Change is in the Air

On Thursday, Helena and I got online and registered her for her Sophomore year of High School! 10th grade is the first year at the high school and she is very excited about moving on. She is 'so over junior high'. By the way, yes, she took this photo! Isn't she gorgeous?!

Her schedule will be as follows;

Semester 1

A1 French 3
A2 Computer Tech
A3 Conceptual Chemistry
A4 Ancient World Civ.

B1 Honors English
B2 Honors Algebra 2
B3 Orchestra
B4 Seminary

Semester 2

A1 French 3
A2 Commercial Photography 1
A3 Conceptual Chemistry
A4 Health

B1 Honors English
B2 Honors Algebra 2
B3 Orchestra
B4 Seminary

I liked that the high school online registration allows you to select not only classes, but class periods and teachers as well. We built the most balanced schedule we could. This year all her hard classes are on the same day and it is a killer for the backpack!

The Conceptual Chemistry is slightly less hard core than standard Chem. We have discovered that science is Helena's weak link. Even though it is not as rigorous, it qualifies for the Regent Scholarship (Utah scholarship program) and is accepted by university as the Chem credit. DONE!

We wanted to put her in the Digital Photo class, but discovered when we went to the HS orientation that those classes were already full! The Jr. and Sr. class register first, and took those classes. Maybe next year. In the meantime, she gets to take Commercial Photo and learn how to use a dark room! That also means we have to find an SLR 35 mm camera for her to use. The teacher recommended that we search online. He said lots of people are unloading quite good cameras because they have switched to digital. So, here we are with a digital camera, trying to find a 35 mm! How ironic!

The school offers driver's ed as a class during the day. How weird! I remember having to do it after school. We have opted to go with a private company this summer because the school offerings don't fit our timeline.




The other big change for Helena is ballet. She is finding herself wanting to scale back some. It seems that the ballet company is always wanting more and more of her time and the sacrifices are starting to wear on her. She misses doing things with friends. She struggles to keep up to date with school work. She doesn't have any down time.

She is enjoying photography so much she is considering it as a career option instead of ballet.

She will not quit dancing, of course. She has too much love of the art form for that. But we may be seeing the end of her ambitions toward the professional career and her membership in the 'company'. Only time will tell for sure. Her schedule will remain as it is until the fall. That is when she will have to make decisions about changes.

I will fully support whatever her choice will be. I believe in her ability to succeed no matter where her heart leads her!