Hope all is well in the land of class of 2027. We are anxiously awaiting Q1 grades and especially PSAT scores. Good luck to those who took it this October.
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My 27 doesn’t take PSATs until spring (doing the PSAT10) which is new… but I guess fine. I am going to have them take a practice ACT during spring break (March) and then between 2 decide which test to study for over summer. Kid did SSAT in 8th, so is familiar with process of studying for such a test, which is nice.
Grades (knock wood) are even better than 9th so far and am 
found their stride!
I have a 25 too, and does feel like as soon as decisions come around in Jan (they mainly have EA schools) I am going to be starting the whole process again 
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We basically know what the grades are but each class is leaving out one grade which could push a grade up for some and down for others. Overall, they’re having a great year also.
that is so strange! What is purpose?
I have one kid where I can see every little thing (open gradebook) and other I see nothing until mid-semester and its just average!
I think it was just a coincidence and teachers hadn’t finished grading everything, as some of the final grades have been put in but waiting on one final class. Overall they are happy with this term and their PSAT score.
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ahh, got it! i thought you meant that was policy 
sorry!
If that was policy, I would go crazy! 
100% agree
And my kid’s with the open grade book does drive me crazy and as tons of teachers don’t put grades in a remotely timely way, and even sometimes never get around to grading things or move them across quarters if behind!
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Sounds like our high school. Half the teachers put them in and the other half wait until it’s mid term or end term. Good thing D27 is a good student, and we really don’t have to worry about.
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Our student’s school doesn’t seem to have a way for parents to see grades except for on official reports, so we get a mid-term report card and an end-of-term report card. Just got the end-of-term grade report for the fall and all is good! Winter term starts on Tuesday!
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I have one kid with totally open book and another like yours! Pros and cons to systesm IMO:)
I have S27 who is a sophomore, looking for guidance and internships in the BA/JD programs
The only combined bachelors/law degree program that I have heard of is at Pitt. I don’t have personal knowledge about the program.
I have a JD myself, and I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who did a combined BA/JD. Such programs are not common.
Checking in as today is the last day of the fall semester for us. My S did well this semester but continued to struggle with getting homework completed and turned in. As we are a competency based system, that didn’t affect his grades that much but it is still frustrating. However, unprompted today he told me that he is focused on improving that in this next semester. So at least it’s on his radar and he knows he needs to do better.
He is also feeling a bit nervous about the upcoming semester. We have block scheduling so he will have mostly new classes in the spring. His schedule this semester was less rigorous - Public Speaking, Orchestra, Spanish III, Algebra II Honors and Intro to TV and Film and he really only had work in Algebra to do at home on a regular basis. Next semester he has Financial Literacy, Orchestra, Chemistry Honors, World History Honors, and English Honors so he is likely to have more homework. Fingers crossed that he actually makes good on his desire to stay on top of his work more!
He also recently had to pick classes for next year. We ended up talking about Senior year too, as he needs to be sure to fit in all of his remaining requirements. I feel like his hs experience is going by way too fast!
Outside of classes things are going well. He’s done three drama productions so far this year and he’s about to go into tech week for a fourth. He just finished the mid-year dance production for advanced dancers at his studio and they will be casting for the end of year show soon. As the senior ballet guy at the studio it is almost guaranteed that he’ll have a lead or major supporting role for that show. So that’s exciting. And he’s enjoying Model UN and planning for an upcoming conference.
He has had some ups and downs with the social scene. He has a small group of close friends but most attend private or charter schools instead of being at the public hs with him. So he often feels like an outsider at the hs - he mostly keeps his head down and does his own thing. He’s such a fun and goofy guy that I wish he could find his tribe at the hs. Unfortunately he’s ended up with a few “friends” that ended up treating him poorly but he recognized that and has started keeping them at arm’s length while actively seeking out other people to hang out with. I’m hopeful that the college search process will be a chance for him to find a place that is a better fit for him socially while still engaging his interests academically.
How is the fall semester wrapping up for other 27s?
ditto!
The picking classes process has started here too (though isn’t final choice isn’t in for awhile). At 27s school they go from zero options (except which language or which art track) to MANY choices for jr, and sr…
We are trying to think through interest and what colleges want/expect. Luckily this year’s grades are going even better than last year which were solid. He just is a dedicated student. I feel like '27 may be in selective school range which adds a new thing for me to learn more about (I have a '25 that didn’t apply to Top 50s etc.).
What we are really working on now is summer plans. 27’s app weakness may be ECs, for which they have a couple, but nothing particularly unusual and really only 1 is a substantive time commitment (a competitive academic type team). Trying to find him an interesting job or internship or something to do… (also trying to manage that with driver’s ed and a family vacation) and '25 heading off to school next year! it is a lot! (not that we know where 25 is going yet…) Have like 6 revisit days this spring
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We just finished first semester here yesterday - My S27 has definite A’s in all but one class, and the final grade isn’t in yet for that last class, English. He had a solid B all semester, but I just calculated that the final outstanding essay grade will end up making up about 30% of the total semester grade. 
He is satisfied if the final grade is a B, but if it drops lower than that because he bombed the last essay…that will be frustrating for both of us. There just weren’t very many points to be earned all semester in that class.
Class registration for next year already happened, and S27 is excited that he is past some of the random required classes like Health and PE, has met his arts requirements, and can now try some other electives he is interested in like programming and engineering.
He might tag along with S25 on some college visits, depending on where S25 decides to revisit in the spring, and needs to look for a summer job, but not until Robotics season is over!
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that is so wild to me when they don’t even have semester grades how can they pick levels well?
It beats me…I think they generally expect kids who start on the honors track to stay on the honors/ap track! Since he is my 3rd kid in the same school, we now know something about a lot of the classes, and in discussions with S25 and D22 over xmas break, they helped S27 come up with a good combination for him. S25 took every honors/ap class possible, while D22 mixed and matched a bit more, as she was scared of some of the AP classes. 
S27 is taking mostly AP classes but figured out at least one class he will take non-AP. He wanted to take a different English other than AP Lit, but found out the mid-level English is taught by the same teacher that teaches his current honors English, and he has just not jived well with that teacher, while we know the AP Lit teacher is really outstanding.
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Right? My S had to complete his over winter break, before fall semester was done. And with block scheduling, he hasn’t even started some of this year’s core classes.
Our school has a regional career center and they really push those tracks HARD. Starting with my S’s class, dual enrollment classes (mainly career center classes) are now weighted the same as AP classes. So my S is leaning more towards those classes and away from AP classes which might be for the best, given his issues with completing homework.
So for next year he requested:
Honors 20th Century American History (he would have taken AP US History but that is now a 2 credit class at our school and he couldn’t fit it in 
)
Honors Studio Trig - a combined Physics and Trig class that is also 2 credits. Carries dual enrollment credit in Physics
Honors Ethics (a new English offering) with AP Lit as an alternate
Business Technology (required computer course)
Accounting I (dual enrollment credit)
TV & Film Productions 1 (ALSO 2 credits - I really wish they would stop with the 2-credit classes as they are so hard to fit in!)
To be fair, I don’t think this is unusual, I just find it strange and a bit silly. Kids shouldn’t know this early in the year entirely what they are prepared for next year AND they have massive cognitive jumps sometimes.
My kids public school has lots of kids in a mix of classes levels, and it is rare to take all APs or even 3 in one year. Some kids definitely are in all honors, though. And kids definitely go up and down, too. That is possibly unusual. (it is also a pretty big enough school which helps with scheduling).
My 27 is in private and until 11th everything is one level - honors. (And honestly their honors is harder than AP for upper classes at my 25s public!).
wild variations!
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