My kid has the same profile as yours. We initially signed up for APUSH but I emailed the counselor this week to ask if it’s going to be challenging given that they have 8 periods in PHS SMCS. The counselor suggested taking the Honors US History instead. So we changed our sign-up.

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn’t do it. Kids are on different paths in life, have different strengths and interest and they need to understand that. APUSH has lots of reading and writing and if he needs time to build towards that it’s completely normal and fine. You don’t have to start HS tackling College Level, particularly not in an area that’s not your strongest. That said, working with a tutor this summer to work on Study Skills/Executive functioning/Essay writing could be good for him overall to better prepare him for HS generally.

My advice, work on what truly needs attention and leave APUSH for the future.

I just want to underscore the bolded. Up until now, most "advanced" kids have been on the same path and it can be jarring to see paths diverge in HS. However, this is the age when kids start to specialize just a little bit, and so you'll have a kid taking AP Physics while their friend "just" takes Honors. Or a kid who only does Honors English but never takes any of the AP Literature classes.

That's normal and fine. For 9th grade, it is probably enough to just let your kid get used to high school and hopefully get good grades in Honors classes plus maybe an entry-level AP class like AP Principles of Computer Science.

Anonymous wrote:APUSH is not a great 9th grade class. I don’t understand why some MCPS high schools have it in 9th grade. Just because his friends are taking it is not a good reason to take it. Very few AP classes are appropriate for 9th grade

+1
Don’t do it. It’s lots of reading and synthesis. I also have an ADHD kid and a school that offers this in 9th and chose not to take it. Another friend with ADHD did it and ended up dropping it.

Anonymous wrote:APUSH is not a great 9th grade class. I don’t understand why some MCPS high schools have it in 9th grade. Just because his friends are taking it is not a good reason to take it. Very few AP classes are appropriate for 9th grade

Agree. Central office really should require NSL in 9th and US History in 10th.

Op my DC had the same profile as your son and went through the Advanced humanites classes in middle school with all As. They did very poorly in APUSH in 9th and it tanked their GPA.
In my opinion it is absolutely not worth it especially if he isn't a strong writer or great note taker.

APUSH is not a great 9th grade class. I don’t understand why some MCPS high schools have it in 9th grade. Just because his friends are taking it is not a good reason to take it. Very few AP classes are appropriate for 9th grade

Anonymous wrote:Most kids are doing APUSH or AP gov though

That’s utter nonsense and completely fabricated. Some posters here like to make broad statements like this based on the two or three kids they know and project them to everyone else.