Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is "more honors classes"? At our middle school, all the 6th graders are in "advanced" english and "advanced" world studies. Outside of being tracked to a higher math, what options are there? Is there an "advanced" science?

Yeah seriously, everything is advanced or honors in MCPS

Anonymous wrote:What is "more honors classes"? At our middle school, all the 6th graders are in "advanced" english and "advanced" world studies. Outside of being tracked to a higher math, what options are there? Is there an "advanced" science?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son has done very well in 6th grade. Mostly As with one to two bs, has not felt very challenged. Most nights he has no hw, already doing it in school. I met with the school counselor yesterday to talk about moving him into more honors classes, he is only taking honors english and advanced social studies an she said "7th grade is exponentially harder than 6th grade. Most kids who have grades like your son start to slip in 7th grade. I would keep him where he is."

Have other parents found this to be true?

There are no honors classes in MCPS middle school, so this conversation sounds odd. 7th grade teachers don't hold hands, but the material isn't harder.

This is just not true. There are advance and regular classes in middle school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son has done very well in 6th grade. Mostly As with one to two bs, has not felt very challenged. Most nights he has no hw, already doing it in school. I met with the school counselor yesterday to talk about moving him into more honors classes, he is only taking honors english and advanced social studies an she said "7th grade is exponentially harder than 6th grade. Most kids who have grades like your son start to slip in 7th grade. I would keep him where he is."

Have other parents found this to be true?

There are no honors classes in MCPS middle school, so this conversation sounds odd. 7th grade teachers don't hold hands, but the material isn't harder.

Anonymous wrote:My son has done very well in 6th grade. Mostly As with one to two bs, has not felt very challenged. Most nights he has no hw, already doing it in school. I met with the school counselor yesterday to talk about moving him into more honors classes, he is only taking honors english and advanced social studies an she said "7th grade is exponentially harder than 6th grade. Most kids who have grades like your son start to slip in 7th grade. I would keep him where he is."

Have other parents found this to be true?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone get the feeling that OP is a troll?
Which is strange, because why would anyone troll over courses?

What OP says doesn't add up, and he/she won't disclose what advanced classes her child is considering.

Yeah, I have questions. Is OP a troll? Are OP and 15:00 (talking about advanced science) two different people? Is it possible that OP's kid is actually maybe below grade level, and has been recommended for math 7 instead of IM?

I am OP. I am not troll, I am also not 15:00. My child is also not below grade level. I was not being specific because I was worried (maybe not rightly so) that the school counselor would figure out who I was. I didn't find the school counselor particular helpful or specific other than explaining that there were other options and telling me that was not what was recommended. I was trying not to call them out.

It is amazing how quick people are to cry troll rather than assuming people have other motives. I guess I could have phrased my question differently and just asked if people thought 7th grade was much harder than 6th grade.

Thank you to the people that responded.

You have to understand how the school system works, OP. The course selection was done early in 2017, so if you contacted them a few days or even weeks ago, it means more work for them. Also, the end of the year is incredibly busy for school administrators and staff, as they wrap up everything and hold end of year meetings for students with special needs (the counselor is usually present at those) - not the best time to suddenly wake up and ask for stuff!

Your child's 7th grade courses were discussed and recommended to him in a letter which you should have received and signed in February (if memory serves). You should have signed him up for those recommended courses after that, online or on paper. This is what the counselor probably meant when she said that other courses were not recommended.

If you really think your child can handle more, and if he's on board with that, you have to insist and send a joint email to the subject teachers AND the counselor and request a change in course. My son's math course was changed in the Fall, right at the end of the first quarter, but that is not common, and it was only because his math teacher saw he knew everything already and wasn't making any effort. However, scheduling changes so late means that he may not get the electives he wants, so inquire.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am 15:00 and agree with OP that I am not the OP.

For the person who wanted my source, I already said it. It was my kid's guidance counselor. Here is the sentence from her message. "As a side note, “34” is code which we use with advanced students in Science." So perhaps that doesn't mean advanced level of science per se, but my DC is "labeled" as an Advanced student b/c of English and World Studies and is also taking science 7.

My DC's science course is listed as "3529_3413" in Edline. My guess is the 13 refers to DC's section.


OP, I was going to tell you in another message that I think my DC has had more HW this year, but not exponentially more. DC actually moved up from on-grade English to Adv English in the 2nd/3rd quarter this year, per the English teacher's suggestions. DC was in Adv World Studies for both 6th and 7th.

So there is just one science class. The number matches with the one posted earlier. Please remember next time to not post misinformation - it confuses everyone when MCPS is already doing an excellent job of that.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am 15:00 and agree with OP that I am not the OP.

For the person who wanted my source, I already said it. It was my kid's guidance counselor. Here is the sentence from her message. "As a side note, “34” is code which we use with advanced students in Science." So perhaps that doesn't mean advanced level of science per se, but my DC is "labeled" as an Advanced student b/c of English and World Studies and is also taking science 7.

My DC's science course is listed as "3529_3413" in Edline. My guess is the 13 refers to DC's section.


OP, I was going to tell you in another message that I think my DC has had more HW this year, but not exponentially more. DC actually moved up from on-grade English to Adv English in the 2nd/3rd quarter this year, per the English teacher's suggestions. DC was in Adv World Studies for both 6th and 7th.

So there is just one science class. The number matches with the one posted earlier. Please remember next time to not post misinformation - it confuses everyone when MCPS is already doing an excellent job of that.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am 15:00 and agree with OP that I am not the OP.

For the person who wanted my source, I already said it. It was my kid's guidance counselor. Here is the sentence from her message. "As a side note, “34” is code which we use with advanced students in Science." So perhaps that doesn't mean advanced level of science per se, but my DC is "labeled" as an Advanced student b/c of English and World Studies and is also taking science 7.

My DC's science course is listed as "3529_3413" in Edline. My guess is the 13 refers to DC's section.


OP, I was going to tell you in another message that I think my DC has had more HW this year, but not exponentially more. DC actually moved up from on-grade English to Adv English in the 2nd/3rd quarter this year, per the English teacher's suggestions. DC was in Adv World Studies for both 6th and 7th.

So there is just one science class. The number matches with the one posted earlier. Please remember next time to not post misinformation - it confuses everyone when MCPS is already doing an excellent job of that.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone get the feeling that OP is a troll?
Which is strange, because why would anyone troll over courses?

What OP says doesn't add up, and he/she won't disclose what advanced classes her child is considering.

Yeah, I have questions. Is OP a troll? Are OP and 15:00 (talking about advanced science) two different people? Is it possible that OP's kid is actually maybe below grade level, and has been recommended for math 7 instead of IM?

I am OP. I am not troll, I am also not 15:00. My child is also not below grade level. I was not being specific because I was worried (maybe not rightly so) that the school counselor would figure out who I was. I didn't find the school counselor particular helpful or specific other than explaining that there were other options and telling me that was not what was recommended. I was trying not to call them out.

It is amazing how quick people are to cry troll rather than assuming people have other motives. I guess I could have phrased my question differently and just asked if people thought 7th grade was much harder than 6th grade.

Thank you to the people that responded.

Anonymous wrote:I am 15:00 and agree with OP that I am not the OP.

For the person who wanted my source, I already said it. It was my kid's guidance counselor. Here is the sentence from her message. "As a side note, “34” is code which we use with advanced students in Science." So perhaps that doesn't mean advanced level of science per se, but my DC is "labeled" as an Advanced student b/c of English and World Studies and is also taking science 7.

My DC's science course is listed as "3529_3413" in Edline. My guess is the 13 refers to DC's section.


OP, I was going to tell you in another message that I think my DC has had more HW this year, but not exponentially more. DC actually moved up from on-grade English to Adv English in the 2nd/3rd quarter this year, per the English teacher's suggestions. DC was in Adv World Studies for both 6th and 7th.