<p>At our school, band is 2 unweighted classes per semester. Because of the school board’s requirement for a one semester health class and 2 years of PE class (with no substitutions) - that started for my daughter’s class, it became an either/or situation. My daughter opted to drop band after the first semester since it required her to take 2 classes each semester, and only one semester counted towards PE. She realized that she could not be in band (do the required 20+ hours outside of class) and be competitive for the colleges she wished to go to. She would have to drop AP classes (up to 3) she felt she needed, and she felt the time commitment to band, made taking AP classes and doing well in them, next to impossible. No one in band was attempting her schedule, even though the band director kept telling her she could do it, others had before her. (We did not find that to be true - kids did indeed have to make a decision, and the band kids were not going to highly competitive colleges. The band director was very demanding, and would not work with his students at all, our school band is small for our size school. )</p>
<p>The one semester she attempted it she went to bed many times between 1-2 am on school nights. The following semester they wanted her to add a class (PE), and she said no - all the band classes before hers had received PE credit for both semesters, not just one. She’s much happier now and went back to ballet, and added an extracurricular that she LOVES and will help her in her future career plans.</p>
<p>BTW: Block scheduling at our school means you take half your classes every other day. (That’s a simplified explanation, but essentially what it is.) I would worry about taking AP’s a few months after taking the class, that other block scheduling way may have left you with.</p>
<p>If your S or D is majoring in music, then I think taking band would be best, but if you are planning on majoring in something else, non-creative, then you might have to forgo it.</p>
<p>It’s unfortunate that some schools do not value kids taking band classes. My daughter still plays her flute at home and church.</p>