All honors classes in 9th grade FCPS ?
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Anonymous
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DS is a rising high schooler. He is good student, A’s mostly, sometimes A- in AAP middle school. Organized and works hard as needed. Has enough extra curriculars and a good amount of free time for fun. He enjoys Math and will be taking Alg 2 and Spanish 2 as natural progressions....however my concern is that he has taken all other subjects as Honor (eng, bio, hist). My concern is - did he sign up for a very challenging 9th grade or is that the norm ? I wish he and I had spoken to the counselor, other friends for tips and guidance before submitting the elective form several weeks back.
Is it typical for 9th students to have all honors classes ? TIA. |
Anonymous
| Having all Honors classes in 9th grade is not unusual. It also fosters a better learning environment as the students that sign up for these classes are interested in learning. |
Anonymous
| I would say a large number of students take all honors. My kids were both in AAP and all honors plus Alg 2/trig honors in 9th. They had to work harder than their friends in regular classes, but it wasn’t an issue. |
Anonymous
| If he’s smart he’ll be totally fine |
Anonymous
| I agree with the prior posters — But make sure that he is smart and academically oriented, and not just getting A’s in middle school. There’s a huge number who get A’s in middle school who don’t realize that high school honors and APs are a different ball game compared to middle school AAP. |
Anonymous
| My gen ed kid took that exact schedule as was fine. As a sophomore, he’s taking IB Chem, AP Gov and honors English and doing well. |
Anonymous
| Keep him in honors. If he goes in general education he will most likely be in a team taught special education or team taught ESOL class. They dumb everything down in those classes. |
Anonymous
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All Honors was fine for my DC in 9th grade and he was borderline AP. He went on to take AP World sophmore year- another things I would highly recommend. It taught hm how to write better than any English class he had. I would recommend students take it just for that aspect.
It is easier to drop down during the year than go up. |
Anonymous
| What high schools are being discussed here? My DS goes to Langley and most take one or two honors. Gen ed is definitely not mainly SPED or ESOL there. |
Anonymous
| In my neighborhood it seems most kids take all honors freshman year, regardless of AAP status, with the exception of Honors Bio. Some kids don't want to do the science fair project, which is the main difference between honors and regular bio. |
Anonymous
| The quality of the classes make a difference on how they fair on the SAT and ACT tests. Honors and AP classes help them acquire the vocabulary and thinking skills to do better. |
Anonymous
+1 |
Anonymous
+1 |
Anonymous
| It is very common for AAP 8th graders to continue onto all Honors in 9th. In fact, at the MS I work at, the 9th grade AAP parents all come back and say that their kid is bored in honors classes after doing AAP in 8th. |
Anonymous
+1. Pretty much this. DC’s friends who came out of Carson, applied to TJ but were not admitted or chose not to attend and went to SLHS, Chantilly and Westfield have said even all honors is not a real step up from Carson, and that the trend has been towards less HS homework. (have not heard an opinion from a Carson -> Oakton kid). The intensity does not really kick in for most kids until they hit multiple APs in 11th. When they say taking all honors might be too much, I don’t think they are talk8 g about kids with 4.0s with high As in a strong (Carson, RRMS, Longfellow, Thoreau, etc) AAP Center. Those kids are used to taking honors and above honors level in all subjects, and have proven the can. |