<p>LOL - My son had to sign up for next year’s schedule before winter break! But he can make changes up until March 1st.</p>
<p>In thinking about junior year schedules, factor in stress for standardized tests (and hopefully time for taking practice tests (that Blue Book takes time to plow through), more responsibility, leadership and time commitment in clubs/ECs, and generally a higher standard of work in whatever classes they are taking. What we learned with D1 and D2 is balance trumps rigor–taking 3 APs was manageable, 4 was NOT worth it. Those students really suffered mentally and usually gpa-wise. My sophomore is trying to sort out scheduling now, and we are asking lots of questions about relative workloads before deciding his mix. Best advice we got with both older Ds was to not overdo it in schedule–better to do well, pown the SAT/ACT, and step up in one EC, then to take the “max” of APs and struggle.</p>
<p>Hello - I have a D in this Class of '15. Just discovered this site, could have used it last year with my S who graduated HS last year and who is now doing very well at college. I’ve really enjoyed reading this thread and learning about all of you and your students. My D is very bright and does well at school with tough work load. She has also very busy outside of school as a competitive figure skater and took up Policy Debate in HS last year. She has also been in a little bit of the Sophomore Slump - less prepared, less motivated and seemingly trying to see how little she can study and still keep her grades up. I also have seen her change into that teen who doesn’t resemble the person she has been her whole life but certainly has probably told me that she hates me, wants me out of her life, but first drive her to the mall. (Love that book title, I need to read it.)
D registered for JR classes today. I can’t believe it, she still is my little girl despite now being taller than me. She is taking:
APUSH
AP Calculus BC
English Honors
Biology Honors
French 4 Honors
Newspaper
PE</p>
<p>I think this will be very hard but her course load has been like this all along and she has done very well despite procrastination that seems to be more and more pronounced. I hope she snaps out of it soon! Sorry to drone on but I wanted to introduce myself.</p>
<p>Welcome Mom2JNL! Glad you found us! Your D sounds like a very cool kid, despite just a touch of attitude. Hey, it’s age-appropriate. :p</p>
<p>A bunch of us in this group also have a HS2012/College2016 kid. You can see what we say about our older kids’ experiences in [that</a> group](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1373753-parents-college-class-2016-a.html]that”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1373753-parents-college-class-2016-a.html), too.</p>
<p>Congratulations, tripleamom!!</p>
<p>Welcome MOM2JNL! Your D sounds very smart and yes, normal in the attitude area. :-)</p>
<p>Speaking of physics (from up in the thread), what do you guys think about one semester of physics and one semester of marine biology for junior year? I’m hoping my son will be doing some graphic design, art, and maybe math and English through the local CC in the next two years, so I’m thinking this might be ok. The marine bio is supposed to be pretty chill. Physics will probably be alg II based but not calc-based.</p>
<p>Even as a homeschooler, I’m trying to figure out my son’s schedule. It’s going to depend on whether he can pass the proficiency exam or not. If he does, he can hopefully take community college classes. If not, I have to piece meal it all.</p>
<p>So far, I think it will be:</p>
<p>Alg II/Trig
Polish (!)
Physics and/or Physics/Marine Bio
Some sort of literature
Hopefully Graphic Art at CC
Art at CC
Cello (not sure about symphony; he dropped for now because his hearing loss is affecting his ability to hear himself)</p>
<p>Not sure what else.</p>
<p>This is my very “special needs” child. I’m going to have him take the SAT I in June with his accommodations hopefully just to get a baseline and to see how accommodations work.</p>
<p>welcome mom2jnl- glad you found us, this is gonna be a great journey!</p>
<p>My elder d was a policy debater. made it to the TOC her senior year. Debated her first year in college and I was very surprised she decided not to debate this year. Such a time commitment and she had so many other things she wanted to be involved in. D2 had no interest- she quite rightly follows a different path from her big sis.</p>
<p>sbjdorlo- physics and marine biology sounds doable. Where did the interest in Polish come from?</p>
<p>D2 has already selected her classes for next year too. Both my girls are sophmores one in college, one in hs. It is hard to believe they are both almost half way through thier respective schools.</p>
<p>twogirls- no IB offered at our school : (</p>
<p>Hi Sally,</p>
<p>Thanks for the feedback. I don’t think my son will major in anything related to physics, so I thought it would be ok if he doesn’t do a whole year. If he really likes it, he can do it again senior year. He’ll still have four years of STEM (bio, chem, physics/marine bio, programming/graphics), so I was hoping it wouldn’t be too simple.</p>
<p>I’m not sure where he got interested in Polish except that my dh is Polish (not first gen or anything like that). I found a tutor who will teach it for $25 an hour. If I can fine one or two other students to join him, my costs will be very doable.</p>
<p>My son’s doing speech for the first time. He’ll only do two tournaments this year, but he’ll have two more years to improve. He does expository and impromptu.</p>
<p>Yep, we’ve got the 2 sophomore daughters (1 in high school and 1 in college) syndrome around here also :)</p>
<p>Darn, just realized our state has one of the higher NM cutoffs - only 8 or so states are higher. D did well taking the PSAT (no studying) as a sophomore but we will have to be realistic-and gather some prep info for her!</p>
<p>Thank you for your wishes.</p>
<p>mihcal1,you are right we can try and see how things go.D wants to take the course but iam worried that she is pushing her limits.</p>
<p>3girls3cats, D asked her friends and her seniors about APUSH (some of my friends adviced not take as it is time consuming)and found out it is ok in her school.As of AP eng,she loves english so it is not a problem.The schedule itself is not so heavy but with the ECs and other activities she needs to balance things.That is going to be the hardest part.</p>
<p>Welcome mom2JNL,your D sure is smart .Her attitude is quite normal for most kids her age.</p>
<p>hisandhermom,debate is so much fun.It is interesting to watch and judge these kids.Some kids are really amazing.</p>
<p>sbjdorlo,impromptu and extemp are interresting.D wouldn’t do those.She is not very spontaneous.Thats why she chose original oratory.</p>
<p>sally22,your advice on the summer camp for speech really helped D move up in the competition.</p>
<p>Our school has both IB and AP. My daughter is leaning towards IB along with AP Spanish. I am just trying to gather info.</p>
<p>It’s course selection time around here too. D’s school has atypical courses, and they claim that kids won’t be penalized at college application time for their choices, but nonetheless D is trying to decide how much challenge to take on, and what to leave for Senior year. Being the younger, she knows how important Junior year is, but she’s always the kid who rises to the occasion. It’s interesting to see her go through the thought process.</p>
<p>@collegemaw, Our state NMS cutoff score is pretty high too. D. definitely wants to try though. So there will be some study on the way. She is going away for the summer. probably soon after summer, and a little bit before her camp. She also plans to take SAT subject on US history in either May or June.</p>
<p>How many APs will your sophomores do next school year? D. wants to do 4. I think 4 might be too much. (her 4 would be: AP calc, AP psych, AP English language and AP physics B.) </p>
<p>How hard is AP English Lan if your children have had any experience with it?</p>
<p>Our school does honors pre calc junior year and AP calc senior year.</p>
<p>Thanks for the nice welcome.</p>
<p>Sally - wow! TOC! Awesome accomplishment. Some students from are school qualified last year and went to Finals but came 2nd in a split decision. Some students this year have qualified for bids, but I don’t know for sure if that means they are going. D just decided to not compete again this year - she only did 1 tournament. Her VarsityTeam is large and very competitive and she may decide to judge Novice debates and help Freshman Novice this next year. </p>
<p>I know that my son has tried a great many different EC this 1st year. It’s nice to try different things at College.</p>
<p>There is so much pressure to do everything and to do everything at such a high degree of difficulty. I think it really is too much stress on students and on us parents.</p>
<p>Today I just want to get my laundry done - not sure that AP Laundry was ever my thing. Maybe, that why I lack motivation to achieve excellent laundry results. I always am frustrated by the lack of finding matches for socks. Where are all the missing socks???</p>
<p>Maxwell - you should ask around at your school about AP Lang. Parents of older students and students who have taken it. It varies so much from school to school that I don’t think you’ll get any useful information here - you have to find out about the reputation at your own school. Does your D like that kind of work? That makes a big difference in what the workload feels like to any particular student. Same with Physics and Calc - does she like those types of classes and do they come easily to her? </p>
<p>When my middles son (graduated HS 2012) was scheduling his junior year courses, I called the guidance counselor to ask about the reputation of AP Lit. She was very candid and said that of all the AP courses at our HS, that one had the most variation from teacher to teacher. About 6 teachers taught it, and in one class it wouldn’t be bad at all, and in another, it could be a tremendous load. </p>
<p>My S3 is taking 3 AP’s next year - Physics B, Calc BC, and Lit. He’ll have regular US History and Spanish 3. I’m hoping it’s the right schedule for him.</p>
<p>Welcome Mom2JNL! I’m so happy to have this community and look forward to getting to know everyone as we go through this growing up time together. </p>
<p>Not a word about next year yet but it’s coming soon. I hear that for the first time this year, the sophomores have to write short essays explaining their course choices! That’s interesting to me because I didn’t think there was a whole heck of a lot of choice. </p>
<p>Sbjdorlo, I love your son’s schedule! What a great mix of classes. I hope he is able to pursue his cello. </p>
<p>Maxwellequations, I don’t think AP English Language is difficult but again, it depends on the school and its demands for that course. Kids at the schools my girls have attended have taken the AP exam at the end of the basic English composition class and done well. I would think that a girl like yours would have no problem with it. </p>
<p>Collegemaw, we’re at the high end of the NMF cutoffs. D would have qualified this year without prior study but not easily. She has been pressing to start prepping already and I have been holding her off and encouraging her to look beyond grades and tests and into activities/experiences. That seems weird to me. Shouldn’t it be the other way around? My challenge with this daughter is always to get her to get past her initial resistance and to try new, sometimes uncomfortable things. She sounds like a bit of an anomaly; when I read about all the wonderful things your kids are doing I worry about her. She just sounds so young and undeveloped by comparison. I’m hoping she will grow in her own time. </p>
<p>I’m in awe of all you with accomplished speech and debate kids. It’s fantastic. The idea of stepping into the spotlight on purpose is something that terrifies my daughter and that took me years to manage. I still don’t like it!</p>
<p>@PN, What I’m curious is the national exam. If anybody can comment on that it’d be helpful. D is in a school that’s not very demanding academically. APs are reasonable only because they do hope some students will pass the exam in May. Even honors classes are very easy. I don’t think she will have trouble dealing with the course in school. But the easier the school makes it, the harder it is for them to do well in the national exam.</p>
<p>@3girls3cats, just saw your comments. That’s helpful! thanks.</p>
<p>Maxwell - does your school require students to take the AP test for AP credit? Our School does and AP and Honors level are weighted the same for GPA. Some students take Honors and then take the AP in May if they want too and their Spring EC permit. Maybe if your school allows, your D will know in the spring if she wants to take 2 or 3 of the AP tests and go for grades of 5 or 4 rather than have more tests that may be at a lower score level. You may also consider what your D most likely wants to study in college - Science, Math, Engineering or Liberal Arts & humanities?</p>
<p>I haven’t heard as much about the AP Language and AP Lit tests. Does your daughter like to write. I think but don’t know know that the Language is more writing, grammar usage based. I believe their is M/C, shorter answer - often based on review of documents… - and a longer response answer. If this class offers the best class for your D at the school I’d try it and get some test prep books for her to work with in conjunction with the class during the school year. My D is in AP European History this year and it helps because she is tracking the same curriculum that the teacher is using for tests during the school year.</p>
<p>4 APs seems tough though - does the test schedule this year look like they evenly distribute her test subjects among the two weeks? Also, is the Calculus AB or BC? The other question is what GC thinks your daughter needs to take at your school for the GC to check the box for the most difficult course load on the Common Application in SR year.</p>
<p>I blame all my spelling errors on Auto-Correct. I have a love/hate relationship with my Apple tools. I do know the difference between: there, their and they’re. However, it doesn’t always translate to my Internet musings</p>
<p>Maxwellequations-Is the AP PSY one semester course or two at your school? Our AP PSY is a semester course. My older son took it and he thought it was a great class. He also claimed three college credit hours with an AP score of 4.</p>