How to survive 10-12 th grade?

[Anonymous]

My kid had a meltdown last year with all the AP exams, and an extra curricular that was peaking (think like a contest).

They were not good at time management, but we also discovered that they had a slight LD that only came to light last year, so we got accommodations.

I don't know how AP exam season is going to be next spring. They have another activity that peaks like right before AP exams start. At least now they have accommodations for their LD.

But, I'm anticipating another meltdown. Oh, and then college apps next fall when again, an extra curricular peaks around the same time.

And before someone says they should drop the EC, my kid really loves that EC. Life would otherwise be really boring for DC if all they had was academics, and DC would probably get depressed.

DC now knows they need better time management skills.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How did you all parents and kids do it?
with AP classes, and tough courses including Pre Calc. and then activities.

How?? The stress as a parent to see my child struggle so much is getting to me ... My DS works very hard but it has been a tough year.

Take 1 less AP, go to school every day and see the teachers for your hardest class once a week.

This is good advice

[Anonymous]

Why are you letting them load up on all of this? That's ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How did you all parents and kids do it?
with AP classes, and tough courses including Pre Calc. and then activities.

How?? The stress as a parent to see my child struggle so much is getting to me ... My DS works very hard but it has been a tough year.

What is the stress for you? If anything I try to be sure my kids learn how to manage their time and stress.

OP- yes, I'm trying to do the same. However, with so many quizzes and tests and activities, it is hard to manage everything. with work and helping them with their stress and manage everything.

If you are the one managing everything then your kid is doing too much and you are enabling this dysfunction. Parents should be monitoring and identifying course corrections for their high school students, not running the show.

As another PP said, take one less AP and do one less activity. Your DC should only do as much as THEY can manage on their own. As they get better at organizing and studying, they can add more APs or activities. That’s how they grow. Not by you doing it for them.

[Anonymous]

OP, I agree with you that it's stressful. I feel like I added stress to my older student, and am working to not do the same with younger. What that means to me is to follow my kid's lead. Support the activities DC wants to be involved in. Support their academic pathway. Do not force the square peg into the round hole. Etc.

[Anonymous]

If the AP exams are hard, it means you're taking too many and not studying each enough throughout the year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If the AP exams are hard, it means you're taking too many and not studying each enough throughout the year.

This is not necessarily all on the student. Some AP teachers get behind on curriculum and students have to rush at the end to self-teach unfinished materials.

[Anonymous]

Kid needs to lighten the load if they’re overwhelmed.

[Anonymous]

Gaming the grading system.

Now I like the ever-inflating MCPS GPA grading policy. My DS tried to finish every homework and tried his best for every test in freshman year, got exhausted. Now he learnt how to game the system: Picking the easier/shorter homework from the two that weight the same in grades, and maintaining in lower 90s. I feel lucky that we are not in a school district that ranks GPA by the 3rd digit after the decimal.

[Anonymous]

1. lighten the load where you can. My DS is in 12th. He took 3 AP's in 11th and was sick the first week of them with the stress of it all. He took 1 in the normal 2nd week and 2 in the retake week at the end. He did get all 5's. But he was set to take 5 this year and we dropped two, the ones he would have needed tutors for, and would have struggled with, even with those tutors - AP Physics and AP French. His year would have been awful if he'd taken them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1. lighten the load where you can. My DS is in 12th. He took 3 AP's in 11th and was sick the first week of them with the stress of it all. He took 1 in the normal 2nd week and 2 in the retake week at the end. He did get all 5's. But he was set to take 5 this year and we dropped two, the ones he would have needed tutors for, and would have struggled with, even with those tutors - AP Physics and AP French. His year would have been awful if he'd taken them.

I'm glad to hear you all rethought what to take. I have no idea why folks are taking AP classes when they are going in knowing they will need tutors.

[Anonymous]

For strong students, I suggest a 1-2-3-4 AP class approach (APs per year 9-12). It shows increasing rigor without overdoing it. Sure, it may need to vary a bit but as a general approach. Taking 5 per year in both 11th and then 12th is nuts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kid needs to lighten the load if they’re overwhelmed.

Seriously. Cut back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid had a meltdown last year with all the AP exams, and an extra curricular that was peaking (think like a contest).

They were not good at time management, but we also discovered that they had a slight LD that only came to light last year, so we got accommodations.

I don't know how AP exam season is going to be next spring. They have another activity that peaks like right before AP exams start. At least now they have accommodations for their LD.

But, I'm anticipating another meltdown. Oh, and then college apps next fall when again, an extra curricular peaks around the same time.

And before someone says they should drop the EC, my kid really loves that EC. Life would otherwise be really boring for DC if all they had was academics, and DC would probably get depressed.

DC now knows they need better time management skills.

The whole year is stressful, but I don't think my kids find AP test season any moreso. (In fact, at my kid's school, March and April are all review in the AP classes, so that actually lightens the load a bit.). I tell them repeatedly that I don't care about the AP test results. I want them to take the AP classes for the challenge, but the AP exam grades don't matter for either HS class grades or college admissions (if you get high scores, you can report them but they are optional-- one of my kid was admitted to an Ivy without reporting them). They're convenient for covering credits at state schools (and many other schools) but something's got to give and that's where I draw the line. Do your best, but don't stress trying to get a 5 on everything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How did you all parents and kids do it?
with AP classes, and tough courses including Pre Calc. and then activities.

How?? The stress as a parent to see my child struggle so much is getting to me ... My DS works very hard but it has been a tough year.

What is the stress for you? If anything I try to be sure my kids learn how to manage their time and stress.

OP- yes, I'm trying to do the same. However, with so many quizzes and tests and activities, it is hard to manage everything. with work and helping them with their stress and manage everything.

My youngest is a senior. I don’t get this. What are you managing? By HS they need to manage their own schedules and we were on the sidelines for support, rides and money.