Honors classes vs regular
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Anonymous
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DS is going into 7th this school year. The school has regular, honors, and AAP classes. Anyone can take the regular or honors classes so likely nothing like the AAP classes.
What are the biggest differences between regular math and english vs honors math and english? |
Anonymous
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Math 7 Honors is demonstrably different from Math 7 and is appropriate for kids who took advanced math in elementary (those who don't test into Algebra or just don't want to take it). My DS took it after qualifying for 7th grade Algebra and he still thought it was an interesting class. DD, who also did advanced math in elementary, had to work harder in Math 7H and ended up in regular Algebra.
At our MS, all other honors classes were a mixed bag and the level of instruction was dependent on the teacher. Some taught honors exactly like AAP and some treated it like a regular class - very few were somewhere in between. My son's "honors" English teacher assigned 0 writing assignments in 8th grade. |
Anonymous
| The students who take middle school honors are often headed to high school honors and AP. Most of my DS's friends took honors which kept him motivated to do the work. I think in theory honors is less memorization and more of a deep dive but in actuality it may depend on the teacher. |
Anonymous
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My DD just finished 7th grade. She took all honors. She had no more than 10 min. of homework per night (total) for all classes except math. Sometimes that 10 min. even included math... but if there was ever anything more than 10 min, it was math. Honestly, we were expecting MS (and honors) to require significantly more work. Our younger child had more homework in AAP 3rd and 4th grade (that changed this year -- not sure if it was the new school or FCPS's policy that seems to say "no homework").
Anyway -- I would be shocked if any kid who doesn't have learning disabilities couldn't handle MS "honors." In fact, in DD's MS, all the kids are expected to take honors and they provide a lot of support to the very challenged kids to help them get through. Contrast that with the MS where we would have gone had we not moved... they made a BIG point of saying that honors classes are only for those subjects where your child is really strong and wants to do extra work (that was one of the lower-tier MS in FCPS). So, a very different message meant to discourage kids from taking honors. From what we've seen, 7th grade honors is really pretty much a cake walk. DD got all A's with very minimal effort (except math -- which has always been her achilles heel). |
Anonymous
| Honors English will read more books and have more homework. Honors math is the one to take if you expect AP calc down the line. |
Anonymous
| Developmentally it can make sense to shift from year to year. Kids can be on-level in MS but in honors in HS, or find honors in MS to be too fast-moving and shift to on-level later on. With my kids, a mix of both helped them to know when they needed the pace of subjects quickened or slowed down. |
Anonymous
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I would say that MS honirs is appropriate for any student of average fcps ability or higher. The only class I would maybe pause on would be honors math for kids who are not good at math or need a slower pace, as a solid math foundation is so important.
So barring some learning disabilities, honors makes the most sense in middle school if your kid is average to bright. |
Anonymous
Probably pace of material. But open enrollment honors may or may not be on the college track. |
Anonymous
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You are basically telling OP that her kids won't be prepared for college if they only take honors in middle school, which is complete nonsense. All FCPS schools have open-enrollment honors (and AP classes). Basically everyone at my kids' FCPS high school goes to college (it's not just the kids who are in AAP in grades 3-8, which are the only classes that aren't "open enrollment"). |
Anonymous
| Honors means you won't have the ESOL or SPED students in his class. Depending on where you are regular classes are often team taught so half the class will be Sped or ESOL. |
Anonymous
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Anonymous
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OP, you may just want to test the waters with all honors in 7th grade. Middle school grades don't matter unless it's algebra, geometry or foreign language. My two kids had vastly different experiences in the same honors classes in the same school. Take honors unless it's a subject your student struggles in and hope for the best.
I did notice a big difference between even the well-taught 8th grade honors English and the 9th grade honors English, which was taught more like an AP English class and was much more difficult. For this reason, I ended up putting one of my kids in regular English 9. (He hates writing and didn't get much exposure in MS). |
Anonymous
How utterly ridiculous. You clearly don't have kids in high school yet. Middle school classes - whether regular, honors, or AAP - have nothing to do with which classes students can take in high school. (With the exception of the math track, of course.) All high school classes are open to all students, regardless of level. So you could have a student taking no honors classes in middle school, who decides to take all honors and/or AP in high school. They have nothing to do with one another. |
Anonymous
+1 AAP has nothing to do with what classes are chosen in high school, or who goes to college, or even what college. |
Anonymous
Wrong. A student can be in Honor's or AAP and be in special ed and or ESOL. My DC had and IEP from 2nd grade through 12th (he just graduated) and took AAP Math, Honors History, Honors/AAP Science and a team taught gender all ed/special ed English class while he was in middle school in FCPS. |