<p>I’m still in 8th grade- I started at the OHS in 5th grade, although I only took one language course. In 7th grade, I started full-time and took World literature, world history, Honors Algebra II, Inquiry Based Physics, and Chinese III (basically an 8th grade course load). I was placed into the English and History courses after I took a placement test. World history was pretty demanding, although we did not have much homework (a rarity in the OHS!). For English, we had weekly mini-essays and monthly-or-so larger essays (800 words). It was a reading-driven course, and the texts were from a wide range (hence “Gilgamesh-Shakespeare”). If your daughter enjoys the liberal arts, reading, or history, I would suggest taking these courses. However, it was hard to handle these along with an advanced math course (although I did managed to get all A’s).</p>
<p>Inq. Physics was a great course, and Dr. Oas was a great teacher. The first half-semester was pretty easy- we mostly talked about theoretical concepts. The course gets challenging later in the year though, with vector addition and physic calculations. We also had almost no homework, though.This year, I skipped Foundations and went into Honors Chemistry. Honors Chem is a much more demanding course and the material isn’t closely related to physics. My advice is to consider Foundations if your daughter isn’t sure what branch of science she wants to focus on, and consider Physics if she wants to take Honors/AP physics next year.</p>
<p>In 8th grade, I have much more homework than in 7th grade, because all my courses (TAA, AoR, MSB, Honors Geometry, and Honors Chemistry) are high-school level. </p>
<p>Truthfully, there is not much interaction with peers and my close friends are all local. I know a Juliard-level pianist who left the OHS after 8th grade, but the OHS tries to encourage peer interaction and requires homeroom for full and part time students. Many students attend the OHS part-time and take advanced course in their area of interest, so if your daughter depends on close social interaction, I would advise this.</p>
<p>We students at the OHS are almost all very independent and self-driven- very often, we are the ones who place the hardest expectations on ourselves. Our discussions can be pretty lively, and there are much fewer inactive students in the high-school courses.</p>
<p>Hopefully this helps! Apologies for any grammatical errors- I’m typing from a mobile device.</p>