W-L Freshman Courseload

[Anonymous]

My 8th grade son got recommendations from his teachers yesterday for all standard classes in 9th. He's a good student - has mostly As this year, but doesn't participate a lot in online and is not always engaged. Hence, I feel like his teachers don't really know him. I am not sure what to do. Should he take a couple of Intensified classes anyway? He seems to think he can, but at the same time, he needs a lot of handholding. Is it better to get a lower grade in intensified or a higher grade in regular? Do I let him get used to high school and see what happens in 9th and then maybe take intensified in 10th. He will not do full IB. Any advice appreciated! TIA!

[Anonymous]

I would encourage him to step up to an intensified class in a couple subjects he likes best.

[Anonymous]

I agree with 14:57. Ignore the recs and take half intensified and half gen ed if he's a good student. My son is a freshman had no recs either and has been fine with this approach. Probably could have gone even harder but now we know for next year.

[Anonymous]

I would take a few intensified in his favorite subjects. You can always switch down to regular within the first month of school if it’s too much for him. Regular classes are fine, but for the most part not challenging.

[Anonymous]

Thank you. That’s what I’m leaning toward, too. I’d rather have him be challenged a bit than coast.

[Anonymous]

Who does the hand-holding? If it's parents, I'd caution against that -- he should be practicing managing his own life, because college will be here sooner than you can imagine. So if he wants to take some intensified classes, great! But make it clear that you've already graduated from high school, so he needs to figure out how to get work done, deal with problems, live with consequences, etc (assuming he doesn't have ADHD or another reason to need parental hand-holding).

If it's the teachers you expect to hold his hand, are they doing that now? Maybe that's why they think he'd be better off in regular classes.

[Anonymous]

In APS, intensified really means nothing except for a couple of math classes that include additional content, like Alegebra 2 Int, which includes Trig. The only difference appears to be the other students in the class.

[Anonymous]

What are the most loved electives for W-L freshmen, not music-related?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What are the most loved electives for W-L freshmen, not music-related?[/

W-L has great electives. If you contact the counseling dept, they should be able to send you a copy of the CRF (course recommendation form) for 9th grade that lists all the electives available.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would encourage him to step up to an intensified class in a couple subjects he likes best.

This. Try a few intensified classes. It’s manageable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What are the most loved electives for W-L freshmen, not music-related?

Both of my kids took ceramics and really enjoyed it. My now senior continued up to junior year and would have Sr year if they were actually in school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In APS, intensified really means nothing except for a couple of math classes that include additional content, like Alegebra 2 Int, which includes Trig. The only difference appears to be the other students in the class.

I disagree. I have been surprised at how much easier the gen ed classes are for my 9th grader. No regrets in him taking them because it has allowed him to focus on harder classes. Maybe they are easier this year do to online classes, I don't know.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the tip on ceramics! Any other fan favorites? Like how is Computer Graphics?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for the tip on ceramics! Any other fan favorites? Like how is Computer Graphics?

My son and his friends liked computer graphics, seemed up be a fun class

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for the tip on ceramics! Any other fan favorites? Like how is Computer Graphics?

My son and his friends liked computer graphics, seemed up be a fun class