<p>To me it’s not just the defacing of books, it’s the garishness of 7 different colors – you stand a huge risk of having it so highlighted that NOTHING stands out and the text itself becomes unreadable.</p>
<p>My daughter said she improved in her essay writing this year not because of her English class, but because of all the essays she wrote in Spanish and French. </p>
<p>I hate heavy summer assignments (not a big fan of huge homework loads either). I think it’s okay to make sure kids don’t regress during the summer and to give some a chance to get a little ahead.</p>
<p>Last year’s AP chem assignment was a page of equations and the solubility rules to memorize. AP Calc didn’t require anything, nor did AP French. Only English had reading.</p>
<p>This year, none of her AP classes (Bio, Phys, World, Spanish) have summer work – only her English class has summer reading. There are conversation meetings for Spanish in the summer, but they’re completely optional.</p>
<p>Mercifully, Beth’s AP Euro summer assignment is way easier than Mathkid’s. She has to read two chapters in her textbook (about 75 pages), write a “concise and detailed analysis” of 100+ terms/concepts/events from those chapters, and locate (and memorize the location of) about 100 countries/cities/bodies of water on a map of Europe. I figure if she does it over time it won’t seem so bad. Of course, she hasn’t started yet. I am convinced that she’ll do much more writing in this class than she does in her English class.</p>
<p>The 7 colors of highlighting are going to turn her book into abstract art–I’ve recommended a pre-highlighter read. And possibly write the essay before hitting those highlighters. D says everyone in English 2H carries those highlighters around, so I guess they use them all year–yuck.</p>
<p>I’m not fond of summer assignments either, but we are in NY - our school year drags out to the end of June. The kids really get shortchanged on classtime. Every AP course has fairly substantial summer assignments. They usually try to make them somewhat enjoyable, but they do need to get a jump on the curriculum. It’s not a question of regressing.</p>
<p>The AP Physics C assignment is easier. Review from your Regents Physics review book and read The Dancing Wu Li Masters.</p>
<p>I can see where you’d need a pretty substantial summer assignment to get a jump on things if the kids are going to be taking the AP test almost 2 months before the end of the school year. D’s school gets out in early June, so the AP test is only a month before the end of class. My understanding of what happens at Beth’s school is that they test on the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance (which is what they’re studying in the summer) during the first couple days of school and then move right on. This is her frst AP course (no APs are available to freshman; two history APs are available to sophomores, several more are available to juniors and most are reserved for seniors) so we’re not sure what to expect. I took AP World back in the day, but that was over 30 years ago!</p>
<p>We are lucky in that way. Our district starts August 13 (about a week before everyone else in the area this year) and gets out around May 20. There really is almost no school after the AP test period.</p>
<p>The schedule isn’t setup this way for APs, though. It’s mainly to get as many days of school in before EOIs (End of Instruction exams). In the high school, there are EOIs after Algebra I, Algebra II, Geometry, English II, English III, and US History. The testing window for EOIs is late April thru mid-May (this year it was April 20 - May 15), so there’s a huge incentive to get as much classtime as possible in before this window begins.</p>
<p>Hi, I’m not a parent, but a student set to graduate from high school in 2012. I just wanted to comment (after some lurking, to be admitted) that a lot of the high schools that your children are currently attending seem much more rigorous than mine; I didn’t get any summer assignments… Seriously, this is freaking out more than just a little. </p>
<p>Are you all aiming to get your kids into Harvard?! (<-rhetorical.)</p>
<p>Sometimes summer assignments are more about appearances than anything else.</p>
<p>My daughter had an awesome AP Calculus class last year with no summer assignments and rarely more than 20 minutes of homework a night. They had time to review before the exam and she did really well on the exam.</p>
<p>The only class she has a summer assignment for this year is English. English was one of her least rigorous classes last year (and there was a summer assignment last year, too).</p>
<p>I have to agree with mathinokc, I think the summer assignments for some classes are all about apprearances. For the AP classes I think it’s about being prepared to start the first day–we starts school after Labor Day (usually, this year is Sept 1), and end in June, so the AP teachers want to hit the ground running on the first day of school.</p>
<p>At my daughter’s school, summer assignments are definitely not about rigor. In fact I think the school would like very much for the kids to take it easy during the summer. </p>
<p>The summer reading list really only exists to keep kids from sticking to their favorite genre (mine would only read fantasy if it were up to her) – so they have to branch out a little. Also, when they all read the same book each summer, it strengthens the community a little bit. One more thing in common.</p>
<p>I think some modern languages have assignments as well, but they just want kids to keep up their skills.</p>
<p>I’m sure you’re doing some things voluntarily this summer that would count as ‘summer assignments’ elsewhere.</p>
<p>I see. That is definitely reassuring to hear, I must say. </p>
<p>As a sophomore, I will not be taking any AP classes (we also only offer one AP class at our school, which is IB), so I suppose there really is no need for summer assignments. And yes, I do suppose that I am voluntarily completing summer assignments… I definitely need to do more Spanish. Hm. </p>
<p>Note @ mom2m: I think you mean that your child’s school will start on September 8th, this year. Labor Day is always the first Monday of September.</p>
<p>No worries, but actually I mean that although school traditionally starts on the Tuesday or Wed after Labor Day, this year we are starting slightly earlier on Sept 1st…which caught several parents by surprize. enjoy your summer!</p>
<p>Hi, I am another student set to graduate at the class of 2012 and was checking this thread out. I go back to school soon and I am still doing my summer assignments. </p>
<p>I had to read 600 pages for Honors LA and read a 260 page book for AP World and answer questions and write an essay. The only bad thing is that the two books I got for LA are more like 800 pages. I’m still reading them and I have to have a conference with my teacher for LA or do a report. I read later this summer, because last summer I read in July and we didn’t take the test until the end of October. I start school in August. I ended up getting a C on the test for the book, because I forgot the details. I had no idea it was going to be that long until we took the test and I know people who read the book in May. I’m def stressed about sophomore year, but this is because I had a pretty rough freshman year. I got a 3.1-3.2 GPA with all honors and an AP course, lol. I bet your kids our all gifted 4.0 students, but I always try my best. It is funny, because my brother is going to be a junior and he has less things to do then me. He takes Tech/CP classes, so that’s prob why. He had to read 600 pages for LA. I just got my AP results back to for Human Geo and I got a 3, which I am happy for.</p>
<p>I am pretty excited for open house. I love to meet new teachers and just to see everyone again. I love to get my final schedule too, we get a rough draft but it can change! If anyone was wondering what classes I will be taking here is my schedule:</p>
<p>AP World History
French I (I took AP Human and Theater freshman year)
Honors 10th grade Language Arts
Advanced Drama
Honors Chemistry
Accelerated Integrated Geometry (This is a weird math class and a new curriculum, I take the 2nd part of Algerba 1st semester and the 2nd half of Geometry the 2nd semester. I’m suppose to take Pre Cal my junior year and AP Stats or AP Cal my senior year.)</p>
<p><em>I was going to take AP Art History too, but I didn’t have room for it and my counselor told me to take French instead</em> </p>
<p>I’m also on the varsity swim team, so I am looking forward for the upcoming season and I am going to take some acting classes and try out for some community theater. My summer though was useless and I didn’t do much at all, lol. I’m ready for school to come, sad to say it though. If anyone ever needs advice, I can tell you where your 15 year old is coming from.</p>
<p>@ Mom2m: I see, that is an odd change. And I am enjoying my summer, thank you. Hope you are enjoying yours as well. </p>
<p>@ Early_college, I think I saw your post about going off to college early? I hope it works out for you, and good luck in getting in. I have a friend who got in at Simon’s Rock but I don’t think her parents would let her go, so I know a bit about your situation and how you must feel. :') Congratulations on the 3 for AP Human Geo, by the way! </p>
<p>My open house won’t be until about three weeks after school gets in, so I’m waiting for orientation which won’t be until the end of August, where I’ll be able to get a rough draft of my schedule. We don’t get a final draft until the first day, approximately 20 minutes before school starts! It’s absolutely ridiculous. </p>
<p>Thanks! I am trying to go to college early (Simon’s Rock, maybe West Georgia) and I just need to talk to my counselor about it when I go back to school. I’m really not positive on anything as of now, I just need to get those grades up before I apply. Yep, my parents sound like your friends parents. My parents are also having a new baby so it makes things more complicated then before. </p>
<p>Also, I think of open house as the same thing as orientation. In middle school we had two different things like that, but in high school it is basically the same thing. We go to our orientation about a week before school starts and get our final schedule and meet all of our new teachers and you can sign up for sports and buy spirit wear and etc. I got to pick my classes in Feb and I got a rough draft in May. The rough draft was 100% accurate last year, but it changes when they have to add or drop a student from a class. The teachers are on the rough draft and this time I know about my teachers before I go meet them. And wow I can’t believe your school does that, lol.</p>
<p>I started a Class of 2012 in HSL a month or two ago and I got made fun of!!! I guess there isn’t much sophomore’s on here, but we should get more towards the end of sophomore year.</p>
<p>Just spoke to D. It’s the 4th day of APUSH and she had to break some bad news: first 2 quiz grades are 4/10 and 5/10. Uh oh. It was quite a wake up call for the girl who hasn’t seen a B since 4th grade. We’re not worried, though. She’s a stronger student than her brother and he held a solid 85 in the same course 2 years ago. </p>
<p>Hey DougBetsy, we’re in the same boat w/ '10 and '12 students. </p>
<p>D told me yesterday -“Mom, Spanish 3 is going to be hard. The teacher will only speak in Spanish!” I’d practice w/her at home but I can only speak in the present tense.
What are we in for this term???</p>
<p>in our case our '12 D is the weaker student than her '10 sister, but we don’t want to sell her too short. In general she did well last year with a little hiccup at the beginning. She is taking a tough courseload with a different main focus than D1, we need to remember they are different and enourage them both to do the best for themselves. First day is tomorrow.</p>
<p>I’ll add our '10 mascot here to remind all to keep cool and keep perspective.</p>
<p>2 AP’s, an honors class or two, a total of 3 science classes, practice after school for a play, another EC on Saturdays for the next few weeks and Calc 2 in dual enrollment community college 2 nights a week. Plenty to chew on. :)</p>
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