Culture of Holton-Arms

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do high school parents think of the physics first science curriculum at Holton?
Did it work for your girls? Did it get them to like physics and then take more advanced physics later on?

Love it—Freshman Physics teacher is a favorite and definitely made my daughter more interested in science. It has a good combination of instruction and hands on activities (ie egg drop, etc). She’s since taken Honors Chem and is in Honors Bio. She plans to take Advanced Physics senior year.

So physics is not taken AFTER geometry or algebra II??? It’s taken freshman year? How much math is used then?

It is a conceptual class. Very low level of math needed

Why bother? No other school does this. Is it a way for a liberal arts person to put a watered down version of high school physics on their transcript and hope a college accomplishments thinks it’s normal HS physics?

Holton has a well developed science program and offers regular and honors Physics in 9th and Advance Physics as a choice normally in 12th. They feel like it’s an engaging, everyday science class that will foster a love of science in 9th which was true in my daughter’s case. Students then take chemistry or honors chemistry in 10th, biology or honors biology in 11th. In 12th there is advanced physics, advanced chemistry or advanced biology, environmental science. They also have additional science electives (microbiology, macrobiology, forensics, etc). There is a STEM scholar designation and science research program. There might be things to complain about at Holton, but the science program is generally very highly regarded.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do high school parents think of the physics first science curriculum at Holton?
Did it work for your girls? Did it get them to like physics and then take more advanced physics later on?

Love it—Freshman Physics teacher is a favorite and definitely made my daughter more interested in science. It has a good combination of instruction and hands on activities (ie egg drop, etc). She’s since taken Honors Chem and is in Honors Bio. She plans to take Advanced Physics senior year.

So physics is not taken AFTER geometry or algebra II??? It’s taken freshman year? How much math is used then?

It is a conceptual class. Very low level of math needed

Why bother? No other school does this. Is it a way for a liberal arts person to put a watered down version of high school physics on their transcript and hope a college accomplishments thinks it’s normal HS physics?

Do the 9th graders have to take Physics Lite or can they skip that if they plan on doing Honors Physics? Do any 9th graders take the AP Physics exam even with taking Physics Lite?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do high school parents think of the physics first science curriculum at Holton?
Did it work for your girls? Did it get them to like physics and then take more advanced physics later on?

Love it—Freshman Physics teacher is a favorite and definitely made my daughter more interested in science. It has a good combination of instruction and hands on activities (ie egg drop, etc). She’s since taken Honors Chem and is in Honors Bio. She plans to take Advanced Physics senior year.

So physics is not taken AFTER geometry or algebra II??? It’s taken freshman year? How much math is used then?

It is a conceptual class. Very low level of math needed

Why bother? No other school does this. Is it a way for a liberal arts person to put a watered down version of high school physics on their transcript and hope a college accomplishments thinks it’s normal HS physics?

Do the 9th graders have to take Physics Lite or can they skip that if they plan on doing Honors Physics? Do any 9th graders take the AP Physics exam even with taking Physics Lite?

There is Honors Physics in 9th that requires more advanced math than the regular physics. For those who want to take the AP exam, they would also take Advanced Physics normally Junior or Senior year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do high school parents think of the physics first science curriculum at Holton?
Did it work for your girls? Did it get them to like physics and then take more advanced physics later on?

Love it—Freshman Physics teacher is a favorite and definitely made my daughter more interested in science. It has a good combination of instruction and hands on activities (ie egg drop, etc). She’s since taken Honors Chem and is in Honors Bio. She plans to take Advanced Physics senior year.

So physics is not taken AFTER geometry or algebra II??? It’s taken freshman year? How much math is used then?

It is a conceptual class. Very low level of math needed

Why bother? No other school does this. Is it a way for a liberal arts person to put a watered down version of high school physics on their transcript and hope a college accomplishments thinks it’s normal HS physics?

Actually The Spence School, one of the best schools in NYC, does a physics-first curriculum and has for a while.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do high school parents think of the physics first science curriculum at Holton?
Did it work for your girls? Did it get them to like physics and then take more advanced physics later on?

Love it—Freshman Physics teacher is a favorite and definitely made my daughter more interested in science. It has a good combination of instruction and hands on activities (ie egg drop, etc). She’s since taken Honors Chem and is in Honors Bio. She plans to take Advanced Physics senior year.

So physics is not taken AFTER geometry or algebra II??? It’s taken freshman year? How much math is used then?

It is a conceptual class. Very low level of math needed

Why bother? No other school does this. Is it a way for a liberal arts person to put a watered down version of high school physics on their transcript and hope a college accomplishments thinks it’s normal HS physics?

Do the 9th graders have to take Physics Lite or can they skip that if they plan on doing Honors Physics? Do any 9th graders take the AP Physics exam even with taking Physics Lite?

There is Honors Physics in 9th that requires more advanced math than the regular physics. For those who want to take the AP exam, they would also take Advanced Physics normally Junior or Senior year.

Can 9th grade girls who were at Holton for 7th/8th (and therefore two years of algebra I, no geometry as noted above) qualify to take honors physics in 9th grade, or is honors physics only open to the incoming students who are in Algebra II during ninth grade, having competed geometry before entering Holton?

Thank you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do high school parents think of the physics first science curriculum at Holton?
Did it work for your girls? Did it get them to like physics and then take more advanced physics later on?

Love it—Freshman Physics teacher is a favorite and definitely made my daughter more interested in science. It has a good combination of instruction and hands on activities (ie egg drop, etc). She’s since taken Honors Chem and is in Honors Bio. She plans to take Advanced Physics senior year.

So physics is not taken AFTER geometry or algebra II??? It’s taken freshman year? How much math is used then?

It is a conceptual class. Very low level of math needed

Why bother? No other school does this. Is it a way for a liberal arts person to put a watered down version of high school physics on their transcript and hope a college accomplishments thinks it’s normal HS physics?

Do the 9th graders have to take Physics Lite or can they skip that if they plan on doing Honors Physics? Do any 9th graders take the AP Physics exam even with taking Physics Lite?

There is Honors Physics in 9th that requires more advanced math than the regular physics. For those who want to take the AP exam, they would also take Advanced Physics normally Junior or Senior year.

Can 9th grade girls who were at Holton for 7th/8th (and therefore two years of algebra I, no geometry as noted above) qualify to take honors physics in 9th grade, or is honors physics only open to the incoming students who are in Algebra II during ninth grade, having competed geometry before entering Holton?

Thank you.

Yes, absolutely. The majority of the girls in honors physics come from Holton MS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do high school parents think of the physics first science curriculum at Holton?
Did it work for your girls? Did it get them to like physics and then take more advanced physics later on?

Love it—Freshman Physics teacher is a favorite and definitely made my daughter more interested in science. It has a good combination of instruction and hands on activities (ie egg drop, etc). She’s since taken Honors Chem and is in Honors Bio. She plans to take Advanced Physics senior year.

So physics is not taken AFTER geometry or algebra II??? It’s taken freshman year? How much math is used then?

It is a conceptual class. Very low level of math needed

Why bother? No other school does this. Is it a way for a liberal arts person to put a watered down version of high school physics on their transcript and hope a college accomplishments thinks it’s normal HS physics?

Do the 9th graders have to take Physics Lite or can they skip that if they plan on doing Honors Physics? Do any 9th graders take the AP Physics exam even with taking Physics Lite?

There is Honors Physics in 9th that requires more advanced math than the regular physics. For those who want to take the AP exam, they would also take Advanced Physics normally Junior or Senior year.

Can 9th grade girls who were at Holton for 7th/8th (and therefore two years of algebra I, no geometry as noted above) qualify to take honors physics in 9th grade, or is honors physics only open to the incoming students who are in Algebra II during ninth grade, having competed geometry before entering Holton?

Thank you.

Yes, my DD took honors geometry and honors physics in 9th grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do high school parents think of the physics first science curriculum at Holton?
Did it work for your girls? Did it get them to like physics and then take more advanced physics later on?

Love it—Freshman Physics teacher is a favorite and definitely made my daughter more interested in science. It has a good combination of instruction and hands on activities (ie egg drop, etc). She’s since taken Honors Chem and is in Honors Bio. She plans to take Advanced Physics senior year.

So physics is not taken AFTER geometry or algebra II??? It’s taken freshman year? How much math is used then?

It is a conceptual class. Very low level of math needed

Why bother? No other school does this. Is it a way for a liberal arts person to put a watered down version of high school physics on their transcript and hope a college accomplishments thinks it’s normal HS physics?

Do the 9th graders have to take Physics Lite or can they skip that if they plan on doing Honors Physics? Do any 9th graders take the AP Physics exam even with taking Physics Lite?

There is Honors Physics in 9th that requires more advanced math than the regular physics. For those who want to take the AP exam, they would also take Advanced Physics normally Junior or Senior year.

Is the advanced physics class physics with calculus? So you have to have taken calculus by junior year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do high school parents think of the physics first science curriculum at Holton?
Did it work for your girls? Did it get them to like physics and then take more advanced physics later on?

Love it—Freshman Physics teacher is a favorite and definitely made my daughter more interested in science. It has a good combination of instruction and hands on activities (ie egg drop, etc). She’s since taken Honors Chem and is in Honors Bio. She plans to take Advanced Physics senior year.

So physics is not taken AFTER geometry or algebra II??? It’s taken freshman year? How much math is used then?

It is a conceptual class. Very low level of math needed

Why bother? No other school does this. Is it a way for a liberal arts person to put a watered down version of high school physics on their transcript and hope a college accomplishments thinks it’s normal HS physics?

Do the 9th graders have to take Physics Lite or can they skip that if they plan on doing Honors Physics? Do any 9th graders take the AP Physics exam even with taking Physics Lite?

There is Honors Physics in 9th that requires more advanced math than the regular physics. For those who want to take the AP exam, they would also take Advanced Physics normally Junior or Senior year.

Is the advanced physics class physics with calculus? So you have to have taken calculus by junior year?

What’s going on, this is how it was in the 1990s. What is happening in k-8 with core subjects (math, science, English lit) in DC private schools?

[Anonymous]

I went to a school that wanted you to have grades in for these classes by end of junior year so it was in your transcript when applying for college that fall/winter.

Do colleges really not care that you backloaded all your tough classes into senior year?? That is not what other schools or students are doing. If fact the schools with weighted classes, the top students save all their nonsense 4.0 requirements for spring semester senior year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do high school parents think of the physics first science curriculum at Holton?
Did it work for your girls? Did it get them to like physics and then take more advanced physics later on?

Love it—Freshman Physics teacher is a favorite and definitely made my daughter more interested in science. It has a good combination of instruction and hands on activities (ie egg drop, etc). She’s since taken Honors Chem and is in Honors Bio. She plans to take Advanced Physics senior year.

So physics is not taken AFTER geometry or algebra II??? It’s taken freshman year? How much math is used then?

It is a conceptual class. Very low level of math needed

Why bother? No other school does this. Is it a way for a liberal arts person to put a watered down version of high school physics on their transcript and hope a college accomplishments thinks it’s normal HS physics?

Do the 9th graders have to take Physics Lite or can they skip that if they plan on doing Honors Physics? Do any 9th graders take the AP Physics exam even with taking Physics Lite?

There is Honors Physics in 9th that requires more advanced math than the regular physics. For those who want to take the AP exam, they would also take Advanced Physics normally Junior or Senior year.

Can 9th grade girls who were at Holton for 7th/8th (and therefore two years of algebra I, no geometry as noted above) qualify to take honors physics in 9th grade, or is honors physics only open to the incoming students who are in Algebra II during ninth grade, having competed geometry before entering Holton?

Thank you.

Yes, my DD took honors geometry and honors physics in 9th grade.

Several MS Holton girls take algebra 2 honors and honors physics in 9th grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do high school parents think of the physics first science curriculum at Holton?
Did it work for your girls? Did it get them to like physics and then take more advanced physics later on?

Love it—Freshman Physics teacher is a favorite and definitely made my daughter more interested in science. It has a good combination of instruction and hands on activities (ie egg drop, etc). She’s since taken Honors Chem and is in Honors Bio. She plans to take Advanced Physics senior year.

So physics is not taken AFTER geometry or algebra II??? It’s taken freshman year? How much math is used then?

It is a conceptual class. Very low level of math needed

Why bother? No other school does this. Is it a way for a liberal arts person to put a watered down version of high school physics on their transcript and hope a college accomplishments thinks it’s normal HS physics?

Actually The Spence School, one of the best schools in NYC, does a physics-first curriculum and has for a while.

At 60k+ that's irrelevant. I'll happily learn physics from the Feynman Lectures for free.

[Anonymous]

I always wished physics was earlier since it explained so much. But utilizing the algebra and geometry vector math was what made it all make more sense. Even fully understanding mass finally.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I always wished physics was earlier since it explained so much. But utilizing the algebra and geometry vector math was what made it all make more sense. Even fully understanding mass finally.

Yep the more math, the more physics makes sense. I didn't understand why anything was true in conceptual physics. Non-calculus physics with vectors/trig was definitely better, but physics really started clicking when I took the calculus version at which point many things could finally be explained logically via math.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I agree that US is a heavy workload. The rest, however, doesn’t match my DD’s experience. She regularly studies with friends and isn’t competitive with them. They all want to do well, but they help each other out. And while we can afford it, no Louis Vuitton bags here. Nor do any of her friends have them. There are roughly 90 girls in each grade. Like any school, you will find a variety of kids and personalities, most of whom are nice, supportive, and down to earth.

We are a family with a senior and I would agree that much of that does not match my DD's experiences at all. I'm not even sure I would call the workload heavy - just rigorous. But the sequence of expectations and coursework build to it over the years so there has never been a time when she would have said unmanageable (even with a club sport and plenty of social events).

I feel as though the clique issue is there, but very subtle. There are very few girls in my DD's class that she would describe as lonely. Sure, a group of girls might be tight and only hang out with each other, etc. but those groups are throughout the grade and looking at the friend groups, she would say there is a group for everyone that wants one. The school also does a very good job with scheduling so if you find that there is too much homework, the student is likely not using their study hall time wisely. I will say that I've heard that other grades are better / worse than the current senior class, and it would be hard to figure out which type of class mix you would be joining.

I find that what parents perceive as their child's experience at a school vs. what their child's actual experience at the school end up to be are vastly different.