Middle School AAP vs. Honors

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait I thought AAP ended with elementary. Stated in many past post here.

Everything I've ever read about the program states that eligibility continues through eighth grade.

Because you are reading the facts:

http://www.fcps.edu/is/aap/continuumofservices.shtml

Full-Time Advanced Academic Program, Grades 3-8

[Anonymous]

If you can't get into AAP you have to take honors. How complicated is that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you can't get into AAP you have to take honors. How complicated is that?

Nope, you don't "have to" take honors. You can choose to take honors but it is not a requirement. Neither is continuing in AAP if a child wants or needs to leave AAP at any point and return to general ed or take honors in some classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you can't get into AAP you have to take honors. How complicated is that?

Nope, you don't "have to" take honors. You can choose to take honors but it is not a requirement. Neither is continuing in AAP if a child wants or needs to leave AAP at any point and return to general ed or take honors in some classes.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you can't get into AAP you have to take honors. How complicated is that?

Nope, you don't "have to" take honors. You can choose to take honors but it is not a requirement. Neither is continuing in AAP if a child wants or needs to leave AAP at any point and return to general ed or take honors in some classes.

o.k., good point. But the thread was about AAP vs. Honors, so I assumed those were the two choices the OP was considering.

[Anonymous]

Thanks 9:34.

Unfortunately, we are looking at a choice between going to the center MS fro AAP or switching to the local MS for honors.

We have heard the homework load at the center is very high and the honors program at the local school is quite the opposite.

This is from friends who have chosen one or the other.

If we could do the honors program at the center school it wojld be our first as it sounds like a balance between both options.

I have an 8th-grader in AAP. The program is very rigorous & there is a lot of homework but my child loves the school, is very happy, and does fine managing the workload. We are out-of-boundary for the school, so most of my child's friends went to our local middle school and are taking honors classes rather than AAP. All of the parents I've talked to at the local MS say their kids have virtually no homework and they don't think the honors classes are especially challenging. At our local MS, every student (except for a very few special circumstances) is enrolled in honors science and honors civics/history - strange, and in my opinion that doesn't really sound like an honors course. So the true honors courses would be only English and math. Check the course offerings at the middle school you are considering.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Thanks 9:34.

Unfortunately, we are looking at a choice between going to the center MS fro AAP or switching to the local MS for honors.

We have heard the homework load at the center is very high and the honors program at the local school is quite the opposite.

This is from friends who have chosen one or the other.

If we could do the honors program at the center school it wojld be our first as it sounds like a balance between both options.

I have an 8th-grader in AAP. The program is very rigorous & there is a lot of homework but my child loves the school, is very happy, and does fine managing the workload. We are out-of-boundary for the school, so most of my child's friends went to our local middle school and are taking honors classes rather than AAP. All of the parents I've talked to at the local MS say their kids have virtually no homework and they don't think the honors classes are especially challenging. At our local MS, every student (except for a very few special circumstances) is enrolled in honors science and honors civics/history - strange, and in my opinion that doesn't really sound like an honors course. So the true honors courses would be only English and math. Check the course offerings at the middle school you are considering.

I have an 8th grader in our local (non-AAP) middle school. He is taking honors classes in all four core subjects and has plenty of homework each night, but nothing overwhelming. Personally, I'm glad he's not overburdened with homework at this stage of his life. He has all of high school to deal with AP classes and the homework load they will bring. I don't understand parents who actually want their children to have tons of homework at this age.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Thanks 9:34.

Unfortunately, we are looking at a choice between going to the center MS fro AAP or switching to the local MS for honors.

We have heard the homework load at the center is very high and the honors program at the local school is quite the opposite.

This is from friends who have chosen one or the other.

If we could do the honors program at the center school it wojld be our first as it sounds like a balance between both options.

I have an 8th-grader in AAP. The program is very rigorous & there is a lot of homework but my child loves the school, is very happy, and does fine managing the workload. We are out-of-boundary for the school, so most of my child's friends went to our local middle school and are taking honors classes rather than AAP. All of the parents I've talked to at the local MS say their kids have virtually no homework and they don't think the honors classes are especially challenging. At our local MS, every student (except for a very few special circumstances) is enrolled in honors science and honors civics/history - strange, and in my opinion that doesn't really sound like an honors course. So the true honors courses would be only English and math. Check the course offerings at the middle school you are considering.

I have an 8th grader in our local (non-AAP) middle school. He is taking honors classes in all four core subjects and has plenty of homework each night, but nothing overwhelming. Personally, I'm glad he's not overburdened with homework at this stage of his life. He has all of high school to deal with AP classes and the homework load they will bring. I don't understand parents who actually want their children to have tons of homework at this age.

And I do not understand parents who do not actually want their children to be rigorously challenged in middle school. Rigorously challenged in middle school does not equate to "tons of homework."

[Anonymous]

If I had to do it over again, I think I would have encouraged DD to take Honors classes instead of AAP in seventh and eighth grade. I think she would still have been challenged without the additional homework and she would have had more time to focus on her high school level Language and Math classes (grades which count on the high school transcript unless expunged).

[Anonymous]

Our base MS honors program is a waste and I am glad DS is in AAP at the assigned middle school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If I had to do it over again, I think I would have encouraged DD to take Honors classes instead of AAP in seventh and eighth grade. I think she would still have been challenged without the additional homework and she would have had more time to focus on her high school level Language and Math classes (grades which count on the high school transcript unless expunged).

Same here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our base MS honors program is a waste and I am glad DS is in AAP at the assigned middle school.

That's too bad. Our base MS honors program is great and we've been very happy with it.

[Anonymous]

Our base MS honors program is a waste and I am glad DS is in AAP at the assigned middle school.

Same here. Honors program is a joke at our base school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Our base MS honors program is a waste and I am glad DS is in AAP at the assigned middle school.

Same here. Honors program is a joke at our base school.

sounds like the answer to this question varies from school to school.
Pros and cons to bouth routes it sounds like.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can anyone give real life experience?

I have heard that the honors MS classes are very, very simple, and that the AAP MS classes are very, very time and homework intensive.

Honors at our local MS was a year of vacation for our DS. AAP is much harder. Could vary by school.