Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have a rising 9th grade girl as well and I (and she) very much want to have a balanced high school experience (as much as possible). She is trying out for a fall sport, not taking Functions, and I have told her that if the work load becomes intense, we will add in study hall and drop AP wherever we can. I think she will handle the work load well based on before but, obviously, we won’t know until she starts.

I’d love for her to meet some kids early who aren’t all school and a million APs. Repost with an email if you want to connect the two before school starts

I would love for the two girls to connect too. However I am a little apprehensive to share my email on this forum. Is there any way to delete the email shortly after? I am new to using this forum. If you are comfortable sharing yours, I am happy to email you. By the way, mine is interested in trying out for a fall sport too. She interested in joining some clubs as well. She is not taking Functions and I am highly discouraging it. She needs a high school life and mental stability. Life is not a race. Slow and steady wins the race.

You both need to establish accounts and PM here.

Anonymous wrote:We have a rising 9th grade girl as well and I (and she) very much want to have a balanced high school experience (as much as possible). She is trying out for a fall sport, not taking Functions, and I have told her that if the work load becomes intense, we will add in study hall and drop AP wherever we can. I think she will handle the work load well based on before but, obviously, we won’t know until she starts.

I’d love for her to meet some kids early who aren’t all school and a million APs. Repost with an email if you want to connect the two before school starts

I would love for the two girls to connect too. However I am a little apprehensive to share my email on this forum. Is there any way to delete the email shortly after? I am new to using this forum. If you are comfortable sharing yours, I am happy to email you. By the way, mine is interested in trying out for a fall sport too. She interested in joining some clubs as well. She is not taking Functions and I am highly discouraging it. She needs a high school life and mental stability. Life is not a race. Slow and steady wins the race.

Mine did sports and clubs. Many clubs meet during hour long lunch. Most sports start after magnet dismissal (non mag students grab a bite or hang out in career center or something before sport).

On practice days, it made for a long day, but it was definitely manageable. Mine did the first year in magnet without a sport, then added sport in soph year. Took functions first year, so we were concerned about overload that year.

I think kids will figure out how much they can handle and they want to handle by asking around from counselors to seniors. What parents can provide are mental support and logistics.

My DD did track and XC for all four years. She was not able to do clubs because they met after school until the switch to one lunch (if that still happens)

Blair magnet is NOT a big AP program.

It is totally doable. Many magnets do a sport and clubs. And the ones who don’t do a sport do many clubs.

It is not a million APs kind of school. The courses are tough and mostly fun. They will find their place. Key is not for parents not to get too stressed over the summer just brush up on math.

We have a rising 9th grade girl as well and I (and she) very much want to have a balanced high school experience (as much as possible). She is trying out for a fall sport, not taking Functions, and I have told her that if the work load becomes intense, we will add in study hall and drop AP wherever we can. I think she will handle the work load well based on before but, obviously, we won’t know until she starts.

I’d love for her to meet some kids early who aren’t all school and a million APs. Repost with an email if you want to connect the two before school starts

It depends on the child. I had 2 go to the Blair magnet and they had 2 different experiences. Neither did sports.

One child is Type A, very organized, disciplined, and driven. They were extremely active in robotics and one year they were in a youth orchestra outside of school. Extremely extroverted, they had a close knot group of friends, and also watched TV with the family and played an online game.

One child has perfectionist tendencies, and isn’t great with organization, scheduling, etc. Homework took over their life and they burned out. Senior year, I pressured them to take study hall, which helped some, but they were stressed, and encouraging extracurriculars seemed to add more stress. Their extracurriculars were limited, and encouraging them to try more, or even spend time with the family just seemed to add more stress. They really blossomed in college, where the academic demands weren’t as extreme.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are there any Blair SMCS parents out there who can shine light on sports, and extracurricular activities. My child is a rising 9th grader. She is interested in doing a sport, and club activities. Is it possible to manage sports and teams like debate, science olympiad, robots etc? How are you kids doing it? If the sports practices are after school, then when are the other activities taking place? I am just wondering how the kids in the SMCS program are balancing schoolwork and other activities. Thanks in advance for responding.

No balancing…basically with little to no sleep.

This person has no kids in Blair magnet

Anonymous wrote:My kid did manage to swim and do some clubs in SMCS. The busier clubs like Robotics did not work though because there were many after school meetings that overlapped with swim practice. Did manage to juggle the most demanding courseload with swimming and lower commitment clubs like MUN. Kids not in SMCS fared better with juggling due to the shorter school day.

I should add that my kid is a very quick worker and never struggled at all with the SMCS courseload and all the "normal" AP classes (english, history, econ, etc.)

My kid did manage to swim and do some clubs in SMCS. The busier clubs like Robotics did not work though because there were many after school meetings that overlapped with swim practice. Did manage to juggle the most demanding courseload with swimming and lower commitment clubs like MUN. Kids not in SMCS fared better with juggling due to the shorter school day.

Anonymous wrote:Are there any Blair SMCS parents out there who can shine light on sports, and extracurricular activities. My child is a rising 9th grader. She is interested in doing a sport, and club activities. Is it possible to manage sports and teams like debate, science olympiad, robots etc? How are you kids doing it? If the sports practices are after school, then when are the other activities taking place? I am just wondering how the kids in the SMCS program are balancing schoolwork and other activities. Thanks in advance for responding.

No balancing…basically with little to no sleep.

Are there any Blair SMCS parents out there who can shine light on sports, and extracurricular activities. My child is a rising 9th grader. She is interested in doing a sport, and club activities. Is it possible to manage sports and teams like debate, science olympiad, robots etc? How are you kids doing it? If the sports practices are after school, then when are the other activities taking place? I am just wondering how the kids in the SMCS program are balancing schoolwork and other activities. Thanks in advance for responding.