Is it appropriate for a parent to meet with HS guidance counselor, with child to talk through course selection?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid’s counselor usually didn’t show up for the quick meeting she was supposed to have with my kid. They try to knock out an entire class of 30 kids in one period at our school. So it’s not something I’d try to do every year, barring particular needs. But if you have an open and good counselor, it’s fine and you might get some insight on teachers, etc. Anything we can help you with? If you’re looking for advice on pathways for college admission, parents here might be just as helpful.

Trying to figure out balance of APs vs not APs for DS who will be a junior. Kid had a great freshman year (Honors Alg 2, couldn't take APUSH bc of the program he's in which includes more rigorous humanities classes, Honors Bio, Spanish 3, etc) but is having a difficult time this year: dropped Honors pre-cal to regular Pre-Calc but doing great, struggling in Honors Chem, doing well in Spanish 4, struggling in AP Gov

Next year: don't know if he should take AP Lang or English 11; AP World or something else; AP Calc AB or Calc with applications; Honors Physics or AP Environ Science.

Kid has ADHD and is bright but just not that interested in school. He seems worn down by the grind already, not wanting to put in effort and generally hating academic life right now. Maybe he's depressed? But he's active and happy in his sport and has a great group of friends that he sees regularly.

I just don't know how to best support and guide him and feel frustrated that there is nobody at his giant MCPS school that can help make some of these decisions.

As the Mom to a very bright ADHD kid, I have to say - talk with him - what are the classes that interest him the most but also don't go too slowly. Those are the classes he has the best chance of displaying challenge + good grades that colleges want to see.

For our ADHD kid this was - No to any AP English (too much boring reading and writing) but yes to AP Physics C & AP Bio but no to AP Chem (too boring). We said yes to AP Calculus - bot sure if it should have been a no. Calc is boring, so it is hard to do the work every day. DC got a B and a 4 on the AP exam but did not turn in a lot of homework. We had a tutor to help him keep up conceptually since he couldn't force himself to do the boring homework.

Another DC is also probs undiagnosed ADHD, but with opposite interests - yes LOTS of to AP and IB classes in history & English (but should have said no to Physics of any kind). Yes to so many APs and IBs that DC should, in fact had, to be allowed to do it (otherwise she would have been bored to tears).

On level classes in areas of interest were, counterintuitively, a bit risky because they moved so slowly. YMMV here - depending on student and teacher.

FWIW, both ended up in colleges perfect for them - one Ivy and one big top 10 public with strong sciences.

The key is to let your ADHD kid follow their interests.

I find HS the hardest - kids have little choice and little escape from the daily grind. It's an absolute must to have a 504 plan to manage, IMO. I just kept telling my kids .... if you can get thru H, believe it or not, college will be easier and more enjoyable because you can pretty much pick classes you like in a place that you like. That helped both of them, but each almost lost their marbles in HS. Now, in college and grad school, they are fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My experience is that the high schools expect the kids to do this on their own without parental input, which I honestly don't think is wise since course selection can have an impact on college options. But that's the way MCPS has historically and continues to do things with registration.

My experience was that my student's counselor was happy to meet with us all to talk through course selection.

[Anonymous]

Yes, I do.