We are barreling right along into the final stretch of junior year. Can’t believe it! He’s got his class requests sorted out for next year. He won’t know if he’s gotten them until sometime in June, but I think as a senior, he should get most everything he asked for. I think the big bummer is that there probably won’t be room in his schedule for a second semester photography class because of the required senior capstone class. Other than that it’s fine:
Honors Spanish 4
AP Calc AB
2 different science electives (has already done bio, physics, chem, but is not doubling down on an AP science class - hoping that is the right call)
AP Gov
AP Lit
Got his ACT score back, and at this point, he’ll still be applying TO nearly everywhere. It wasn’t terrible, but he could have done better, especially on the English section which ended up bringing his composite down quite a bit. We’ll see what his SAT score is and then let him pick which test he would rather focus on and then retake in August/the fall. He’s leaning towards focusing on the SAT because he finds the ACT too long, but he also found the ACT to be “easier”. Guess we’ll just have to see.
Prom is in a few weeks, so we dealt with his tuxedo rental last week. He was so funny about it, and actually just wanted to borrow his dad’s suit instead. Non-starter because my 27 is about 5 inches taller than his dad and, well, let’s just say their inseams are obviously not the same… He’s just going with one of his best friends, so no need to get all matchy-matchy with his date’s dress or a corsage.
Summer work is starting to come together after so much nagging from both of his parents. He may have some very, very early shifts (like 2:30 AM early) working at a local dairy farm, but he is still waiting to hear about that. Thank goodness he has his license so I won’t have to get him there!! But there will be a lot of negotiating around who gets the car once his brother is home from college and also needs to get to work… ahh teenagers.
Classes are in for next year. Students are only allowed to take 5 academic classes, but 27 has gotten permission to take 6 before so it shouldn’t be a problem to do again. Unless there is a big conflict with the school schedule, 27 will take:
Hard to believe that these kids will officially be seniors in a few short weeks!
We are waiting on an official schedule (hopefully none of these overlap), but my son has requested and been approved for:
AP Gov
APES
AP Human Geo
Calculus
World Lit honors/ Ethical Philosophy honors (one semester each).
He is completing Spanish 4 this year, so he is dropping language in favor of AP Human Geo. He will likely be applying to every school as a history or history adjacent major.
He has two schools that he consistently responds with when people ask what he is thinking in terms of colleges. His favorite is definitely a reach, but his second favorite is a likely, so I feel okay about where we stand at the moment. He has visited both. He will need to add a few more options, but I would be thrilled if he keeps his list to under 10.
He is also taking an online Government class over the summer for a graduation requirement.
I would love for him to get a summer job, but between team camp, another camp, a 10 day engineering program, and daily summer conditioning I don’t think he’s going to be available enough. Hopefully he’ll use the extra time to work on his essays for college because he starts back to school at the end of July!
The AP grind is so real–he’s got two this week and three next week on top of music rehearsals, competitions, and concerts and an important track meet. I think we’ll all be glad when these next two weeks are over.
I was sad that he’s not choosing to go to the prom (I think). I was hoping that he would at least go with some of his friends, but as it is this weekend, that is a looking like a diminishing possibility.
I was cracking up yesterday because D27 mentioned that she’d spent a bunch of time researching colleges yesterday – apparently all it took was the fact that she was supposed to be studying for AP exams to get her to do that! I’m glad she’s finally working on her list, though right now the top school she’s added is (a) on the opposite side of the country from us, and (b) apparently in serious financial trouble. It’s the best school in the country for her intended major, but even if she gets in I’m not sure I could send her there.
She won’t find out about her classes for next year until a day or two before school starts (this is really concerning because they changed how kids ask for classes now – they used to request 4 electives and 4 alternates, now they have to list 8 and hope they get the ones they actually want/need). If all goes as she hopes, it’ll be:
AP Art (2 semesters)
AP Lit
AP Stats
Advanced Chorus (two semesters)
Advanced Theater
Econ and personal finance (honors, required by the state)
I have a little bit of trepidation about her reduced rigor next year, but the art classes, at least, are in line with her career ambitions and the theater class is required for her extracurricular position as the technical director for the school’s theater program. Chorus is just for fun – she had to drop it this year to make room for her academic classes, and she’s really missed it.
These next two weeks promise to be a bit intense – D27 has 4 AP exams, the most she’s ever taken. She’s going to take the ACT again in June to see if she can get her score up about 4 points. And maybe, hopefully, she’ll start looking for a job as soon as APs are over – she doesn’t want to “start too early,” but I think she is underestimating how hard it could be to find something.
Class schedules get finalized over the summer, but D27’s small-ish school usually doesn’t have issues getting kids the classes they need. It’s a Catholic school with only 6 periods and a theology requirement which makes scheduling pretty straightforward but also means there are very few elective slots over four years.
AP Lit
APUSH
AP Physics C - Mech
Calc 3 Multivariable
Theology
Drawing + Painting
She’s finishing Spanish 4 AP this year. She saved her art requirement for senior year so she could have a chill class in the schedule, which I think was a great plan. Not enough students take Calc 3 at her school to offer it as a class, so she’ll have an independent study period and take it online asynchronous. Math is a strong subject for her and she’s excited to go at her own pace next year.
She took her in-school SAT and has given conflicting reports - at first she seemed to feel good about it, but then last night she said we should look for a June testing seat just in case. Which seems insane to me - the June test date is the weekend before finals and she is taking four AP exams this week and next. I am pushing for August as the backup plan, so we’ll see. I’m really hoping the in-school test went well and she’s panicking for no reason.
Mostly I’m ready for junior year to be over. It’s been a rough one and she’s also having a hard time loving her main, VERY time consuming EC right now.
I didn’t even realize our 27 was taking the AP Lang exam this year until their teacher mentioned it during conferences. They are taking two AP classes (second is AP Gov), but they also did an off campus program for the winter term, so missed ten weeks of those classes. I guess AP Lang is a bit easier to catch up on things for the exam, but I had no idea they planned to take any of them. Next year, they are taking three AP classes, but will have another off campus program in the winter, so I’m not sure if they will bother taking any of those exams.
As a homeschooler, my kid only has to figure out classes ahead of time if they are online ones that fill up, but still has a rough plan, which is currently very science-heavy.
Population Genetics and Evolutionary Processes (fall semester, DE) This is a 400 level college class which makes me a bit nervous, but she took the 200 level prereq with the same prof, who seems enthusiastic about her joining, so OK, I hope?
Intro to Biochemistry (fall semester, DE) if it’s offered
Bioinformatics (spring semester, DE) if offered, or another science DE otherwise
Calc-based physics vibrations and waves or maybe relativity (spring semester, MIT open courseware self study) post AP physics C, which she already did
Discrete math (fall semester, MIT open courseware)
Stochastic processes? Real analysis? Mathematical modeling? (spring semester, MIT open courseware or other self study) struggling to find a good final math class: she’s done multivariable calc, diffeq, calc based probability and stats. Linear algebra is an obvious one to do, but she only wants to do it once, so is saving that for college.
Scientific writing and rhetoric (all year, at home) needs one more English credit, and thinking of doing a science-focused one to be most helpful to her later
Computer science project-based (all year, at home) she hasn’t chosen a topic for this yet
State history (1 semester, at home)
State history and an English course are her only remaining graduation requirements. It’s only 7 credits for the year, but they’re nearly all heavy ones, so hopefully OK. I’m not sure what the colleges will think of taking nearly all science, cs, and math, but she’ll have all the normal college prep stuff done, so hopefully OK.
Just wanted to share for those parents who haven’t been through this process before that it will be okay. This is our third child to do it and all have had wildly different course schedules, activities, and interests. It can seem overwhelming, but I tell my children, particularly with regard to “should I do this activity/take this class” anxiety, that they should take the classes they want and do the activities they like. Colleges aren’t looking for the same kid - they want students with varied interests and backgrounds, people who will engage in the classroom and greater community and will start interesting conversations about the topics that intrigue them. It would be super boring to have a college class made up of people who all had the same background/perspective.
Also, particularly for students who think they “have” to take the highest level of something even if it is beyond them and they have no interest in it, but they feel it is necessary for selective college admissions, I say to them: If a college didn’t want you because you didn’t force yourself to take a class that held zero interest for you and was well beyond your capabilities, then that’s the college’s loss. They shouldn’t have to change who they are in order to fit what a college wants - they need to find colleges that will love them for who they are and what they have done.
yep SO true… AND not all schools are for all kids…some schools are for kids who want to push limits in all things all the time…that isn’t for everyone AND that is ok….. square peg and round hole and all that… some schools have a core curriculum that forces you to read all the classics..not for everyone but may be a fantastic thing for many… if you can’t make yourself do it, that school is going to be a slog and you won’t be happy nor do well. You won’t be a success long term in that situation and you CAN be a success somewhere else.
in other news…
They do it late at 27’s school, but happy to say they have now officially asked their recommenders, and it is all set! . It is small, private, they weren’t going to say no (unlike 25s school where a lot of teachers had limits), but 27 had a lot of difficulty deciding who to ask for no real good reason, so glad it is all sorted now… …they also FINALLY got some kind of annoying (but important) forms for their college counselors, which is great. coming together…
Anyone else’s kids doing APs last week/this week? How are they going?
My kid had a full hour of tech issues at the AP calc exam this morning. Including a required update that set up an infinite loading loop on the computers, the proctor accidentally calling 911 instead of tech support, and finally after he did call IT, having to log my kid in through the school district admin login in order to do the test (she said he just wrote the password for the school district admin account on a piece of paper and had the paper sitting right next to her – which she found a bit shocking). Luckily she was the only student! After all that, the test went OK, she thought, but I was confused why she was so late to call me to get her.
She decided to bail last minute and not take the AP Psych test tomorrow. She didn’t quite feel ready, hated the memorizing, and then they didn’t have anyone available to come proctor that one in our community, so we’d have had to spend >$200 on airfare and cab to get her to the next town, and it just didn’t seem worth it. She told me she doesn’t really need a psych credit for anything she’s interested in studying, and she’s not wrong, I guess (she can always take another social science for a gen ed). Hopefully it won’t hurt her for college admissions. She’ll have 5 AP tests, all math and science.
The Kid is taking 4 AP’s this year. He finished his last test, Calculus BC, yesterday. His teachers do a pretty good job of preparing students for the tests. In their AP classes, the students take early finals, the week before the AP exams. The Kid said that his AP tests were easier than the final exams. He took 2 AP’s last year, so he should have 6 scores to submit with his college applications.
Three APs down (Calc, Stats, and US History all went well I think) and 2 to go (AP Lang and AP Physics-C on Wednesday) for my kid. Luckily there are enough students taking APs at his school that he doesn’t have to go anywhere to take them. It has be a whirlwind this past week though with 4 band and orchestra concerts (1 still to go tonight), the conference track meet and another track meet that was supposed to happen last night. Unfortunately he traveled 2.5 h back and forth to that meet, only to have the meet delayed because the buses arrived late- he had to get a ride home with Dad to get back in time to play in a concert at the high school without actually running. After Wednesday, I think it finally lets up a bit!
My S27 is only taking AP Lang this year, which is on Wed. But my kids just returned from Spring break last week- they still have a little over a month of class left!
My kid took APush last week, felt that it went okay. The students are limited to 2 AP classes junior year at his high school and it is rare for kids to take any before junior year (I believe you can get special permission). He will take AP Gov, APES and AP Human Geo as a senior (planning to be a humanities major).
My S27 took AP Lit and Macro exams last week, and had BC Calc on Monday. He will have AP CS on Friday! He could have taken the Physics 1 exam also, but given his plan to major in Engineering, we decided to not waste time and money on the exam for Physics 1 since the credit isn’t useful to him. He also decided to take regular Geography instead of AP (Econ and Geography for 1 semester each are the required social studies classes for 11th grade), so that’s one more test that many juniors are taking at his school. Six exams would have been nuts! Geography is another one of those credits that isn’t super useful, and he wasn’t excited about memorizing all the countries of the world (AP level is required to do this in class, regular level isn’t)…leading to his decision not to take the AP class. He isn’t aiming for tippy top schools, so isn’t as concerned as my S25 was in getting this highest possible weighted GPA by taking every offered AP class.
D27 took Lit this morning, after Apush and Calc AB earlier this week – their last exam, APES, is on Friday.
As an indication of how it’s going, I asked her how her studying was progressing, and she recited to me how many questions she could get wrong and still get a 5 on each exam. But no, she hasn’t yet opened the APES book I bought two months ago, why?
In fairness, she has a good track record from 9th and 10th grade (4 on AP world, 5s on AP PreCalc and AP Gov), but I’m still giving her some side-eye. Luckily, there should only be two tests next year (Lit and Stats), so the hardest year is about to be out of the way.
. It is small, private, they weren’t going to say no (unlike 25s school where a lot of teachers had limits), but 27 had a lot of difficulty deciding who to ask for no real good reason, so glad it is all sorted now… 
…they also FINALLY got some kind of annoying (but important) forms for their college counselors, which is great. coming together…