A few questions about 14 year olds

Most turn 14 in eighth grade, but they are 14 going into ninth grade. Eighth grade is mostly called middle school. Ninth would be high school.

Anyway, classes I had last year include:

Civics
English
Biology (This is slightly advanced. Some people at our school start out with Earth Science or Physical Science or Introduction to Whatever.)
Geometry A (Math is where things can change a lot. We've had opportunities to take advanced math, skip grades of it since elementary school in my district. If you never take advanced math, you'll probably start ninth grade with Algebra I. Our school splits Algebra I into two courses, but I don't know if that's common anywhere else.)
Gym/Health (Same period, alternating days)

My electives were:

German I (Our languages are French, German, Latin, and Spanish, which I believe is pretty standard. We had Spanish and Latin at our middle school, so it's feasible for a ninth grader to be in Spanish II or Latin II.)
Writer's Workshop
Theatre Arts
Concert Choir

Hope that was of some service! If you have any more questions about being 14, I'm the girl to ask.

Yep, 14 is usually 8th and/or 9th grade. In California, 8th is middle school, and 9th is high school. If the kid does OK they usually finish a two year split of algebra in 8th, and begin Geometry in 9th, but many just start Algebra in 9th. Our school doesn't require science until 10th, and usually Freshmen take driver's ed and computer apps.

Like you have already noticed, there is no one "correct" answer. Fourteen years old can be in middle school, junior high, or high school depending on the location and that varies from town to town even within the same state.

You could probably go to a school website and look up curriculum for a 14 year old.

I was fourteen in high school, freshman year....my daughters will be 14 in junior high, 8th grade.

bona fide certifiable 14 year olds

i just had a trio of bona fide 14 year olds leave my room. i teach high school spanish in the central usa. 14 year olds are usually freshmen. in kansas they are in a high school with kids 14- 18.

i am free right now because my freshmen are testing--taking something like those old standardized tests. these tests are computerized and designed to identify where the individual student missed information so we can get him all taught up before he leaves our school system.

freshmen take a language, only spanish or french offered here. english 1--they usually read poe and romeo and juliet--some of the same novels and stories i read as a freshman. they take shop or food sciences as electives. they all take a computer class, and the beginning sciences. algebra or geometry if they are ready. have to go--more 14-17 year olds on their way. i hear lockers slamming. if you have questions just ask. i am kind of an expert on the species--s6

My youngest son is 14 and took/ is taking woodshop in place of a foreign language. He will at somepoint have to take a foreign language. Otherwise courses sound like those above.

My daughter's 14 and a freshman in high school. She has a class called Avid, which is a college prep course, Algebra 1 (not honors), choir, English (honors, but the other kids take an English course), Biology (even though it's honors, other freshman take regular biology), Freshman Prep (a class that changes every three months, it's health right now) and U.S. History.

Azure Skye said:

It's been a while since I was in school so I can't remember what classes I had at that age. My one source, who is fourteen, is an honors student (do I need an ' in there?) and my MC is not. So fourteen, I'm guessing that would be eighth grade, what classes might they have? Algebra? Which level?

I remember having classes called Social Studies or World Culture. Do they still have those classes or have the names changed?

My MC is just an average student so no Advanced Placement classes for him.

Another question: Is it still called junior high or is middle school more the norm now?

Sorry for the rambling post.

Click to expand...

I just asked my sister who has a fourteen year old son. Yes, he has social studies and he is in 8th grade, which is called middle school for him (last year of middle school).

I was a high school freshman at 14 (2000-01), being one of the youngest in the class. We had Algebra 1 and Algebra II for math, World Geography (other schools in the area did World History for freshman), English I (literature and grammar). A lot of freshmen took Biology or IPC (Intro to/Integrated Physics and Chemistry) for a science. Electives were Theatre, Band, Home Ec, and Ag.

In 8th grade (1999-2000) we took either Algebra 1/2 (like an intro class) or Algebra 1, US History (yet again), English (literature and grammar), Science, Health, and Speech. Electives that year were Theatre and Band.

I've been to several schools, where it was called both a junior high or a middle school. It's not necessarily a regional thing either, since it's different from town to town even in a 50-mile radius.

My daughter's 14, a freshman in high school, and the only class she has that I don't see mentioned is Dance (she's loving it). She tells me they don't call that kind of thing "P.E." anymore (though that may vary with location).

She has a free period like study hall, but they don't call it that. (It's called "Teams" I think; it's like a long homeroom period where they also have announcements, attendance, etc.).

When she was in 8th grade, she went to "middle school"--they don't call it "junior high" down here.

We have study hall, but they call it flex. I don't think many other schools call it that, though, because if I say flex to someone outside of my school, they're very confused. We have block scheduling, meaning we have four eighty minute classes, and then we switch classes halfway through the year. Study hall, for us, is about the length of half a class. Choir, Orchestra, and Band meet during study hall time.

My 14 yo daughter is a sophomore (she is younger than her classmates). She has a running athletics class, French II, Honors Geometry/Algebra II, AP English, Chemistry, & World History (AP). She has a block schedule with a built in study hall two days a week. There are so many electives now that your character would have a lot of choices. Band, orchestra, guitar, art, photography, newspaper, yearbook, etc. Most sports at my daughter's school have specific electives athletes can take for additional conditioning and practice.