Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do kids get new schedules halfway through the year if they are continuing in the same classes? All of my high school classes were full year except for one or two.

All HS classes are semester-long, even those that students are in for the year. So a class like Honors Bio is split into Honors Bio A first semester and Honors Bio B second semester. A student may have Honors Bio A with Mr. Smith during period 3 and then have Honors Bio B with Ms. Jones during period 5.

Interesting. Why not just have the students stay with the same teachers and schedules all year?

Because of electives usually. If my kids wants to take Ceramics I first semester and Ceramics II second semester, they are by definition not offered at the same time so the whole schedule moves.

Why aren't they offered at the same time? Many kids would take both.

NP. There may be only one ceramics teacher.

Still a stupid reason though. To disrupt the continuity of important academic classes to accommodate electives. The kids will waste the first 25% of the second semester getting used to their new teacher’s style etc.

By the time studios kids get to junior and senior year, the majority of their classes are electives. Some of which are half a year and others which are a full year. So many are bound to be changing classes 2nd semester.

And for college bound students, this actually mimics what scheduling is like for them.

Why are the majority of their classes electives? Mist states require 4 yrs of math, English, etc. If they are going to college, they should be taking 4 years of most other core courses like science, FL, history, etc.

Maryland requires 4 years of math and 4 years of English, but only 3 years of science, 3 years of social studies, and 2 years of world language.

Now, most college-bound kids will do more than that, but they might still end up with a senior year that includes a lot of electives. For example, a kid that begins world language in 6th grade could "run out" of world language offerings by the end of junior year, depending on whether the school offers AP Literature in their language of study.

Or a kid might finish their core science courses and decide to take a science elective like Wildlife Biology, or they finish their Social Studies requirements and choose to take both AP European History (full year) and Russian History (half year).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do kids get new schedules halfway through the year if they are continuing in the same classes? All of my high school classes were full year except for one or two.

All HS classes are semester-long, even those that students are in for the year. So a class like Honors Bio is split into Honors Bio A first semester and Honors Bio B second semester. A student may have Honors Bio A with Mr. Smith during period 3 and then have Honors Bio B with Ms. Jones during period 5.

Interesting. Why not just have the students stay with the same teachers and schedules all year?

Because of electives usually. If my kids wants to take Ceramics I first semester and Ceramics II second semester, they are by definition not offered at the same time so the whole schedule moves.

Why aren't they offered at the same time? Many kids would take both.

NP. There may be only one ceramics teacher.

Still a stupid reason though. To disrupt the continuity of important academic classes to accommodate electives. The kids will waste the first 25% of the second semester getting used to their new teacher’s style etc.

By the time studios kids get to junior and senior year, the majority of their classes are electives. Some of which are half a year and others which are a full year. So many are bound to be changing classes 2nd semester.

And for college bound students, this actually mimics what scheduling is like for them.

Why are the majority of their classes electives? Mist states require 4 yrs of math, English, etc. If they are going to college, they should be taking 4 years of most other core courses like science, FL, history, etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do kids get new schedules halfway through the year if they are continuing in the same classes? All of my high school classes were full year except for one or two.

All HS classes are semester-long, even those that students are in for the year. So a class like Honors Bio is split into Honors Bio A first semester and Honors Bio B second semester. A student may have Honors Bio A with Mr. Smith during period 3 and then have Honors Bio B with Ms. Jones during period 5.

Interesting. Why not just have the students stay with the same teachers and schedules all year?

Because of electives usually. If my kids wants to take Ceramics I first semester and Ceramics II second semester, they are by definition not offered at the same time so the whole schedule moves.

Why aren't they offered at the same time? Many kids would take both.

Because one is a prereq for the other and because there may only be one studio

I just don’t know how it works with credits if he attends next three weeks. And how that will appear on transcripts for college applications. But setting that aside, I’d want my kid to attend the same classes they will be taking in the second semester starting now. I’d definitely put it in writing because they may be entitled to attend school (but I can’t say for sure). Maybe they can be enrolled in one PE class and just audit the really classes?

Send an email and confirm next steps.

Example:
Thanks you for your help in enrolling my DC.
As I understand it, you are directing my child to stay home and not attend school until the next semester starts on X/X.
Over the next 3 weeks, DC would like to use this time to complete the MoCo Service Hours requirement however, I could not tell from the website if service hours completed prior to enrollment count towards the graduation requirement. Can you please confirm that these will support the SSL requirements.

Between now and X/X, we would like to collaborate in order to support my DC getting acclimated. As such, we would like to schedule time to meet with the new counselor and create DC's schedule. Below is what DC would like to enroll in given previous coursework.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do kids get new schedules halfway through the year if they are continuing in the same classes? All of my high school classes were full year except for one or two.

All HS classes are semester-long, even those that students are in for the year. So a class like Honors Bio is split into Honors Bio A first semester and Honors Bio B second semester. A student may have Honors Bio A with Mr. Smith during period 3 and then have Honors Bio B with Ms. Jones during period 5.

Interesting. Why not just have the students stay with the same teachers and schedules all year?

Because of electives usually. If my kids wants to take Ceramics I first semester and Ceramics II second semester, they are by definition not offered at the same time so the whole schedule moves.

Why aren't they offered at the same time? Many kids would take both.

NP. There may be only one ceramics teacher.

Still a stupid reason though. To disrupt the continuity of important academic classes to accommodate electives. The kids will waste the first 25% of the second semester getting used to their new teacher’s style etc.

By the time studios kids get to junior and senior year, the majority of their classes are electives. Some of which are half a year and others which are a full year. So many are bound to be changing classes 2nd semester.

And for college bound students, this actually mimics what scheduling is like for them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do kids get new schedules halfway through the year if they are continuing in the same classes? All of my high school classes were full year except for one or two.

All HS classes are semester-long, even those that students are in for the year. So a class like Honors Bio is split into Honors Bio A first semester and Honors Bio B second semester. A student may have Honors Bio A with Mr. Smith during period 3 and then have Honors Bio B with Ms. Jones during period 5.

Interesting. Why not just have the students stay with the same teachers and schedules all year?

Because of electives usually. If my kids wants to take Ceramics I first semester and Ceramics II second semester, they are by definition not offered at the same time so the whole schedule moves.

Why aren't they offered at the same time? Many kids would take both.

NP. There may be only one ceramics teacher.

Still a stupid reason though. To disrupt the continuity of important academic classes to accommodate electives. The kids will waste the first 25% of the second semester getting used to their new teacher’s style etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do kids get new schedules halfway through the year if they are continuing in the same classes? All of my high school classes were full year except for one or two.

All HS classes are semester-long, even those that students are in for the year. So a class like Honors Bio is split into Honors Bio A first semester and Honors Bio B second semester. A student may have Honors Bio A with Mr. Smith during period 3 and then have Honors Bio B with Ms. Jones during period 5.

Interesting. Why not just have the students stay with the same teachers and schedules all year?

Because of electives usually. If my kids wants to take Ceramics I first semester and Ceramics II second semester, they are by definition not offered at the same time so the whole schedule moves.

Why aren't they offered at the same time? Many kids would take both.

There are a lot of half-year courses.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, before you contact the board of Ed or anything else, I would just fill out every single piece of paperwork that you need to enroll your child, gather up all of the required materials on the website, and walk into the school.

+1 3 weeks does not sound right.

I have never seen a requirement that kids be admitted mid semester. I don’t know that MCPS has one.

FWIW, my kid was disenrolled due to the need for inpatient treatment. When he was discharged, readmission was at the beginning of the next quarter both times.

I think it’s easier in the early years but once a kid hits MS and HS, unless you are starting early in the semester, it would be tough to have a kid enter and be successful. It Might be easier to find an online option in your current district.