Middle school hs credits?

[Anonymous]

Drop the Bs and B+. Why start with a less than stellar gpa?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not the OP but in Arlington, you can have easily have 2 years of foreign language (7th and 8th), 2 years of math if you do Algebra in 7th and Geometry in 8th (not that common, but Algebra in 8th is very common) and World Geography in 8th which is standard and a HS social sciences credit. I think there are also a couple of Computer Science classes (definitely Robotics and possibly Coding) that can be taken in 8th grade.

+1. My son just finished 8th in Arlington and has 5 HS credits. A mix of As and Bs. We kept all the grades. Given his past performance I expect a mix of As and Bs in rigorous courses will be what he ends up with in HS anyway.

May I ask you what was the point to take a HS classes in the MS? I have a kid heading to the MS. My older one is graduated, never took HS classes in the MS and had all As in HS (GPA 4.7).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not the OP but in Arlington, you can have easily have 2 years of foreign language (7th and 8th), 2 years of math if you do Algebra in 7th and Geometry in 8th (not that common, but Algebra in 8th is very common) and World Geography in 8th which is standard and a HS social sciences credit. I think there are also a couple of Computer Science classes (definitely Robotics and possibly Coding) that can be taken in 8th grade.

+1. My son just finished 8th in Arlington and has 5 HS credits. A mix of As and Bs. We kept all the grades. Given his past performance I expect a mix of As and Bs in rigorous courses will be what he ends up with in HS anyway.

May I ask you what was the point to take a HS classes in the MS? I have a kid heading to the MS. My older one is graduated, never took HS classes in the MS and had all As in HS (GPA 4.7).

I don't really know what the point is. Most of it wasn't optional -- all the 8th graders take world geography and because it's an IB middle School, the two years of language are required too. We could have pulled him back a bit in math but 8th grade math is essentially a remedial class for the weakest math students. Math is DS's strongest subject and he belonged in the top math group (those classes were As).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not the OP but in Arlington, you can have easily have 2 years of foreign language (7th and 8th), 2 years of math if you do Algebra in 7th and Geometry in 8th (not that common, but Algebra in 8th is very common) and World Geography in 8th which is standard and a HS social sciences credit. I think there are also a couple of Computer Science classes (definitely Robotics and possibly Coding) that can be taken in 8th grade.

+1. My son just finished 8th in Arlington and has 5 HS credits. A mix of As and Bs. We kept all the grades. Given his past performance I expect a mix of As and Bs in rigorous courses will be what he ends up with in HS anyway.

May I ask you what was the point to take a HS classes in the MS? I have a kid heading to the MS. My older one is graduated, never took HS classes in the MS and had all As in HS (GPA 4.7).

I don't really know what the point is. Most of it wasn't optional -- all the 8th graders take world geography and because it's an IB middle School, the two years of language are required too. We could have pulled him back a bit in math but 8th grade math is essentially a remedial class for the weakest math students. Math is DS's strongest subject and he belonged in the top math group (those classes were As).

It just sorta happens without pushing. My kid (APS) had the same mix as the OPs kid, except I'm not going to share why he got the grades he got. You can make the decisions whenever in Arlington, and change your mind again, as well. I got all worked up,about this before high school, too. The decision just didn't matter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My opinion -- I would drop both Bs as neither of those courses are expected when starting out in high school. Retake Geometry and World Geography as a freshman (at honors level for the .5 bump?).

Also, the high school equivalency for the world geography class in MS includes more world history so he should retake that course regardless. It's silly that they offer it in middle school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Instead of pushing kids to take AP Calculus or Physics, FCPS should require all students to take a personal finance course as a graduation requirement. It needs to include basic banking info. on compound interest, fees, loans, the stock market, etc. Kids are graduating with no financial literacy whatsoever, taking on huge debt to pay for expensive degrees in low paying fields, and setting themselves up for a lifetime of debt.

I don't disagree. This stuff used to be taught in home economics.