Middle school Electives

[Anonymous]

Hi All,
Last week we had Middle school curriculum night . We are having discussion about the electives discussed over there . All seems too good its getting hard to come up only 2 . My kid is leaning on one ES on Monday and quickly moving onto other one on Tues and so on .would like to know what others are going through ? . Please share your inputs .

[Anonymous]

Same. Changes every day as my child looks at all the interesting options, pathways and pre-reqs, GPA boosters, etc. It’s a lot to balance working backward from 12th grade, maximizing GPA potential, and exploring interests. I don’t have any advice, but you’re not alone.

[Anonymous]

Mine got a language and their 4th choice. They ended up liking it. There was a lot of stress over the selection and then it getting their first choices. In 8th, they knew more about classes and got their first choice, so it worked out. My one piece of advice is to not list electives past what they want to take. It seemed like the kids who listed six and included unpopular electives at 5th or 6th ended up with them

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mine got a language and their 4th choice. They ended up liking it. There was a lot of stress over the selection and then it getting their first choices. In 8th, they knew more about classes and got their first choice, so it worked out. My one piece of advice is to not list electives past what they want to take. It seemed like the kids who listed six and included unpopular electives at 5th or 6th ended up with them

Oh wow, their FOURTH choice??? This makes me wonder if we should rethink our child's strategy to focus on a language + an elective. She chose 6 electives, but the last three she's just kind of meh about. It would be disappointing if she got two of those.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Same. Changes every day as my child looks at all the interesting options, pathways and pre-reqs, GPA boosters, etc. It’s a lot to balance working backward from 12th grade, maximizing GPA potential, and exploring interests. I don’t have any advice, but you’re not alone.

I'm so sorry for your child. It's telling that you put your child's interests as the lowest factor you're considering. We know what kind of parent you are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Same. Changes every day as my child looks at all the interesting options, pathways and pre-reqs, GPA boosters, etc. It’s a lot to balance working backward from 12th grade, maximizing GPA potential, and exploring interests. I don’t have any advice, but you’re not alone.

I'm so sorry for your child. It's telling that you put your child's interests as the lowest factor you're considering. We know what kind of parent you are.

Hahaha! My child is doing this, not me. And it’s not coming from me. My child is savvy enough to recognize that in our high SES school in NOVA, that getting into a top state school (a goal of THEIRS), that they have to be thinking about these things now. I don’t need to defend myself to you, but for the record, I actually encourage my DC to find a balance and pursue their interests because I worry they push themselves too hard.
But I can tell what type of person you are: someone who watches and waits for a triggering message and then jumps at the opportunity to make cruel anonymous comments online. And one that makes a lot of assumptions based on the chronological order of a list of items in a quickly written post, especially when it supports a narrative you seem very upset about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mine got a language and their 4th choice. They ended up liking it. There was a lot of stress over the selection and then it getting their first choices. In 8th, they knew more about classes and got their first choice, so it worked out. My one piece of advice is to not list electives past what they want to take. It seemed like the kids who listed six and included unpopular electives at 5th or 6th ended up with them

Oh wow, their FOURTH choice??? This makes me wonder if we should rethink our child's strategy to focus on a language + an elective. She chose 6 electives, but the last three she's just kind of meh about. It would be disappointing if she got two of those.

It seems like any girl who listed computer solutions, no matter how low, got it. Boys in her FaCS class mostly got out too. They ones my DD is friends with managed to transfer out

[Anonymous]

My kid took a language and got his first choice, engineering. His language was pretty much guaranteed because he was in immersion in ES.

And yes, he was looking ahead to HS. He sees 2 years of language in MS as opening elective options in HS. His base HS is an IB school so he would need 5 years of language if he decides on the diploma.

Most of his friends seemed to get their top choices.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Same. Changes every day as my child looks at all the interesting options, pathways and pre-reqs, GPA boosters, etc. It’s a lot to balance working backward from 12th grade, maximizing GPA potential, and exploring interests. I don’t have any advice, but you’re not alone.

I'm so sorry for your child. It's telling that you put your child's interests as the lowest factor you're considering. We know what kind of parent you are.

Hahaha! My child is doing this, not me. And it’s not coming from me. My child is savvy enough to recognize that in our high SES school in NOVA, that getting into a top state school (a goal of THEIRS), that they have to be thinking about these things now. I don’t need to defend myself to you, but for the record, I actually encourage my DC to find a balance and pursue their interests because I worry they push themselves too hard.
But I can tell what type of person you are: someone who watches and waits for a triggering message and then jumps at the opportunity to make cruel anonymous comments online. And one that makes a lot of assumptions based on the chronological order of a list of items in a quickly written post, especially when it supports a narrative you seem very upset about.

The defensiveness.... LOL!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid took a language and got his first choice, engineering. His language was pretty much guaranteed because he was in immersion in ES.

And yes, he was looking ahead to HS. He sees 2 years of language in MS as opening elective options in HS. His base HS is an IB school so he would need 5 years of language if he decides on the diploma.

Most of his friends seemed to get their top choices.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mine got a language and their 4th choice. They ended up liking it. There was a lot of stress over the selection and then it getting their first choices. In 8th, they knew more about classes and got their first choice, so it worked out. My one piece of advice is to not list electives past what they want to take. It seemed like the kids who listed six and included unpopular electives at 5th or 6th ended up with them

I wish I had seen this before. Our ES told us that six courses were required if they were doing semester electives.

[Anonymous]

We've been told many times over the years that the whole point of registering in Jan/ Feb was so that the school could hire staff to accommodate all of the student's requests. That's why the school has trouble making changes late, because they have already staffed to "what you asked for." My kids, 10th and 7th, have only ever gotten their top picks so I'm surprised to hear otherwise here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We've been told many times over the years that the whole point of registering in Jan/ Feb was so that the school could hire staff to accommodate all of the student's requests. That's why the school has trouble making changes late, because they have already staffed to "what you asked for." My kids, 10th and 7th, have only ever gotten their top picks so I'm surprised to hear otherwise here.

We’ve heard the same, that students’ preferences tend to stay consistent. There’s a group of passionate kids that leans toward advanced subjects like math, science, tech, and languages, while the larger group of diverse kids opt for no-surprise courses like band, orchestra, and similar options. To each their own, of course. But it seems like FCPS is insistent that even students who aren't as academically focused should be included in AAP, perhaps to meet their diversity goals?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We've been told many times over the years that the whole point of registering in Jan/ Feb was so that the school could hire staff to accommodate all of the student's requests. That's why the school has trouble making changes late, because they have already staffed to "what you asked for." My kids, 10th and 7th, have only ever gotten their top picks so I'm surprised to hear otherwise here.

We’ve heard the same, that students’ preferences tend to stay consistent. There’s a group of passionate kids that leans toward advanced subjects like math, science, tech, and languages, while the larger group of diverse kids opt for no-surprise courses like band, orchestra, and similar options. To each their own, of course. But it seems like FCPS is insistent that even students who aren't as academically focused should be included in AAP, perhaps to meet their diversity goals?

It probably depends on the school but Orchestra and Band at Carson are no joke. There are a lot of potential after school rehearsals and concerts that kids are required to participate in. If they choose not to then they are not likely to go on the big trip to 6 Flags or Great America or whatever the theme park is. They have to keep a practice log and practice using an app that tells them how accurate they are. We know kids who dropped it because it was too intense, especially for an elective.

Languages seem to be easy to get, I don’t know a kid who started a language in 7th or 8th grade who did not get the language they wanted.

Engineering and Computers can be tough to get in 7th grade because there are kids who want to make sure that they can take the follow on classes, that have fewer sections and can be selective. I know Engineering 3 is invitation only.

I think the home ec class, called something different now, and some of the other classes are considered more fun and seem to be more available.

As for academically focused or not, there are plenty of kids in LIV/AAP who are smart and capable but are not self driven or curious, I would guess that most of the kids at this age are not academically focused. DS is taking a language, not because he loves it or is driven to learn a language, but because he knows that he needs 4 years of a language for a lot of the better colleges. And because the electives in HS are more varied and fun and he wants to have more room for those then take other electives now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Same. Changes every day as my child looks at all the interesting options, pathways and pre-reqs, GPA boosters, etc. It’s a lot to balance working backward from 12th grade, maximizing GPA potential, and exploring interests. I don’t have any advice, but you’re not alone.

I'm so sorry for your child. It's telling that you put your child's interests as the lowest factor you're considering. We know what kind of parent you are.

Hahaha! My child is doing this, not me. And it’s not coming from me. My child is savvy enough to recognize that in our high SES school in NOVA, that getting into a top state school (a goal of THEIRS), that they have to be thinking about these things now. I don’t need to defend myself to you, but for the record, I actually encourage my DC to find a balance and pursue their interests because I worry they push themselves too hard.
But I can tell what type of person you are: someone who watches and waits for a triggering message and then jumps at the opportunity to make cruel anonymous comments online. And one that makes a lot of assumptions based on the chronological order of a list of items in a quickly written post, especially when it supports a narrative you seem very upset about.

100%... I feel like half the trolls on this site aren't even doing it intentionally, it's just who they are genuinely.