I don’t think I put in as much time and thought into my freshman classes in college as we are having to put into what Kevin is going to take this fall!
The scary part is that there aren’t many options in what he is actually going to take this fall; it’s the implications of each class when he’s a junior and a senior that are making us pause now. Kevin wants to be able to access the AP courses in most subjects as a junior and senior….but if you don’t do it right now, you can’t do certain things later.
English: Here, the choices are pretty simple. He has to take freshman English (Lit Comp 9 is the title). He will be able to pass over Lit Comp 10 next year based on ACT scores, and the choices are pretty simple from then on with American Lit, British Lit, and AP English on the docket.
Math: He’s on track here to take 2 years of AP Calculus (or, on year of AP Calc and then AP Stats) and there are no schedule manipulations needed to make this happen. He could accelerate to make sure that he can take all 3 AP classes (and Kevin actually suggested this!) but given that he doesn’t like math like his Mom and Dad did/do….this doesn’t seem really prudent.
Social Studies: US History this year, then probably AP World History, AP US History, and then AP Government. No hoops needed to make this happen.
Foreign Language: Here’s where things get complicated. Kevin would like to take four years of a language (he wants to go with German….we aren’t pushing hard to dissuade him). Mom and Dad think this is a good idea as well. To do this, Kevin would have to take zero hour, basically, start school an hour earlier next year, to get the 1st year of language. He has phys ed/health requirements to take as a freshman as well, and that, combined with orchestra, fill out his regular schedule, not leaving time during the normal school day for German. Kevin seems ok with going in early; we’re not having to force him into this and that’s a great thing.
Science: The most confusing subject of all, or, perhaps, the one with the most opportunities that Kevin may or may not be able to access. The high school offers AP Biology, AP Chemistry, and AP Physics. Most kids, who are really interested in science, take 2 of the 3 in their senior year when they’ve completed all of their electives.
Since Kevin wants to take a language and orchestra all four years, and wants to take social studies AP classes most of all, he’s limited. If he stays on the normal track he can only take one of the AP sciences…and he would like to take two.
What do we do?: The current plan, after having a talk with the counselor, is as follows:
1) File a personal curriculum plan with the high school and the state. This allows Kevin to modify the state’s requirements for graduation; specifically, he is going to dump the PE/Health in his freshman year and take a foreign language (and not have to go to zero hour).
2) Test out of Physical Science this summer (the freshman science course) and go straight to Biology. This would allow Kevin to access two of those AP courses, one his junior year and one his senior year. Testing out comes with its challenges…he has to do that this summer and he’s going to be gone for four weeks. But, he’s going to have some serious alone time during those four weeks and it isn’t unreasonable to think he can get some serious studying done. Plus (and I’ll blog about this later) there are some amazing online materials available for the course that the teachers at the high school have put together (including some video podcasts(!) that Kevin could conceivably watch on long bus rides in Europe).
Is this sane?: We have more than a few concerns that this might be too much for Kevin; his freshman and sophomore years don’t seem all that demanding, or, anything more than normal for him, but, junior year he’s looking at AP classes in 3 subjects (math, science, social studies) and senior year it ramps up to 5 (everything but Orchestra). Plus he wants to run cross-country and do ski team in high school. And be in the musical in the spring. Our experiences in the challenging Algebra II Honors this year haven’t been all positive (just had another yo-yo event…3 A+’s in a row and then completely bombed a quiz. Not knowing the material on a quiz isn’t all that troubling; at least we/he knows what to study more…but not knowing that you didn’t know it and realizing you needed to study more….sigh)
Kevin can always bail out of this approach, so, there is that…the problem is we have to set up now to give him the option to follow through. He meets with the counselor today, so, we’ll see what comes out of that as well.
