Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. The guidance counselor's advice not to do something that she doesn't "need" that would just lower her GPA reeks of "doing school" to me. Somehow, tons of people have got it in their head that the point of going to school is getting good grades (regardless of whether, how much, or what type of learning takes place!) The point of school should be to learn -- GPAs be somewhat damned.(I wonder what the counselor would say the benefit of science camp was?)
If the one reason your dd wasn't going to take the class is concerns over GPA, then I would encourage her to take the science class. If she gets a B, it's not the end of the world. (In fact, having to work for your grade is not a bad thing for a kid to experience...).
If you're concerned about work/life balance, then the answer is more complicated. How much more work would the science class be vs. the Honors class? How much more enjoyable? (Hard to answer, I know). Can she try it one year and then switch back if it's not working out? (I think it's probably better to opt in now, and then have the ability to opt out later, than to miss out on the ability to opt in at all, if that's the situation).
