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[quote=Anonymous]Agree with PP that there is no trouble at all getting AP classes if you sign up for them during registration in Feb/Mar.  If you wait until Jun, Jul or Aug. and suddenly decide that you really want an AP class instead of honors, you may or may not get it.  They tell you to assume that you won't get it... space available only at that time.  But, if you signed up for it on time, you are going to get that class.

As for the sports stuff... I think Madison teams have been very successful lately, so people think of Madison as a "sporty" school.  Neither of my kids has ANY interest in sports.  In fact, I'm the one telling them that the basketball team is playing in the state championship or the football team is doing the same.  My kid who is there now could not care less about sports.  And I'd say that's the same for most of the kids in our neighborhood.  They are more the computer/robotics types, and the occasional band kid.  One neighbor was on womens crew.  That's about it.

The attendance zone is pretty compact (around Vienna), unlike some HSs that stretch far and wide.  As a result, there is more of a local focus on activities (i.e. the homecoming parade down the main street).  But, you really can choose what groups you want to belong to (orchestra?  band?  theatre?  sports?  robotics?  nothing!).

My 10th grades really likes standards based grading b/c he can choose not to do practice homework and just do the tests if he thinks he knows the material.  Some teachers are much more insistent on the students doing the practice work (even if it isn't technically used for the grade, those teachers really press the kids that it IS mandatory).  Other teachers, according to my 10th grader, do not push the homework/practice work as much.  But, like I said, my kid thinks this is a good thing.  Since he's managing his outcomes himself, and the outcomes are pretty good, I can't complain about it.

THE most important thing for me is that my kid is safe both physically and emotionally -- that my kid is not being bullied or actually exposed to other kids in fights and verbal or physical assaults.  My kid feels safe and has not been exposed to this.

The second most important thing is that my kid is learning.  I feel, and my kid feels, that he IS learning what he needs to learn (and more).  He's not one to dance around and proclaim that he loves school... b/c it IS work, and he'd rather not do work (like all of us!).  But, he's getting the education that we expect him to get.  [/quote]

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