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mathmom
Member
| Joined: | Fri Apr 14th, 2006 |
| Location: | USA |
| Posts: | 260 |
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Posted: Wed Jul 11th, 2007 02:37 am |
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My younger son got a call from the counselor yesterday, she can't figure out what to do with his schedule. He's a rising sophomore. His strengths are music and history.
He wanted to take:
Performing Arts Program Orchestra (meets 0 period no conflicts)
Honors Math B
Honors English 2
AP World History (he's really looking forward to this)
Orchestra (this is the big one that performs at all the concerts)
Physics (He's had bio and chem was a B student in both)
Latin 3
Basically Latin, Strings and Physics don't work together. He could drop any one.
The options seem to be:
-Try to self study Latin or get a tutor (he's really bad at Latin and this scares him)
-Drop Latin and take Spanish 1 (he's only one year of Latin away from the Regent's exam which he needs to take to graduate - he'd have to do 3 years of Spanish)
-take a science elective but they are all technically full and he's not interested in them and he's scared to take a second AP as a sophomore particularly since science is not his forte
-do a ind. study in music, this is what he's currently signed up to do, but he's really having second thoughts because he loves the orchestra and he's been assigned the worst of the physics teachers. He's already suffered through a horrible bio and chem teacher which was frustrating since he used to be good at science.
Any thoughts? I didn't see too much 3rd year Latin on line - certainly nothing that aligns with NYS Regents curriculum?
For some dumb reason our school schedules both honors English classes and both honors Math classes at the same time. There is only one Latin class and one AP World History. So there's no flexibility.
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Descartes
Super Moderator
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Posted: Wed Jul 11th, 2007 03:49 am |
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| If he's had Biology and Chemistry, he's already got two of the "holy trinity" and is well ahead of the game. Postpone Physics one year. He'll could then do it as junior and, if he desires, do AP Chem and/or AP Bio either as a junior or senior and AP Physics as a senior. Although in truth there he might want to think about whether or not he really wants to do any AP science course if his interests don't run that way. "Regular" (or Honors) Chem, Bio, and Physics will make him a solid applicant if he he's going to be a non-science major. Last edited on Wed Jul 11th, 2007 03:52 am by Descartes
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Chedva
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Posted: Wed Jul 11th, 2007 11:48 am |
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I have to agree with Descartes. My d is a humanities/social sciences kid. She took the "big 3" as honors courses, and as a senior added Anatomy & Physiology as honors. She did not take a single AP science class, nor did she take honors or AP math (just standard through calculus). She did just fine in the admissions race and is going to an excellent school come August.
If he really enjoys music and the orchestra, let him continue with it. Every kid needs to have a bright spot in their schedule; otherwise, high school can be hell. And if he got the worst Physics teacher to boot, working that hard and possibly getting lower grades is likely to make him miserable, which can then spill over into his other classes. (And there's more to the 4 years of high school than just positioning oneself for college.)
He has two more years to pick up Physics. And he can still get 4 years of science if he desires (one junior, one senior); even the most competitive schools only require 3.
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mominva
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Posted: Wed Jul 11th, 2007 01:15 pm |
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Chiming in here to agree with dropping Physics.
Having had 'the worst' teacher scenarios in our house over the years I can assure you that that will be the class which becomes all-consuming.
Have him take something like public speaking or personal finance instead. They will serve him well in life and by junior or senior year there may be a better physics teacher available. By all means keep the orchestra; by the end of his HS career it will demonstrate committment.
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mathmom
Member
| Joined: | Fri Apr 14th, 2006 |
| Location: | USA |
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Posted: Thu Jul 12th, 2007 02:30 am |
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Thanks, I'll talk it over with him, the school is worried about not having "4 years of science" but the truth is he can have four years without doing science this year because he did Regents Bio in 8th grade. I know it would make him MUCH happier. And maybe there is an elective that he could put in the free period that would be of interest. He didn't like any of the science electives.
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Consolation
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| Joined: | Mon Apr 9th, 2007 |
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Posted: Tue Jul 17th, 2007 01:23 am |
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mathmom wrote: Thanks, I'll talk it over with him, the school is worried about not having "4 years of science" but the truth is he can have four years without doing science this year because he did Regents Bio in 8th grade. I know it would make him MUCH happier. And maybe there is an elective that he could put in the free period that would be of interest. He didn't like any of the science electives.
I'm chiming in late here, but I agree with postponing Physics. It really is important to have at least 3 years of a single foreign language at many selective schools, so taking that third year of Latin is a good idea. Switching in midstream is a risky proposition. I know several parents and students who have wrestled with this one, because the kid wasn't doing well in the first language, and parents who checked with admissions people got a strong message that 2 years of one and 2 years of another was NOT desirable. And the last thing he wants to do is drop orchestra, if it is the thing he loves.
BTW, I can't believe your school schedules Honors English against Honors Math. That certainly penalizes top students!
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mathmom
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Posted: Tue Jul 17th, 2007 02:29 am |
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Consolation wrote: BTW, I can't believe your school schedules Honors English against Honors Math. That certainly penalizes top students! They aren't quite that bad. They have two sections of honors English, both meet first period. Two sections of Math both meet second. Latin meets fourth. He can't take science third because it needs to be a double period for lab. Orchestra is fifth and there is no physics 6th and 7th. Only 5th and 6th. Or something like that...
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mathmom
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| Location: | USA |
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Posted: Wed Sep 26th, 2007 11:00 pm |
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Update: After stewing all summer he and the other girl who had the same problem went in a week before school started to see what they could do. (At this point his schedule had physics but no orchestra.) The VP suggested that they take regular math and see if they could do extra credit for math - this would make it possible to take physics and orchestra. That sounded perfect, but when he went to talk to the math teacher, the math teacher said his class was full and the suggestion wasn't practical. So for a week my kid stewed some more - then a space opened up in the math class. He'd been finding his math class a bit challenging and he hated the physics teacher. Ultimately he decided to forgo honors math (he likes the math teacher) and take physics with a different teacher (loves the new teacher). The GC has agreed that when it comes time for colleges she'll note that he dropped out of honors math because of scheduling problems. He seems happy, and if does well in math they say he can get back on the honors track for trig and pre-calc. (We'll see if that's really practical...)
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