<p>Queen’s Mom:</p>
<p>Yeah, we were thinking of an absence note along those lines. Might as well keep it simple.</p>
<p>We’re in PST zone here. Is anyone’s school going to televise the inaugural address this morning? I’ve got to think that S’s class at 9 am will have to do something, since it’s AP US History!!</p>
<p>Wish we could be in DC, although it will be crisp. All I ever experienced was summer heat, when I was a Congressional intern summer of '77.</p>
<p>S1’s high school is taking TVs into the cafeteria, as the speech likely will happen during lunch. S1 will be in a portable without a TV, so his teacher has worked out a deal with another teacher in the building who is off that period to come in to her room and let them watch it there. They’ll probably stay there through lunch.</p>
<p>S2’s middle school is totally changing up the schedule to allow kids to see it. They’ll basically be in their homerooms for 2.5 hours.</p>
<p>Last Friday’s announcement at the HS said to watch for the Tuesday announcement for inauguration viewing details, so they must have something planned. I remember there was a lot of excitement when they had the mock election the week before the real one (Obama won hands down.)</p>
<p>S told me they’ll be watching it in school today. He’s in middle school and the inauguration will take place during his lunch hour. D didn’t mention anything, but I know she’ll be at lunch then as well.</p>
<p>Our schools are allowing excused absences today so kids can attend the Inauguration in person or watch at home. I doubt any HS kids will be absent because they have exams all week. All along there have been plans to stop classroom instruction so kids can watch. </p>
<p>To make things complicated, snow and ice gave us a 2-hour delay this morning. So, around 7:30 today we got an email explaining how the exam schedule, lunch schedule, and regular classes will be shifted. </p>
<p>I’m glad they sent this out in writing because if I had to rely on the kids to tell me the conversation would be like something out of “Who’s on First.” 
Thursday looks rough - 3 exams now instead of 2. </p>
<p>Schedule for Tuesday, January 20 (B Day, delayed opening)
Mod 2 9:45 - 11:45 (Announcements and Exam)
Mod 3 11:45 - 12:30 (Inauguration Oath & Speech)
Mod 3A 12:35 - 1:01 (lunch)
Mod 3B 1:06 - 1:32 (lunch)
Mod 3C 1:37 - 2:03 (lunch)
Mod 3D 2:08 - 2:35</p>
<p>Schedule for Wednesday, January 21-- Regular Bell Schedule (A Day)
Mod 1<br>
Mod 2 (Exam)
Mod 4 (Lunches)
Mod 3 (Exam)</p>
<p>Schedule for Thursday, January 22-- Regular Bell Schedule (B Day)
Mod 1 (Exam)
Mod 3 (Exam)
Mod 2 (Lunches)<br>
Mod 4 (Exam) </p>
<p>Schedule for Friday, January 23 (A Day)
Mod 1 7:45 - 9:30 (Announcements and Exam Make-ups)
Mod 4 9:35 - 9:45
Mod 3 9:50 - 11:50 (lunches)
Early Dismissal at 11:50 a.m.</p>
<p>are all of you with finals/big tests on a semester calendar with half year classes? Our school calendar is trimesters and we had midterm last week so basically the same place as you, half way through the year. Not so much due for midterm but several teachers say they are behind and there will not be that many grades for the midterm report.</p>
<p>We are taping the inauguration. Kids have a ski race and are leaving school as it begins. They will have a room with a TV for those who can watch. Up to the teachers’ discretion as they are playing catch up with days missed.</p>
<p>Good luck to all taking the SATs this weekend. D is of the mindset that she is an ACT only kid. Our meeting with the counselor this morning was postponed so we didn’t run this by him. She has a couple friends interested in the ACT also so maybe they can do some group studying for the April date.</p>
<p>I really doubt that they’ll watch the swearing in.</p>
<p>Last week was the official finals week but they took their dual credit finals before the holidays. Since juniors only have to take two tests and D had already taken her two duals, then she was free last week. Of course they had to sign in every morning but they could leave if they didn’t have tests. D usually stayed a few hours to work on projects and one day had a lunch meeting with a doctor to discuss her future college and career plans so it wasn’t a wasted week.</p>
<p>jackief - D’s school is on a semester schedule. In her school, midterms are scheduled for the end of January. The only schedule changes that take place after exams are for half-year courses, and D isn’t taking any of those this year. </p>
<p>Thanks for the good luck wishes for the SAT - we’ll need them.</p>
<p>A study group for the ACT sounds like a great idea. Not sure whether D will be retaking (she wants to), but if she does, it won’t be until June. April is just too congested.</p>
<p>We are on semesters and finals start today for DD as well. Same basic schedule as everyone else, finals in the mornings, afternoons off… of course, being on the west coast, with morning finals, guess who won’t see a thing from Washington DC… :(</p>
<p>Next year the school will be starting the school year earlier and finals will be before Christmas - just like a college. About time they figured that one out!!!</p>
<p>I don’t remember the name of it, but I read a book last year that D had taken out of the library about a group of NYC kids studying for the SATs and basically their college search process through their Jr year in HS. The main plot was that someone had cheated on the SAT and the drama to figure out who. But anyway, this group of 4? kids had these study groups where the insecure one was making all this great food to entice them to come study with her. I had mentioned to my D (not saying she is insecure) that I would be willing to host study groups with food! She and I both remembered that from the book.</p>
<p>Anyone else read this book and remember the name? It was interesting to see this author’s view of what Jr year is like!</p>
<p>Bigger news (blasphemous!) than the inauguration in our house is D2 gets her braces off tomorrow.</p>
<p>There are state wide Regent’s exam’s coming up sometime near the end of this month. S2 is a little annoyed because his APUSH class has decided that would be a good day to hold a 3 hour exam. Normally if you don’t have a Regent’s exam you get the day off.</p>
<p>scualum, that sounds like a better schedule to me. We discussed at the last school parent meeting options they may take to address the fact they miss several days each winter. Some were advocating going later in the year, I was the voice piping up saying that won’t help the AP classes. I wish they would take away several of the “professional development days” throughout the year, which would be good for college visits, except they usually conflict with sports or other school activities…</p>
<p>jackief - I would be interested in learning the name of that book as well. I’m going to do a search and see if I can find it.</p>
<p>A big congrats to your D2. I remember how excited my D was to get her braces off - she positively glowed for days, maybe even weeks, afterwards.</p>
<p>scualum - that’s a great idea. Unfortunately, that wouldn’t work for us unless they change the beginning of the school year because here the kids go back to school after Labor Day.</p>
<p>mathmom - I feel for your poor S2. Not a nice thing to do!</p>
<p>Our schedule for midterms and regents includes both AM and PM tests, I believe. I really have to locate that schedule! I seem to have misplaced it.</p>
<p>The forcing function on the new schedule was actually the US Open golf event in 2010 at Pebble Beach. </p>
<p>If they left the schedule alone, our graduation would take place on the Saturday of the Open - and from past experience with the 2000 Open, no one would be able to find a restaurant or hotel room for out of town guests. Parents screamed then - and the school board listened and changed things for next year. </p>
<p>It does create a problem in that the first semester is 83 days long and the second semester is 97 days long. DD, being a senior, will probably like the fact that the goof-off semester is the longer one - but the teachers are suggesting that it may not be completely fair - especially for the semester long courses like Civics.</p>
<p>My guess is that it will revert back after the one year - or they will make some other adjustments to put more days into the fall semester - like cutting back on holidays, teacher training days etc. They really can’t go back any earlier in the summer - we are already starting 2 weeks earlier on around Aug 10th.</p>
<p>We have a hybrid blocked schedule. It’s awful. I liked it much better when everything was A Day or B Day. I’ll try to explain. </p>
<p>We have 4 periods per day. </p>
<p>Most core classes are held every day and finish in one semester. These classes had their midterms at the end of Q1 and have their finals this week.</p>
<p>AP classes and some (but not all) English classes are held on alternating days (i.e., either “A days” or “B days”). They have midterms this week and finals in June. Music performance classes are also on alternating days because the ensembles must play together all year.</p>
<p>Electives (health, PE, keyboarding, Humanities, Financial Literacy, etc.) are half credit. That means they’re one semester, either A Day or B Day. </p>
<p>So, based on all this, a kid can have anywhere from 4 - 8 classes per semester. In our family, S has 6:
Percussion (B Days)
H Trig (every day)
AP Stat (A days)
AP World (A days)
H Am Lit (B days)
H French III (everyday)</p>
<p>When the new semester starts next week he’ll have 7 classes by trading Trig for “Issues of American Society” and “American Rev and Civil Wars,” two half credits. Oh, and French III becomes IV.</p>
<p>D currently has 5 classes:
H Alg II
Healht (1/2) and PE (1/2)
French I
H Global Lit</p>
<p>When the new semester starts she’ll get a whole new batch of classes, but only four this time: H Govt, H Conceptual Physics, H Chem I, and French II.</p>
<p>It really is a scheduling nightmare, hence the exam/inauguration/snow delay confusion I mentioned above.</p>
<p>Well I’m impressed that you understand the schedule. I can’t make head nor tail out of S’s, but then I haven’t really tried. The school seems to change it every year, but he seems to get to his classes on time, which is what matters. </p>
<p>I’m a very organized, methodical person, but the “if it’s Tuesday this must be Day 5” thing completely confuses me!</p>
<p>Wow - that is incredibly confusing!!! </p>
<p>We also have something called a hybrid schedule - but it is totally different in nature. Courses are either semester long - or more normally (e.g. for 80+% of the classes) year long.</p>
<p>Freshman and Sophomores take 7 classes, Juniors and Seniors can drop down to 6. Classes meet for 1 hour on M, Tu and F and for 2 hours on Wednesday or Thursday (hence the hybrid name).</p>
<p>here is the book I mention in #1951. I read this last winter, might be interesting to reread for a fresh look in the midst of jr year!</p>
<p>Crunch time
Mariah Fredericks</p>
<p>Published New York : Atheneum Books for Young Readers, c2006.
Edition 1st ed.
Format 317 p. ; 22 cm.
LCCN 2004-20008
ISBN 0-689-86938-X</p>
<p>Four students, who have formed a study group to prepare for the SAT exam, sustain each other through the emotional highs and lows of their junior year in high school.</p>