Hello everyone!
I was just at a High School orientation meeting, and I was quite impressed. Quite a few notable figures have graduated (sadly including Donald Rumsfeld) from it, and it is usually ranked in the top 100 High Schools, but wasn't last year because they changed their policy for letting students take AP tests, but that created a huge uproar among parents, but anyway, bottom line is that I'm incredibly lucky to be getting such a good education for free.
Anyway, I have to construct a schedule, which won't be easy. The way things work, you have to take 4 years of English, 2 of math, 2 of history (1 of US, 1 of world), 1 of biological science, 1 of physical science, 2 semesters of fine or practical arts, a semester of driver's ed, and 4 years of Kinetic Wellness (a.k.a gym). Of course, if you aim to go to a good college/university, that won't cut it. Anyway, electives can be taken as majors (1 credit per year, 30-40 minutes nightly homework) or minors (0.5 credits per year and barely no homework). You can either take 5 majors and 1 minor or 4 majors and either 2 minors or a minor and an extra study hall (two per week are given on days when science is not in a lab). Then, there are 2E-level (remedial), 2-level (standard), 3-level (honors) 4-level (advanced), AP (available for science 10th grade, available 11th for all other classes), and 9-level (combination of 2,3, and 4 level students with 3-level GPA weighting credit) courses. Anyway, I currently am deciding whether to take PCB (physics, chemistry, bio in that order with course integration), geoscience, or biology. Then, I have to decide whether I'm taking English and World History as separate courses or take a 2-period interdisciplinary "EH" (English-History) course that looks into the sociopolitical messages of literature, but apparently doesn't go into as much depth about various types of writing. Finally, I have to decide what language I'm taking. I thought about Hebrew because everyone says it's an easy A if you're Jewish and have been going to Hebrew school for 5 years like I have, but I've now decided that I want to either take Latin, German (which I've taken for the past 4 years and currently am taking at a sophomore level), or Chinese. Fortunately, I have decided that I'll take all 4-levels except for Geometry, in which I'll take a 3-level course. Finally, I have to decide between symphony, jazz ensemble, and debate (which is at the 2nd of our school's 2 campuses, the one I'll be at next year is freshmen only, the other is sophomores, juniors, and seniors, so it's sort of a scheduling nightmare) as an elective. Hopefully I can take 2 electives sophomore year, as I won't be doing any history courses.
Well, this is all a big decision and I was wondering if anyone else is going through what I am and if anyone who's either a high school upperclassman or has been through high school has any wisdom for me.
Thanks!
-wmmk
I was just at a High School orientation meeting, and I was quite impressed. Quite a few notable figures have graduated (sadly including Donald Rumsfeld) from it, and it is usually ranked in the top 100 High Schools, but wasn't last year because they changed their policy for letting students take AP tests, but that created a huge uproar among parents, but anyway, bottom line is that I'm incredibly lucky to be getting such a good education for free.
Anyway, I have to construct a schedule, which won't be easy. The way things work, you have to take 4 years of English, 2 of math, 2 of history (1 of US, 1 of world), 1 of biological science, 1 of physical science, 2 semesters of fine or practical arts, a semester of driver's ed, and 4 years of Kinetic Wellness (a.k.a gym). Of course, if you aim to go to a good college/university, that won't cut it. Anyway, electives can be taken as majors (1 credit per year, 30-40 minutes nightly homework) or minors (0.5 credits per year and barely no homework). You can either take 5 majors and 1 minor or 4 majors and either 2 minors or a minor and an extra study hall (two per week are given on days when science is not in a lab). Then, there are 2E-level (remedial), 2-level (standard), 3-level (honors) 4-level (advanced), AP (available for science 10th grade, available 11th for all other classes), and 9-level (combination of 2,3, and 4 level students with 3-level GPA weighting credit) courses. Anyway, I currently am deciding whether to take PCB (physics, chemistry, bio in that order with course integration), geoscience, or biology. Then, I have to decide whether I'm taking English and World History as separate courses or take a 2-period interdisciplinary "EH" (English-History) course that looks into the sociopolitical messages of literature, but apparently doesn't go into as much depth about various types of writing. Finally, I have to decide what language I'm taking. I thought about Hebrew because everyone says it's an easy A if you're Jewish and have been going to Hebrew school for 5 years like I have, but I've now decided that I want to either take Latin, German (which I've taken for the past 4 years and currently am taking at a sophomore level), or Chinese. Fortunately, I have decided that I'll take all 4-levels except for Geometry, in which I'll take a 3-level course. Finally, I have to decide between symphony, jazz ensemble, and debate (which is at the 2nd of our school's 2 campuses, the one I'll be at next year is freshmen only, the other is sophomores, juniors, and seniors, so it's sort of a scheduling nightmare) as an elective. Hopefully I can take 2 electives sophomore year, as I won't be doing any history courses.
Well, this is all a big decision and I was wondering if anyone else is going through what I am and if anyone who's either a high school upperclassman or has been through high school has any wisdom for me.
Thanks!
-wmmk
I just moved from the city a few years ago, and man, are things different! well, I've found cool artsy liberals to hang out with, so all is well. the public education I'm getting now is also just as good as the private one I got in the city (at the U of C lab school)