<p>^A lot depends on the reasons for independent study/taking extra APs. If they stem from a genuine interest in the subjects there is no problem. If the independent study has some interesting results all the better. From the little you have posted about it, it sounds like it could be interesting and unique if she’s on board.</p>
<p>Colleges, I think, like to see self-motivated students. My older son taught himself computer programming way beyond what the AP offers (which he took as a freshman). He was able to demonstrate that he could be a self-directed learner and achieve on a high level without having to take official classes. I am sure this was a plus.</p>
<p>I don’t understand why any school would question why your daughter stayed at her high school just because she had to independently study APs. Most of us don’t have a lot of choices regarding our children’s high schools. My 2012 daughter independently studied AP psychology in 9th grade after a summer at CTD. She scored a 5 and talked her way into an IB higher level psychology course as a sophomore. She earned a 5/7 on her IB certificate at the end of that year, which wasn’t bad considering that the other students were all seniors. As a sophomore she also self studied U.S. government and human geography for a 4 and a 3. The next year, while on exchange in S. America, she self-studied art history for a 4. I think these were all good experiences for her and I doubt that any school would second guess why she didn’t take these courses at school.</p>
<p>momfromWA: My oldest son (now in his second year of college) took a class in trig from a place called Keystone National High School, which is located in Pennsylvania. It was one of the best things that he ever did. He was way ahead when he got to pre-calculus. He self-studied BC calculus and got a 5. Same thing with AP chem. If anything, it helped to prepare him for college, because no one holds your hand. You need to be a motivated learner. I recommended Keystone to a gifted and talented teacher, who, in turn, told a parent of a very motivated seventh grader. She did a mythology class, and she loved it.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Son2 is down with strep. Good thing exams were over a week ago. Now, he’s awaiting his grades. He said that he really misses his math teacher and all the things he could learn from him. A kid who loves math? What a rare thing these days … and as a teacher, I can say it’s getting more and more rare.</p>
<p>We are just starting exams Monday because of snow/ice. Not a big deal for 9-11th but 12th are pushing the wire to get midterms graded, entered, processed, and transcripts sent to colleges they’ve applied to by 2/15 (the usual deadline). Our school is slow as molasses so this worries me a bit. </p>
<p>My 2014 is taking an extra class virtually this semester that starts in a week. I was hoping he’d have his feet on the ground in his other classes first. No such luck. He’ll have an extra two hrs/night to do the class but he wanted to so…he’s fully capable it just seems like a lot when they haven’t done it before.</p>
<p>My 2014 son is doing very well academically and staying busy with speech team and percussion ensemble but I find with my high school senior that what colleges really want is leadership and service. I’d like to see younger brother find some service activities that would lead to signs of leadership by the time he is ready for college admissions. Honestly, he is not very interested.</p>
<p>Despite a hacking cough that kept him tossing and turning for a day or two, my son has spent nearly every day after school in the weight room getting ready for track and field. Got his grades back, and an A in honors English really made him smile – not his favorite subject, either. Likes his new classes this semester, especially world geography. The teacher is awesome. Plans to take a class so he can referee youth soccer matches this spring and pick up some extra money. Apollo6, my son really has not gotten into the service idea yet, but do not worry. My older son (in his second year of college) did not embrace it until his sophomore year of HS.</p>
<p>Haven’t gotten S interested in any service activities yet although I have tried.</p>
<p>He came home with a report card the other day, the school sent an email saying this was in lieu of the usual mailed report cards because of snow days, blah, blah , blah… What they have not explained yet is whether the grades are for the quarter or for the semester. I need to call the school on that, but feel I shouldn’t have to.</p>
<p>we are starting to talk about scheduling for sophomore year and he is making important decisions for the next couple year. I just started a thread with some questions if you want to check it out.
The basic question was: If he wants to take a second math class because that is where his interest is (dual enrollment) he will probably drop down from honors level English and APUSH. (has to be taken together) The math class will be fun and he loves the teacher but the other classes give him a better rounded sophomore year.
Doing both may mean not being successful in either and being an unhappy kid.</p>
<p>My oldest is a senior in high school so I have been following CC for a while and have some sense of how things work out for college. My sense is that whether or not it matters whether your child has been in all honors classes v. higher level courses in an area of particular strength/interest depends on several things. First, what kinds of schools will interest him when he is ready to apply for college. Our state liberal arts flagship university offers merit scholarships for 3.8 GPA and ACT 30/ SAT 1340. They don’t weight regular v. honors differently so their could be scholarship winners with a less rigorous curriculum than some others simply because their GPAs were higher. Prior to this year our state flagship technical university also offered automatic merit for 3.8 core unweighted gpa (grades in Eng, math, science, social studies, foreign lang) and ACT 30 etc. If you think your son will be interested in your state flagship, it is worthwhile to check their admission requirements and scholarship requirements now, knowing these requirements can change (as did our state tech. university this June). If your son will be more interested in liberal arts colleges, he may be at an advantage just being male. Threads on CC show that males are often accepted at much higher rates than females just because fewer males apply. LACs may also value individuals with particular strengths and passions more than the “well rounded” student of the past. Summers are very important for finding something to do that shows a student’s passion and interest. Help your student find something productive to do that he will love. Good luck! It is hard to look into the crystal ball and guess where your son will want to be four years from now but I think that’s the best you can do.</p>
<p>Mihcal’s post on the 2012 parent thread prompted me to join this one. </p>
<p>My D2 is a HS 2014 kid. Haven’t thought about her college journey yet (just hoping going thru the process with D1 will help us with D2). Look forward to reading earlier pages on this thread, as an introduction to 2014 CC parents!</p>
<p>My 2014 S is just finishing his 2nd trimester this Friday, and so far, things are going better than I dared to hope. </p>
<p>His HS is routinely listed as being among the top 10 in the US, and is incredibly rigorous and competitive. Frankly, with all of that tuition approaching the stratosphere, I was hoping he would choose our local public school, which also makes some of those “best public high schools in the country” lists. I had made it clear that unless he could make the grade academically, that he would not continue there. His first trimester saw his lowest grade as a B+, and nothing else lower than a A, so I was really thrilled for him and for his dedication and hard work, and for the fact that he seems to be about to best his first trimester results in his next assessments. He is also a recruitable athlete (nationally ranked #20 in his sport) and played #1 on his HS varsity team this winter. </p>
<p>Now, as we approach the beginning of the 3rd trimester, I am hoping he can hold it all together and I am wondering about some upcoming decisions. First of all, does anyone have experience with SAT2s? He is really excelling in Biology, and I don’t know if this would be the time to take the Bio SAT2, or should we wait until he takes AP Bio, which he would like to do at some point. Can he take this test twice – once now and once when/if he takes AP Bio, presuming that he didn’t do his best with the test? One thing that has improved dramatically for my S this year is his test-taking, which was always iffy for him. Though it has improved, this also factors into the decision of whether or not to do the SAT2 Bio now. I would so appreciate any information from what seems to be a very savvy group of parents on this board. </p>
<p>My S is also trying to decide about electives for next year. His arts elective that he took this year was very time consuming and way more work than he ever expected, but somehow he is thinking about replacing it with a second language – either Italian or Latin. I don’t want him to over load on academics, so I am encouraging him to look at joining the chorus instead. He has a beautiful voice and perfect pitch, and he sang with a professional children’s chorus when he was younger, but now he is convinced singing with the school chorus will brand him as being a nerd. We’re still working on him to do it though since we think it would be a great outlet from the rigor of all the academics in the middle of his day. My question is whether other parents have had kids add Latin to their schedules and whether they felt that the extra work load was worth while for what their children got out of it. I know all the standard arguments about how beneficial Latin is in taking the SATs, but is it really?</p>
<p>so… posting here for the first time in a while. </p>
<p>S1, '14Penn CAS, is doing just fine and needs us less and less, the thought of which we manage to love and hate at the same time. All my friends over on college class of 2014 have been and continue to be a great source of support. Never end thanks to the gang.</p>
<p>So now I’m on to S2. S1 is smiling and S2 is running for cover. </p>
<p>S2, HS’14, is off to a good start. High honors first two grading periods, but not without effort. He’s his own person, but chafes at living in his brothers shadow. First week he came home and told us that in his Bio class he sits in front of a bulletin board with 7 pictures of his brother.:rolleyes: </p>
<p>Fast forward six months, he is invited to join the yearbook staff as a sophomore, a year before his brother. He is quite :)</p>
<p>And so search #2 begins. The elusive Perfect Fit</p>
<p>roxlet: Wait until your son takes the AP Bio class before he takes the SAT II in that subject. This would be the advice from my son, who waited and had a 740 on it (the worst of his four SAT IIs). AP Bio goes more in depth, and he will need that knowledge to do well on the exam.</p>
<p>Agree with momreads, have your S take AP Bio, then take the SAT II.</p>
<p>As for Latin, my neighbor (JHU grad) swears it helped him on the SAT. My S takes Latin as his foreign language and loves it! Hopefully it will help him too someday. He sure knows a lot of Jeopardy questions because of it. Perhaps your S could self study if he can’t fit it in. In your S’s case, though it sounds like chorus would be a great option for him. It’s a shame that chorus is considered “nerdy” at his school. Or is that just his opinion? It would also be a good EC for a child with his talent and colleges do like to see some EC’s. Perhaps you could pitch it to him that way. </p>
<p>One nice thing about my S’s science and tech magnet school, nothing is really considered “nerdy”:)</p>
<p>The schedule and applications have been turned in for sophomore classes? Is everyone else doing that also right now? DS made good decisions which include a study hall for keeping up with things. He will need to try out for the chorus that he wants to do…but they say to schedule it like you will make it. If he doesn’t make this next level, he will probably drop chorus. Hopefully, he will take Health this summer so it doesn’t take up a period during the next years. </p>
<p>Getting ready to start spring sports and about to get busier. Anyone making summer plans for these kids finishing 9th grade?</p>
<p>29happymom26- my son is going to work teaching tennis at a country club during the first part of the summer, and then he is going to the second session of CTY in July.</p>
<p>Registration for sophomore year? What a disaster! I feel so sorry for the GCs.</p>
<p>We are on an A day/B day block schedule. 4 classes a day, for a total of 8. Due to severe budgetary issues, it’s pretty certain that we will lose block scheduling and go to a seven period day. It’s almost certain for the 2012-2013 school year and probable for next year. BUT, it’s time to register for classes, and that’s what they’re doing. Everyone is signing up for their 8 classes, even though it is probable that they will take 7. And no announcement yet of what classes will be offered in summer school, so we can’t even do good contingency planning. If they go to an 8 period day, vitually every kid will need a schedule change.</p>
<p>My son’s guidance counselors will begin scheduling in the next two or so weeks. Fortunately, my son has some clue about classes to take – pre-calculus, chemistry (he took earth science and biology this past fall), honors English 10, physical education and driver’s education (although he is not eligible for his permit for quite some time) and Spanish III. We are on the semester block (four classes each semester). Right now, he has three open holes. He would like to add physics if it is offered or possibly, an AP class or two.</p>
<p>As for the summer, we would like for him to attend a cross country camp. It’s only six days and about three hours from home, but I think the “getting away from Mom and Dad” thing is good. We did this with his older brother. Three straight summers, he went to overnight camps. It made the transition to college much easier. He is also taking a referee’s class so he can officiate youth soccer. It will be his first paying job. He would also like to take a couple of college tours – just to see what’s out there.</p>
