Reply to Einstein vs. Northwood, and how does school choice in the DCC work?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP here again,

What is connections?  I had assumed that my kid would be able to take both music and PE, but it looks like maybe that's prevented by connections?  Is it optional?  [/quote]

Connections is a mandatory study skills/ study hall class.  I haven’t heard anything good about it.  The pre-IB English/APUSH kids don’t have to take it.  Your kid still gets two electives.  Many of the music kids take Health and Tech over the summer online (for $300 per semester course).  You could push PE to sophomore year this way.  Some kids like saving PE until junior year when they have a tougher courseload overall.  It depends how flexible your counselor is, but most understand dedication to music.  The school wants health taken by the end of sophomore year.

Northwood might be on a block schedule with 8 classes.  I’m not sure.  It worked out well for my DD to have the same 7 classes everyday.[/quote]

Is it mandatory for four years or one?

So, my kid gets 8 classes at Einstein and could take

English
Math
Bio
History
Language
Connections
Band
PE

I thought it was just 7, but maybe that's an assumption.

Or he could take PreIB English and then skip Connections?[/quote]

Einstein has 7 periods each day. Yes, if they take Pre-IB English they can choose not to take Connections.[/quote]

I would check on this.  The new schedule specifies APUSH as well for the exemption [/quote]

Yeah, but we've already established my feelings on APUSH.   :D

It looks, to me, like APUSH has another class that goes with it?  So, it wouldn't solve the PE problem, just the exposure to riff raff (kidding, my kid IS the riff raff apparently).

Of course, as a high school teacher, I'm guessing that covid will change things.  I think block schedules will become more common, for example, as a way to cut down on the overall number of kids someone is in class with, and singing, dancing, and team sports may all disappear for a while.  This makes me very sad, although of course losing co-workers or students to covid would be worse. [/quote]

Are you an MCPS high school teacher? I don't think you are quite getting what people are saying.[/quote]

I'm a DC high school teacher.  What I got was that people think that the kids in Algebra 1 are somehow different from their children, and their children should be protected from them.  But that since my kid has a mom who posts on DCUM, they'll assume he's OK and give me strategies so I can protect him too.

Also, that my kid needs to take connections unless he takes APUSH (which I don't want him to take) or Pre-IB English, and if he takes connections he can't have PE or dance and band or choir in the same semester.

The part about there maybe not being band (My kid plays a brass instrument that involves basically spitting into a valve) or choir or team sports was not from this thread.  [/quote]

OP is not asking about how COVID will be handled when we return.  Can people stick to the topic.

The math sequence is a big deal as many kids take Algebra in MCPS in 6, 7 or 8th, not 9th.  I would hope band is canceled for a semester and I say this a a music parent.   I was surprised to see one band camp still running and talking about some in person meetings as kids blowing into instruments is a bad idea.

Starting a new foreign language in high school is not a big deal.  Lots of kids change in high school after taking 3 years in middle school or if they are native speakers of the language they were taking as middle school does not have a lot of choices.  We got French or Spanish and that was it.[/quote]

I am OP.  I thought that was obvious when I referred to my kid as riff raff, so I didn't include it.  I think that given that my kid will be going to high school during/after covid, and this is a thread about what his high school experience will be like, that what classes will be available is relevant.

I hope that band is not cancelled, but that they come up with some kind of solution that allows music lovers to have what they love at school, but I imagine it to be something like music theory in the classroom and recorded practice at home.   I don't want my kid in a room full of trumpet and trombone players anytime soon.  [/quote]

OP, Einstein does have regular Music Theory and AP Music Theory.  I think that those are excellent options in the time of COVID.  Anyway, I am hoping that by Fall 2021, we will have some level of normalcy.  I checked the choices at Northwood and students take only 7 classes per year, although they DO meet on a block schedule.  There is no Northwood equivalent for Connections, although English Language learners have a double period English class and APUSH people have a mandatory support class euphemized "Literacy in the Digital Age."

I know students who have done X-country and the school play, as most roles don't practice everyday and the X country coach has been flexible.  Track is in winter and spring.  I don't know anyone who does Marching Band and X Country.  I do know students who have taken both band and chorus classes during the same semester.  They are diligent about taking Health and Tech over the summer.

No one thinks that your kid is riff-raff.  You obviously care a lot about him to be researching all of this.  Of course there is some riff-raff at both Einstein and Northwood, as well as at most schools.  Maybe my child just had an unusually bad experience in Spanish 1.  She survived.  So will yours.

Here is the Northwood Counseling page for comparison.
https://www2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/schools/northwoodhs/counseling/[/quote]

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