Reply to Honors vs. Regular classes at McLean High School

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Mclean parent - it depends. [b]The advice the counselors always give about only doing honors on classes they are passionate about is a well intentioned effort to dial down the stress level at an intense school BUT a lot of HS students will do well in classes they aren’t “passionate” about and the fact of the matter is that these decisions can impact college options down the road. [/b]

My suggestion is if you are going to try honors, 9th grade is a good year to do it. Honors bio is probably the easiest science to take honors. After 9th grade the differences between honors and regular classes can really intensify. Some of that is teacher related though. There are several 10th grade English teachers and one is much more difficult than other honors teachers.

I will say that dropping down is kind of a hassle. It can be difficult with scheduling to change classes because the options you want may be over enrolled. It’s a potential option but I wouldn’t go in expecting to just easily change a bunch of things. [/quote]

NP.

Also a McLean parent, and I agree.  We received the same, tired, “one size fits all” advice from the counselors when DD was choosing 9th grade classes:

“don’t take all-honors, because it will be too difficult for YOUR child.”

Sorry - but that is only true for some students.  Maybe most students.

But parents should help make the decision on all-honors at McLean based on two factors:

-  is your child hard-working? (on their own), and does your child easily succeed at the most rigorous courses at Longfellow?

More Longfellow students than you might imagine can answer “yes” to both questions.  One of my children did well with all-honors.

And kids just beginning HS last year often take college-level classes (AP) during freshman year.  It’s now possible to take up to 3 APs freshman year at McLean.  BTW, we did not supplement for our children (other than letting them do the school-based Math Counts club).

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