high school -- 8 periods a day or 9?

[bballmom56]

Ours is just like caitycaity's - 9 periods, all the same length. You can either take 9 classes, or you can schedule a lunch which will be periods 4,5,6,or 7. DD did it both ways while she was in hs. One year she went without lunch and had an understanding teacher who let her eat quietly during his class. Many of the top students do this to take as many classes as they can. It seems to work.

 

[Nancy]

They have 8 periods with an optional 9th. It is actually staying after school hours but they really push the kids to stay for extras. My DD also has 1 day a week where she goes in 45 minutes early for Science Lab...that is today. She has to be in school by 7:10am.

 

[sharbear]

My kids school has a schedule that no one has mentioned here. They take 8 classes but only have 6 55 min. classes a day. The days are called A,B,C and D day. This is so confusing but on each day they miss 2 classes. For instance on A days they miss periods 1 and 5, B days 2 and 6. So they have each class 4 out of 5 days. I have never figured out the schedule but the kids all do. This way they can take 8 classes but still have longer class time.

Even with 8 classes it's been hard for my DD to fit band in. Because of all of her requirements she was only able to fit band in for one semester and she was not eligible for District Honors Band which really upset her. I don't think that she'll be able to fit band in next year for the whole year and because of goofy scheduling problems she may not be able to have band at all. She was not scheduled to have Band at all this year and we pushed for it and a couple of her core teachers were not happy that she was moved into other sections of classes.

We take our first year of language in 8th grade also but it does not count for HS credit. What it does it allow kids to take a year of AP language. Just like taking Algebra in 8th grade, it doesn't count for graduation credits but it helps Seniors take AP Calc.

We also have early bird classes for Honors Science. Class meets 1/2 hour early and that counts as lab time.