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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]A word of advice from a parent of high schoolers:
- Have your kids take the technology credit in middle school.
- Consider having your kids start a foreign language later in middle school or in high school instead of 6th grade.  That way they can appease colleges by taking 2-4 years of the same foreign language without having to take the AP level course.  My son earned three credits of Spanish in middle school and now feels pressured to do two more levels even though he greatly dislikes foreign language and would rather focus more on STEM.  I think it would have benefitted him more to skip foreign language in middle school and take Spanish 1 and 2 in high school.   [/quote]

How can you get the technology credit in 6th grade? Specifically, what Loiederman classes fulfill the technology credit. I don’t see any in the course bulletin. [/quote]

I'm sorry for not explaining.  High schools don't offer the technology credit in 6th grade, but many (if not all) do offer it for high school credit in 8th grade.  It's really helpful to get it out of the way in middle school to open up the high school schedule for other courses, even more advanced courses in technology/engineering.  I wish we had known this but it wasn't widely publicized when my son was in middle school.

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It's also possible to take a tech credit class over the summer, although it does cost money. My two older kids (one in college, one now a junior) took the computer tech ed class over the summer because it was not worth wasting a full year on in school. Slightly different formats before and after pandemic started but both classes were ridiculously easy and mostly busy work. Same for health -- both took it over the summer. Even more ridiculously easy than tech and zero reason to take it during the school year if the summer program is an option.

As far as what colleges are expecting, it's so varied depending on the kid and the colleges they're targeting. My older kid hated FL and has no ear or interest -- he is musical and plays an instrument, so I'm not sure why he doesn't have an ear for language, but that's just who he is. He took Spanish 2 and 3 in freshman and sophomore years and then he was done. He was applying to STEM programs at major state universities, not small liberal arts colleges, and he went heavy on hard-core STEM classes and took band throughout -- to continue FL, either band or some of his STEM classes would have had to give. It just wasn't worth it and he was willing to take the gamble that he'd get into a strong program. He also consciously targeted colleges where he wouldn't have a FL requirement to graduate.

There's just not a one-size-fits-all argument. I think it's important not to force a kid to take four years of a FL in HS just because -- there needs to be planning on the front end to look at what the full four years looks like and what the kid's interests are. Maybe they're not into a FL but maybe they take art classes all four years, or they take on extra classes in what interests them most -- like European history for the kid who's really into social studies. There are only so many slots in the schedule. [/quote]

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