Chantilly HS Honors classes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do you guys think the point of honors is?? These are the same complaints parents are now making with AP. They are advanced classes *with a GPA bump* for a reason. If your kids can’t manage that, that’s what academic level is for. The solution isn’t dumb down and make advanced classes easier - then the kids who need and deserve to be challenged won’t be so you and your kids can claim they take honors/AP.

THIS. Please stop complaining about this and instead have your kid take classes that match their abilities. My 9th grade DC is so happy that at least some of her classes are finally moving at a pace that she's not bored out of her mind and is actually learning some things. She doesn't waste time on her computer or phone in school and uses any free time to get work done. She has max of an hour of HW remaining at home each night and has all As. Please don't ask the schools to water down honors and AP classes, just move your kid down a level or accept that they're not an A student. FWIW, I'm not bragging about my A student, I have another who is not like this, and he takes Honors/AP where he has strengths (math and science), but doesn't in classes that are harder for him like English or he takes Honors but accepts that he's going to be striving for a B -- and we are fine with that.

OP here. Why do you assume my kid doesn’t have As? My kid has all As actually, close to 100% in all classes. But I feel like my child spends too much time doing work for the classes. Is that a reason to drop down? I don’t know.

Is your kid working efficiently during the school day? Doing work in class? Doing work during the extra 8th period block of time (however your high school does it)? If they are using their time in school well and still have 3+ hours of homework every night, then they need to decide whether they want to continue with that level of effort or drop down in a class or two.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do you guys think the point of honors is?? These are the same complaints parents are now making with AP. They are advanced classes *with a GPA bump* for a reason. If your kids can’t manage that, that’s what academic level is for. The solution isn’t dumb down and make advanced classes easier - then the kids who need and deserve to be challenged won’t be so you and your kids can claim they take honors/AP.

THIS. Please stop complaining about this and instead have your kid take classes that match their abilities. My 9th grade DC is so happy that at least some of her classes are finally moving at a pace that she's not bored out of her mind and is actually learning some things. She doesn't waste time on her computer or phone in school and uses any free time to get work done. She has max of an hour of HW remaining at home each night and has all As. Please don't ask the schools to water down honors and AP classes, just move your kid down a level or accept that they're not an A student. FWIW, I'm not bragging about my A student, I have another who is not like this, and he takes Honors/AP where he has strengths (math and science), but doesn't in classes that are harder for him like English or he takes Honors but accepts that he's going to be striving for a B -- and we are fine with that.

OP here. Why do you assume my kid doesn’t have As? My kid has all As actually, close to 100% in all classes. But I feel like my child spends too much time doing work for the classes. Is that a reason to drop down? I don’t know.

Is your kid working efficiently during the school day? Doing work in class? Doing work during the extra 8th period block of time (however your high school does it)? If they are using their time in school well and still have 3+ hours of homework every night, then they need to decide whether they want to continue with that level of effort or drop down in a class or two.

I would say no to efficiently working in class. Kid says they can’t concentrate in class for whatever reason. Often wants to bring work home to work in a quiet environment. Other kids seem to finish no problem in class. Kid definitely uses the study hall period, but it’s only 45 minutes (first half has some kind of SEL lesson) and kid says it’s often “chaotic” and noisy and hard to concentrate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do you guys think the point of honors is?? These are the same complaints parents are now making with AP. They are advanced classes *with a GPA bump* for a reason. If your kids can’t manage that, that’s what academic level is for. The solution isn’t dumb down and make advanced classes easier - then the kids who need and deserve to be challenged won’t be so you and your kids can claim they take honors/AP.

THIS. Please stop complaining about this and instead have your kid take classes that match their abilities. My 9th grade DC is so happy that at least some of her classes are finally moving at a pace that she's not bored out of her mind and is actually learning some things. She doesn't waste time on her computer or phone in school and uses any free time to get work done. She has max of an hour of HW remaining at home each night and has all As. Please don't ask the schools to water down honors and AP classes, just move your kid down a level or accept that they're not an A student. FWIW, I'm not bragging about my A student, I have another who is not like this, and he takes Honors/AP where he has strengths (math and science), but doesn't in classes that are harder for him like English or he takes Honors but accepts that he's going to be striving for a B -- and we are fine with that.

OP here. Why do you assume my kid doesn’t have As? My kid has all As actually, close to 100% in all classes. But I feel like my child spends too much time doing work for the classes. Is that a reason to drop down? I don’t know.

Is your kid working efficiently during the school day? Doing work in class? Doing work during the extra 8th period block of time (however your high school does it)? If they are using their time in school well and still have 3+ hours of homework every night, then they need to decide whether they want to continue with that level of effort or drop down in a class or two.

I would say no to efficiently working in class. Kid says they can’t concentrate in class for whatever reason. Often wants to bring work home to work in a quiet environment. Other kids seem to finish no problem in class. Kid definitely uses the study hall period, but it’s only 45 minutes (first half has some kind of SEL lesson) and kid says it’s often “chaotic” and noisy and hard to concentrate.

Well, then the decision is up to them as far as classes go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do you guys think the point of honors is?? These are the same complaints parents are now making with AP. They are advanced classes *with a GPA bump* for a reason. If your kids can’t manage that, that’s what academic level is for. The solution isn’t dumb down and make advanced classes easier - then the kids who need and deserve to be challenged won’t be so you and your kids can claim they take honors/AP.

THIS. Please stop complaining about this and instead have your kid take classes that match their abilities. My 9th grade DC is so happy that at least some of her classes are finally moving at a pace that she's not bored out of her mind and is actually learning some things. She doesn't waste time on her computer or phone in school and uses any free time to get work done. She has max of an hour of HW remaining at home each night and has all As. Please don't ask the schools to water down honors and AP classes, just move your kid down a level or accept that they're not an A student. FWIW, I'm not bragging about my A student, I have another who is not like this, and he takes Honors/AP where he has strengths (math and science), but doesn't in classes that are harder for him like English or he takes Honors but accepts that he's going to be striving for a B -- and we are fine with that.

OP here. Why do you assume my kid doesn’t have As? My kid has all As actually, close to 100% in all classes. But I feel like my child spends too much time doing work for the classes. Is that a reason to drop down? I don’t know.

YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE WORKING HARD FOR AN A. That’s the entire point of learning! What do you expect? He goes to honors and gets handed an A and a .50 GPA bump for coloring in a map?

[Anonymous]

May be the apple didn't fall too far from the tree?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do you guys think the point of honors is?? These are the same complaints parents are now making with AP. They are advanced classes *with a GPA bump* for a reason. If your kids can’t manage that, that’s what academic level is for. The solution isn’t dumb down and make advanced classes easier - then the kids who need and deserve to be challenged won’t be so you and your kids can claim they take honors/AP.

THIS. Please stop complaining about this and instead have your kid take classes that match their abilities. My 9th grade DC is so happy that at least some of her classes are finally moving at a pace that she's not bored out of her mind and is actually learning some things. She doesn't waste time on her computer or phone in school and uses any free time to get work done. She has max of an hour of HW remaining at home each night and has all As. Please don't ask the schools to water down honors and AP classes, just move your kid down a level or accept that they're not an A student. FWIW, I'm not bragging about my A student, I have another who is not like this, and he takes Honors/AP where he has strengths (math and science), but doesn't in classes that are harder for him like English or he takes Honors but accepts that he's going to be striving for a B -- and we are fine with that.

OP here. Why do you assume my kid doesn’t have As? My kid has all As actually, close to 100% in all classes. But I feel like my child spends too much time doing work for the classes. Is that a reason to drop down? I don’t know.

YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE WORKING HARD FOR AN A. That’s the entire point of learning! What do you expect? He goes to honors and gets handed an A and a .50 GPA bump for coloring in a map?

Yeah but spending all weekend working on school work with no time for activities doesn’t seem right. Kid is working on school work 7 days a week, including Fridays. Just to stay afloat?

[Anonymous]

My kid is taking all honors except for language, PE and an elective and is doing hardly any work. I had another kid and Chantilly and it was the same for them freshman year. Things didn't really get tough for them until they took 4 hard APs as a junior.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid is taking all honors except for language, PE and an elective and is doing hardly any work. I had another kid and Chantilly and it was the same for them freshman year. Things didn't really get tough for them until they took 4 hard APs as a junior.

What do you think was the difference between the two kids? Was the first one more efficient?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is taking all honors except for language, PE and an elective and is doing hardly any work. I had another kid and Chantilly and it was the same for them freshman year. Things didn't really get tough for them until they took 4 hard APs as a junior.

What do you think was the difference between the two kids? Was the first one more efficient?

This is PP, I think you misunderstood me - the younger kid has the same classes as the older kid did as a freshman and the younger kid also seem not to do much work (the same was true for the older kid). Older kid did not do much work until junior year although they took mostly honors classes (and AP World as a sophomore).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do you guys think the point of honors is?? These are the same complaints parents are now making with AP. They are advanced classes *with a GPA bump* for a reason. If your kids can’t manage that, that’s what academic level is for. The solution isn’t dumb down and make advanced classes easier - then the kids who need and deserve to be challenged won’t be so you and your kids can claim they take honors/AP.

THIS. Please stop complaining about this and instead have your kid take classes that match their abilities. My 9th grade DC is so happy that at least some of her classes are finally moving at a pace that she's not bored out of her mind and is actually learning some things. She doesn't waste time on her computer or phone in school and uses any free time to get work done. She has max of an hour of HW remaining at home each night and has all As. Please don't ask the schools to water down honors and AP classes, just move your kid down a level or accept that they're not an A student. FWIW, I'm not bragging about my A student, I have another who is not like this, and he takes Honors/AP where he has strengths (math and science), but doesn't in classes that are harder for him like English or he takes Honors but accepts that he's going to be striving for a B -- and we are fine with that.

OP here. Why do you assume my kid doesn’t have As? My kid has all As actually, close to 100% in all classes. But I feel like my child spends too much time doing work for the classes. Is that a reason to drop down? I don’t know.

YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE WORKING HARD FOR AN A. That’s the entire point of learning! What do you expect? He goes to honors and gets handed an A and a .50 GPA bump for coloring in a map?

Yeah but spending all weekend working on school work with no time for activities doesn’t seem right. Kid is working on school work 7 days a week, including Fridays. Just to stay afloat?

Honestly, it sounds like your child is a stretch for an honors class. Either they should drop a level or accept that this is the amount of work needed to get As based on their time management and skills levels. I have both in my classes--those who decide they want a more balanced high school experience and drop for an easier class because honors is too much stress, and those who want the A in honors more than they want to play a sport and are okay with giving up ECs. I also have plenty who can get As/Bs without a ton of added stress, because honors is the "just right" fit for them.

None of these are bad things, they are just the reality of kids at different ability levels taking the same course.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do you guys think the point of honors is?? These are the same complaints parents are now making with AP. They are advanced classes *with a GPA bump* for a reason. If your kids can’t manage that, that’s what academic level is for. The solution isn’t dumb down and make advanced classes easier - then the kids who need and deserve to be challenged won’t be so you and your kids can claim they take honors/AP.

THIS. Please stop complaining about this and instead have your kid take classes that match their abilities. My 9th grade DC is so happy that at least some of her classes are finally moving at a pace that she's not bored out of her mind and is actually learning some things. She doesn't waste time on her computer or phone in school and uses any free time to get work done. She has max of an hour of HW remaining at home each night and has all As. Please don't ask the schools to water down honors and AP classes, just move your kid down a level or accept that they're not an A student. FWIW, I'm not bragging about my A student, I have another who is not like this, and he takes Honors/AP where he has strengths (math and science), but doesn't in classes that are harder for him like English or he takes Honors but accepts that he's going to be striving for a B -- and we are fine with that.

OP here. Why do you assume my kid doesn’t have As? My kid has all As actually, close to 100% in all classes. But I feel like my child spends too much time doing work for the classes. Is that a reason to drop down? I don’t know.

YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE WORKING HARD FOR AN A. That’s the entire point of learning! What do you expect? He goes to honors and gets handed an A and a .50 GPA bump for coloring in a map?

Yeah but spending all weekend working on school work with no time for activities doesn’t seem right. Kid is working on school work 7 days a week, including Fridays. Just to stay afloat?

Honestly, it sounds like your child is a stretch for an honors class. Either they should drop a level or accept that this is the amount of work needed to get As based on their time management and skills levels. I have both in my classes--those who decide they want a more balanced high school experience and drop for an easier class because honors is too much stress, and those who want the A in honors more than they want to play a sport and are okay with giving up ECs. I also have plenty who can get As/Bs without a ton of added stress, because honors is the "just right" fit for them.

None of these are bad things, they are just the reality of kids at different ability levels taking the same course.

PP again--or they decide that they are okay with a C+ in honors, and that the challenge and growth opportunities are worth the lower grade. Those ones always surprise me, but there are always a few who choose that path. Again, not necessarily wrong, just a choice that needs to be made.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do you guys think the point of honors is?? These are the same complaints parents are now making with AP. They are advanced classes *with a GPA bump* for a reason. If your kids can’t manage that, that’s what academic level is for. The solution isn’t dumb down and make advanced classes easier - then the kids who need and deserve to be challenged won’t be so you and your kids can claim they take honors/AP.

THIS. Please stop complaining about this and instead have your kid take classes that match their abilities. My 9th grade DC is so happy that at least some of her classes are finally moving at a pace that she's not bored out of her mind and is actually learning some things. She doesn't waste time on her computer or phone in school and uses any free time to get work done. She has max of an hour of HW remaining at home each night and has all As. Please don't ask the schools to water down honors and AP classes, just move your kid down a level or accept that they're not an A student. FWIW, I'm not bragging about my A student, I have another who is not like this, and he takes Honors/AP where he has strengths (math and science), but doesn't in classes that are harder for him like English or he takes Honors but accepts that he's going to be striving for a B -- and we are fine with that.

OP here. Why do you assume my kid doesn’t have As? My kid has all As actually, close to 100% in all classes. But I feel like my child spends too much time doing work for the classes. Is that a reason to drop down? I don’t know.

YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE WORKING HARD FOR AN A. That’s the entire point of learning! What do you expect? He goes to honors and gets handed an A and a .50 GPA bump for coloring in a map?

Yeah but spending all weekend working on school work with no time for activities doesn’t seem right. Kid is working on school work 7 days a week, including Fridays. Just to stay afloat?

Honestly, it sounds like your child is a stretch for an honors class. Either they should drop a level or accept that this is the amount of work needed to get As based on their time management and skills levels. I have both in my classes--those who decide they want a more balanced high school experience and drop for an easier class because honors is too much stress, and those who want the A in honors more than they want to play a sport and are okay with giving up ECs. I also have plenty who can get As/Bs without a ton of added stress, because honors is the "just right" fit for them.

None of these are bad things, they are just the reality of kids at different ability levels taking the same course.

OP here, good points. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do you guys think the point of honors is?? These are the same complaints parents are now making with AP. They are advanced classes *with a GPA bump* for a reason. If your kids can’t manage that, that’s what academic level is for. The solution isn’t dumb down and make advanced classes easier - then the kids who need and deserve to be challenged won’t be so you and your kids can claim they take honors/AP.

THIS. Please stop complaining about this and instead have your kid take classes that match their abilities. My 9th grade DC is so happy that at least some of her classes are finally moving at a pace that she's not bored out of her mind and is actually learning some things. She doesn't waste time on her computer or phone in school and uses any free time to get work done. She has max of an hour of HW remaining at home each night and has all As. Please don't ask the schools to water down honors and AP classes, just move your kid down a level or accept that they're not an A student. FWIW, I'm not bragging about my A student, I have another who is not like this, and he takes Honors/AP where he has strengths (math and science), but doesn't in classes that are harder for him like English or he takes Honors but accepts that he's going to be striving for a B -- and we are fine with that.

OP here. Why do you assume my kid doesn’t have As? My kid has all As actually, close to 100% in all classes. But I feel like my child spends too much time doing work for the classes. Is that a reason to drop down? I don’t know.

YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE WORKING HARD FOR AN A. That’s the entire point of learning! What do you expect? He goes to honors and gets handed an A and a .50 GPA bump for coloring in a map?

Yeah but spending all weekend working on school work with no time for activities doesn’t seem right. Kid is working on school work 7 days a week, including Fridays. Just to stay afloat?

Honestly, it sounds like your child is a stretch for an honors class. Either they should drop a level or accept that this is the amount of work needed to get As based on their time management and skills levels. I have both in my classes--those who decide they want a more balanced high school experience and drop for an easier class because honors is too much stress, and those who want the A in honors more than they want to play a sport and are okay with giving up ECs. I also have plenty who can get As/Bs without a ton of added stress, because honors is the "just right" fit for them.

None of these are bad things, they are just the reality of kids at different ability levels taking the same course.

Do you see improvement in time management and efficiency by some of your students by the end of the year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is taking all honors except for language, PE and an elective and is doing hardly any work. I had another kid and Chantilly and it was the same for them freshman year. Things didn't really get tough for them until they took 4 hard APs as a junior.

What do you think was the difference between the two kids? Was the first one more efficient?

This is PP, I think you misunderstood me - the younger kid has the same classes as the older kid did as a freshman and the younger kid also seem not to do much work (the same was true for the older kid). Older kid did not do much work until junior year although they took mostly honors classes (and AP World as a sophomore).

Got it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do you guys think the point of honors is?? These are the same complaints parents are now making with AP. They are advanced classes *with a GPA bump* for a reason. If your kids can’t manage that, that’s what academic level is for. The solution isn’t dumb down and make advanced classes easier - then the kids who need and deserve to be challenged won’t be so you and your kids can claim they take honors/AP.

THIS. Please stop complaining about this and instead have your kid take classes that match their abilities. My 9th grade DC is so happy that at least some of her classes are finally moving at a pace that she's not bored out of her mind and is actually learning some things. She doesn't waste time on her computer or phone in school and uses any free time to get work done. She has max of an hour of HW remaining at home each night and has all As. Please don't ask the schools to water down honors and AP classes, just move your kid down a level or accept that they're not an A student. FWIW, I'm not bragging about my A student, I have another who is not like this, and he takes Honors/AP where he has strengths (math and science), but doesn't in classes that are harder for him like English or he takes Honors but accepts that he's going to be striving for a B -- and we are fine with that.

OP here. Why do you assume my kid doesn’t have As? My kid has all As actually, close to 100% in all classes. But I feel like my child spends too much time doing work for the classes. Is that a reason to drop down? I don’t know.

YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE WORKING HARD FOR AN A. That’s the entire point of learning! What do you expect? He goes to honors and gets handed an A and a .50 GPA bump for coloring in a map?

Yeah but spending all weekend working on school work with no time for activities doesn’t seem right. Kid is working on school work 7 days a week, including Fridays. Just to stay afloat?

Honestly, it sounds like your child is a stretch for an honors class. Either they should drop a level or accept that this is the amount of work needed to get As based on their time management and skills levels. I have both in my classes--those who decide they want a more balanced high school experience and drop for an easier class because honors is too much stress, and those who want the A in honors more than they want to play a sport and are okay with giving up ECs. I also have plenty who can get As/Bs without a ton of added stress, because honors is the "just right" fit for them.

None of these are bad things, they are just the reality of kids at different ability levels taking the same course.

Do you see improvement in time management and efficiency by some of your students by the end of the year?

Rarely. The vast majority actually get worse as the material gets harder throughout the year.