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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]That some of the really cool electives in the course catalogue aren't actually offered every year, or ever.

There's a secret menu of course options that you have to know to ask about because it isn't advertised anywhere (e.g. extra AP classes as independent study).

Just because the student handbook says there's always transportation provided for something, like having a bus for away games for a sports team or for practices that are off-campus, doesn't mean it actually is. [/quote]

Which school is this?[/quote]

Ireton
[/quote]

Can you talk more about the types of electives/courses that are actually not offered? And how do figure out the “secret APs.” We are looking at BI for next year! [/quote]

Electives depend on student interest so if they don't have enough people sign up for something, it won't be offered. Guitar Ensemble comes to mind; there's actually one Guitar class with Guitar 1, 2, and Ensemble combined together. There was a Shakespeare Seminar listed in the catalogue for years that never happened and they finally took it out this year. The STEM and Art electives are usually popular enough, English and Social Studies not as much. The school won't be able to say for sure if something will be offered next year but you could ask what the roster size is for this year and what their minimum is; if there are 15 kids enrolled right now, there's a good chance it'll be offered again. If it's only 7, that could be one that's borderline.

By secret menu, I mean that the school is very accommodating to kids who want to challenge themselves. It sounds like a positive thing and it can be, absolutely! But for competitive kids who are trying to take the most rigorous course load offered by the school, it can feel like there's no ceiling on whether they're doing "enough". If a student goes in thinking they're bound by what the handbook says for AP pre-reqs or assumes they need to choose classes within the confines of an 8 course schedule, they come to learn that there are kids who have asked and received permission to take another AP as a 9th class via independent study, or to take Theology over the summer even if it's not for credit recovery so they can fit in another AP during the school year, or to take Honors Physics over the summer so they can move right into AP Physics. And pro tip, grades for summer classes don't count towards the GPA so it's a good way to get non-weighted classes like PE off the transcript so they don't weigh the GPA down. These are just some examples I've heard about from my child and other parents, I have no idea what else is possible because it feels sometimes like the sky is the limit. Which again, is a great thing and it's not AT ALL a dig against BI, we really love the school and it's fantastic they're willing to work with students that way to maximize their education. It's just hard to help my child manage the stress when it feels like we're constantly saying "Oh we didn't know they would allow someone to do that, that's good to know".[/quote]

Also, I didn’t even realize that there were some summer classes offered [/quote]

They're not on campus, the summer classes are all online via outside providers (officially it's Educere for Geometry and Web Design, Carone for PE, and Catholic Virtual for Theology) or you can request approval to take something at another school either virtually or in person. [/quote]

Does anyone have feedback on these summer classes?  How much time is required for something like Web Design over the summer?[/quote]

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