Junior Year-It's Coming!

I know everyone says I can't believe how fast the years fly by and I am no different. I cannot believe that my cute little double trouble is now getting close to being juniors in high school. Seriously, where did the time go? Junior year I feel is probably the most difficult and important year in high school. The GPA and courses you choose for Junior year are what potential colleges will use to determine if you are a fit for their programs of study. For my boys they have really loaded themselves down for next year and I am concerned.

Registration for next year is well under way and thankfully the boys where able to get into the courses they wanted. They are dipping into the Dual Enrollment realm. Dual Enrollment is a program where they will receive high school and college credit for certain courses at the same time. It is great for some savings later on and also prepares the students for the rigors of college study. Some students go to our community college PSC (Pensacola State College) for their courses others like my boys are taking the courses at the high school. They are not doing courses at PSC for a couple reasons, the first is sports I was worried about how they would be able to handle traveling back and forth to PSC and be able to make it to practice/competitions. The second is in my opinion some students rush through dual enrollment and put too much pressure on themselves to graduate high school with an AA degree. I don't want the boys to rush through life and college should be enjoyed. I am not sure why there is such a rush to finish college and start work. After all work is years and years. While college is only a short time in life. Ty and James are taking two DE courses next year. They are going to take a Dual Enrollment math course and history course. Senior year they may take some off the high school campus but junior year I feel they need to try it out.

The boys are enrolled in the following besides the two DE courses: Spanish 2, AP Language Arts, Biotech 2 and Anatomy & Physiology Honors. I am concerned that they have bitten off too much. Tyler had expressed interest in SGA (Student Government) but has decided that he wants to concentrate on his sciences instead. They both want to go into the medical field so science is important to them. With this load senior year will not have many core classes left to full-fill. They will have more electives to complete and their load will be a bit easier.

I am concerned that when next year rolls around and you factor in their sports and part time jobs they may have overloaded themselves. How do you know what is too much? They feel they can handle it so I guess I should have the confidence in them that they can succeed. This is a case of I need to let them make their own decisions. I hope they soar instead of sink.