “A” grade in the core classes. I see his taking Geography as too much down side risk should he get a B since his unweighted GPA would drop. Is there an upside for his taking an “academic elective” as the school calls it? Am I missing something? Wouldn’t it be strategically better for him to spend his 9th grade year a little more relaxed and focus on 4 core classes vs 5 core classes? Thank you.
Even though it’s not a graduation requirement, it’s still a core class. If he’s targeting T50 colleges, taking AP Human Geography (which is a bogus AP and unlikely to earn credit at many T50 colleges, but I digress) will help prepare him for the format/structure of an AP class/exam. Plus it adds course rigor, which will be considered in the college admissions process.
Have you talked with the guidance counselor or students who have taken those classes to find out what the workload is? You could also find out who the teachers are, email them and explain that your son wants to make an informed decision regarding giving up his study hall, and ask what the workload is like. Mention that he is enthusiastic about the class, but you both have concerns because he is already carrying a heavy honors load.
We actually emailed a teacher this same question (for a different class) when my daughter was selecting her freshman schedule, and the teacher was very friendly and didn’t seem to mind us asking in the least. DD ended up taking the class.
yeah, i don’t think i’m going to contact the teachers. if it turns out that his workload is too much, i can always have him switch to an easier non-academic elective, or go to regular world geography.
There is a big benefit to kids taking ownership and responsibility for their own courses and decisions relating to them. Unless he has somehow shown he definitely can’t handle it by doing poorly in middle school social studies, or in handling the middle school courseload in general. If you don’t allow him to take this challenge, you are sending the message that you don’t have confidence in him before he has even shown otherwise.
@amans232 If your son wants to apply to top schools later on, he will probably be glad he took AP and honors classes early and often. Yes, he will have to study more, but it is what it is. It’s not so much 'what if he gets a B", but rather taking the most rigorous classes available. What does his guidance counselor say?
Yes, you bring up a very valid point about my having confidence in his abilities. He is a very strong student, but i did see some small cracks this year. There is always a fine line between having the schedule that is totally stress free vs a schedule that is too stress filled.
We’ve never met his guidance counselor. I’ve only tried contacting her once and she never responded back (after 2 or 3 emails and 2-3 VM’s), so i gave up. I don’t think i would put much faith in getting assistance from them. I’ve probably gotten better advice from this thread.
I agree that he should take either AP Human Geography (which really isn’t that hard for a 9th grader, far less difficult than taking Geometry Honors as an 8th grader) or World Geography Honors (typically not a difficult class, check with your school but this is generally fairly easy).
Spanish 1, Sculpture, and PE should all be easy.
So, his Math and Science class will be the same, in terms of difficulty, as those he has this year.
Another consideration:
Selective colleges will expect him to have 5 core classes each year, you really don’t want to make him less competitive right off the bat.
MYOS1634 i wasn’t aware that most selective colleges prefer students who take 5 core classes each year. Thanks for the information. Thanks for all you help.