Choose High School Classes for Your Child with These 4 Easy Steps
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1. Know the Basics
Before you start going off and making your master plan of all the high school classes your child will need to take, you and your child need to know the basics.
What will her course load be like? Will she be taking six classes, seven classes, or eight classes? Your child’s high school likely has a regulation for that; your child will probably be required to take a certain number of classes in a year. Keep in mind that some classes are only a semester long, so that will enable your child to take another semester-long class.
Are there any high school classes that your child is required to take? She may be required to take gym or reading. Get your child to opt out of those if you feel that is best.
How many core classes does your child need to take? Your child’s high school may require certain amounts of core classes that everyone must take. Make sure you take those into account.
2. Know Your Child’s Goals
When choosing your child’s high school classes, you need to know your chid’s goals. Is she college bound? If so, what colleges does she want to go to? Does she know what she wants her career to be? What classes would be best for her to take? That may seem overwhelming, but you know what’s best for your child.
If you don’t know what your child’s career will be, or what college he’ll go to, then he’ll need to start thinking. College is just around the corner, and after that, it’s career time. Your child may feel like he has all the time in the world, but choosing a career is too important to ignore or procrastinate on. Depending on what type of career your child wants, he may or may not be college bound. When in doubt on careers, assume your child is going to college. That will help you choose classes that will help him in the future, no matter what he chooses to do. If you need help getting your child to choose a career, check out the article for Choosing the Career That Fits You.
You should also ask yourself if your child is at an accelerated pace. If so, she may be years ahead of her classmates, and she should take more AP classes. She may graduate a year early, or she may dual-enroll in her senior year. If she’s at an accelerated pace, she should talk to her counselors – the pace she has can change the courses she takes.
As you can see, knowing your child’s goals is crucial to feeling confident that your child is taking the high school classes that are best for him. Now, on to choosing your child’s core classes.
3. Choose Your Core Classes
All high schools and colleges require students to take certain core classes. When looking for high school classes, know that core classes are necessary for everyone; it doesn’t matter what career your child wants to have. Here is a list of the number of years colleges expect your child to have for each core subject:
- Math – 3 to 4 years
- Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2, Pre-Calculus, Calculus, Statistics (Trigonometry is integrated into Algebra 2 or Pre-Calculus)
- English/Language Arts – 4 years
- English 1-4, English Composition, English Literature
- History/Social Studies – 3+ years
- US History, US Government, World History, Economics, Geography, Human Geography
- Science – 3 to 4 years
- Physical Science, Geology, Biology, Chemistry, Physics
- Foreign Language – 2+ years
- Varies
If your child is accelerated and is looking to get into prestigious colleges, consider having her take plenty of AP classes. Many of the classes above have AP versions, such as AP Calculus AB and BC, AP English Language and Composition, AP US History, or AP Chemistry. Check with your child’s high school to make sure that they do AP classes. To check out some AP courses, look here for the Collegeboard list of AP courses.
Your child will want to take four or five core classes each year. Make sure he has chosen his core classes before he chooses his electives.
4. Choose Your Child’s Electives
After your child has chosen her core high school classes, she will now have space for filling in her course load with electives. Consider her interests and passions when looking for electives. She only has so much space for electives, so be choosy. Maybe you want to balance her extracurricular activities, or maybe you want her to try something new. What you choose for your child’s high school electives depends completely on what she wants to do, and what her interests are.
Check out your child’s high school course catalog for a complete list of electives. Different high schools have diferent electives, so be sure you know what your child’s school provides.
If you ever need any help with helping your child prepare for, and succeed in, high school, then here are some great books:
- The Freshman Survival Guide
- The High School Survival Guide
- Ultimate High School Survival Guide (very detailed)
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Read More:
https://www.princetonreview.com/college-advice/choosing-high-school-classes
Steve is a staff writer at Plan and Organize™. He specializes in articles about technology and education yet often delves into home, business and finance topics.
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