Parents of the HS Class of 2015

[tripleamom]

mihcal1,
Thank you.That's a good idea.I will ask herr to write one.I am sure we can get the recommendation from her social studies teacher.

limner,
ya,i myself feel like that sometimes,like its a neverr ending thing.On the bright side i will be occupied always which i like.I am learning a lot in cc,since both of us had our education outside u.s.

[mihcal1]

tripleamom, she doesn't have to write up anything new. just have her bring something she's written for social studies or English class this year.

[tripleamom]

mihcal1, i will tell her to bring the most recent ones.

Have anyone tried stanford's EPGY online courses.If so,how would you rate them?

[CheckersMidwest]

Our high school is SO different than most of yours sound. We do not have AP and only a few dual credit courses. One of our teachers who was qualified to teach several of the dual credit courses retired last year and they did not replace her. We also do not have summer school. The funding for it was also cut, but it was only for elementary kids anyway and worked as an enrichment program. There are only a few honors specific classes.

We only have one school, so no choices. No private school either. If we wanted that option, we'd have to do a boarding school somewhere.

None of those differences are necessarily bad, it's just going to make our journies a lot different.

As far as our extra curricular things offered, it's about the same as junior high school. Same sports, etc. In high school, they have the added opportunity of FFA & Academic Bowl team. It is a great idea to begin writing down accomplishments and communtiy service now. When we compiled everything for our S'10 it was hard to remember everything.

[IJustDrive]

H&HMom- I think she gets to make a choice between credit on the transcript and a challenging math curriculum. For my D'12 it was clear that actually learning something mattered. For D'15, we're trying to keep her in school for math for most of the high school years.

I have to admit that I've never understood what the big deal is about credit on the transcript or at the school so long as it doesn't effect placement. I can document what she in fact did if anyone (i.e. colleges or summer programs) care, and she's going to take math for 4 years no matter what. So I don't really care if the class taken in 8th grade or over the summer shows up on the high school transcript. It's fairly obvious that the kid getting a good grade in honors precalc took geometry at some point and understood the material.

[herandhisMom]

@IJustDrive, I agree with you. I don't know what she talked to her friends. I tried to talk to our board about testing out a subject, (that was algebra II that we tried) but the board was so resistant to the idea that we gave up. Maybe it's the teacher who told them if you don't get credit you shouldn't bother. I thought she could test out algebra II and take geometry and a FL class and do trig in 10th grade. but I'm not a fighter. So we'll just wait and see what HS says next year.

I'm always curious about AoP online courses. Do they allow you to take break? (like in the summer, what if we leave for 2 wks?) Is there a lot of interactions with the teacher? Do they use "elluminates" or something? Do the students see the teacher? So far my kids have never taken any classes with them. (D. has taken CTY, but not math.) but we have all their books and I LOVE them!

[shillyshally]

We can choose to not have a MS class that otherwise would count for HS credit removed if we don't want the grade counted but then the class won't be shown either. We did that last year for S for Algebra (aced all tests, didn't turn in a thing, was doing the standard 7th grade boy thing, lol) because I didn't want his HS GPA affected by MS laziness. It means he won't have Algebra shown but I think they'll be able to figure out he took it since he'll be in Algebra 2 next year. I'd rather they had the credit but the grades didn't count :/

[collegemaw]

Checkers as this thread grows over the next few years you'll find a much wider variety of types of schools, families and opinions represented!
Our HS sounds more like yours, we are in a rather rural area and, while our school does have AP classes and various honors options it does not offer what a more urban school in a different type setting would offer.

[Pepper03]

Hi all!

I have a daughter in this class and I know from dealing with my son in the Class of 2011 how much more I should have known to help him-and as sad as it is it all started with bad scheduling advice in 9th grade.

I never want to go through the year or so I have just had with him and wish I had found CC when he was starting HS.

She's a good student and a smart kid-I don't think she'll ever test like her brother did but I know she'll at least put in a lot more effort and try to study more. Completely different kids-I love them both but I work so much better with her that I cannot imagine it could be worse than what my son dragged me through. Don't get me wrong-he's a great kid and a real sweetheart but he is a procrastinator and has trouble planning.

If anything I will need to help my daughter remember she is just a kid and should not be as rigid as she can be-she has to loosen up a bit!

So it's good to be here and I look forward to helping you with what I now know and learning from you as well.

[IJustDrive]

H&HMom - AoPS are live courses with a once a week live "lecture" in a moderated chatroom. There are weekly problem sets that are not graded, and then periodic "Challenge Sets" which are basically take-home exams. These get turned in (email a PDF, this is when both of my Ds learned to use LaTeX, though you can scan in a handwritten page) and get copious comments, though not a letter grade.

If you are away or otherwise engaged, you can read the transcript of the course to keep up. I tend to print out the problem set so it's portable (and that way it gets done).

But it's NOT a self-paced course. The class has a bulletin board set up for the class and the problems, and you can fall behind and catch up, but it's not like some of the other on-line courses where you really go at your own pace.

[PinotNoir]

Hi everyone! I have a 2010S, a 2012S, and a 2015S, so I thought I'd check in with you all. We're still trying to choose a high school (between our local huge public and a smaller (400 total) charter school about 40 minutes away. Local public = lots of higher level classes and tons of things going on but it can make a student feel like he's in a meat grinder, on a treadmill, grind, grind, grind. Small charter = many AP's offered, but not enough upper level math for the track he's on, less going on but way easier to actually get cast in a play, be on a sports team, etc, homework load more manageable (I'm not a fan of working kids to death) and a better vibe between students and teachers.

In the meantime,

and as sad as it is it all started with bad scheduling advice in 9th grade.

Pepper - can you tell us what that bad advice was, or what you've learned?

[tripleamom]

Hi pinotnoir, first i should applad you for raising three boys.Having one s is already keeping me on my toes.

You can consider the charter school if he can take upperr level math classes outside the school .You can talk to the school and find out,Usually they are willing to help.My kids go to a charter school.They are very flexible.

[PinotNoir]

Thanks tripleamom. My older son went to the charter school (and middle son goes to the public). They are flexible in theory for taking outside classes, but it was difficult to work out logistically. My older son didn't outgrow their math classes though, so it wasn't that big of a deal. We have pros and cons out the wazoo for each school - just need to flip a coin I guess. One upside to the large local school is that middle S goes there, and they've been getting closer since older S left for college. I think being at the same high school could help them bond even more, even if it's just for one year.

[tripleamom]

pinotnoir,that is a valid point too.All the confusions until we make the decisions.We were in the same position last year.Wether to send our D1 to charter or not.But once we decided ,what a relief! All the Best,anyway!

[mihcal1]

Hi PinotNoir! Good to see you here!

Geez, I go away for a three days, and y'all have tons of fun without me!

Was taking my D2012 to visit colleges: Berkeley (Cal Day was fun!), UCSC, and University of Santa Clara. She is interested in engineering and music, so we made a point of going by those departments at each school. Stopping in to the department and talking with random folks (profs, TAs, students) can be more informative than the "official" tour.

My D2015 is used to going along on college tours, and actually enjoys them. She will be well informed by the time she has to start seriously considering colleges.