There seems to be a much wider variety of options for high school paths than there were when I was in school. Dd13 will be a sophomore in the fall and has a pretty heavy load this year. She was hoping to have a slightly lesser load next year to allow time for clubs, NHS, etc.
Her current schedule (9th grade) consists of geometry, pre-AP english, pre-AP bio, earth systems science (usually taken in 10th and seems to be a mix of chem, physics, geology, and other things from what dd says), world history, French 2, and two electives. She switched one of her electives to a study hall this semester for mental health. She has managed straight As thus far.
So, next year she was thinking of taking a botany/zoology/microbiology course for science and holding out for chem until 11th grade after she'll have completed algebra II. For math in 11th, she was going to go with either college algebra or college trig & then probably AP stats in 12th. AP bio was her plan for 12th in science.
Her Earth Systems teacher thought that sounds like a good plan for a kid who is interested in marine biology/oceanography. Her pre-AP bio teacher, however, convinced her to double up on science again next year & she's signed herself up for both the botany/zoology/microbio course and physics next year. I told her to contact a few colleges she might consider to ask if she really needs physics.
The one prof who has gotten back to her thus far didn't say that she needed it as there are a lot of different ways to get to where she wants to be, but suggested that physics would be a good idea as would AP calculus in high school. Math really is dd's weakest area although she's not bad at it per se; it just takes more work for her.
Thoughts?
