Por Favor

Yesterday during Mike's lunch hour we went to Gib's school to meet with him and one of the high school guidance counselors to sign him up for his 4 yr track of classes. Gib and Mariah will go to a different high school than Indy and Taryn did, so things are done a little differently, plus our county has this new thing this year where you have to choose a track, which determines pretty much all of your electives for all of high school. I kinda think that stinks. I mean, how are you supposed to know if you have an interest in a subject as a possible college major in the 9th grade?! And how are you going to find out what you like when you don't get to take any "fun" classes?

Gib chose the Math/Science track. I didn't like the electives in the other choices so much, and this one seemed to fit the kid, provided he continues to do well in math, kind of a big what if, right?! Now that I know what colleges are looking for, it was also the best track to choose should Gib decide he wants to be in a Pre-Professional degree or Engineering. Now if he decides he wants Business then we should have made another decision, but based on his absolute refusal to read "The Richest Man in Babylon" and earn allowance, that won't happen. But what I don't like is that if you are artistic, you have to jump through all sorts of hoops and sign a contract to take 4 years of Art. Holy Schmoly. These kids are 13/14 - they are still promising to play their guitar every day if their parents will just get them that cool Electric one with a whammy bar, and never mind what happens if you get them a puppy! A four year contract to take art classes - geez.

So, after all the core classes are met, pretty much all of Gib's other electives looked like they would be filled meeting the required Foreign Language (why call it an elective?) and Math/Science. We thought he'd get like maybe 1 freebie class in 4 yrs to go wild and take an Art or Photography class. It was a little stressful the night before weighing the pros and cons of each track. Mike was pulling for Discreet Math/Stats in the 10th grade saying it was "fun and interesting math " and privately I was thinking "Yeah Right. My poor baby!" Finally we called Indy down for an expert consultation on what classes he should take and the order it was best to take them in. Indy has a great way of logically explaining things. And she made sure Gib had a "brain drain" class during the hardest year so he wouldn't be overwhelmed. Since she has most recently done the whole high school thing, we took her advice.

What we didn't know was whether or not his current teachers had recommended him for Honors classes or not. We hoped so, he has mostly A's, but sometimes lets things slip to a high B, especially in Spanish. What we also didn't know, because at the Parent Night at high school it was not explained clearly, was that two of Gib's current classes count in his Math/Science track so he's now freed up 2 more electives, so he can really go wild with 3 elective classes in 4 yrs! Will this kid have fun or what?!?! Wow, maybe he can squeeze in a Business class after all!

It was great to see that all his teachers recommended him for Honors classes, except for his Spanish teacher. Especially when we found out what we have to do to override the recommendation and try to get him into Spanish II Honors for the 9th grade. Gib has to ask his teacher to fill out the front side of a form that explains why she didn't recommend him, such as bad homework habits, low test scores, etc., and her opinion of whether or not he's up for the challenge, and then Gib has to fill out the back of the form explaining why he wants to be in Spanish II Honors AND THEN we have to call the high school and request a meeting with the assigned official, in our case the VP where we will all sit down and have a little chat about it. We ran into him at the Parent Night. I hadn't met him before, but Taryn knows his son (you've seen him in the Power Ranger photos) and Mike sees him at EQ on Sundays. We think Gib's chances are pretty good, but to make them even better, with just a little bit of help, he wrote down a couple sentences that he's going to try to memorize so he can ask his teacher in Spanish to recommend him for Honors II. She gave him extra credit bonus points for going as the Frito Bandito for Halloween, so I think his chances of getting her to sign off on it will be pretty good if he approaches her in Spanish with the request. Plus, we had some great guest speakers come in earlier this year. And then there's those big brown puppy dog eyes. I wonder if Gib uses them to get his way on anyone but me?!