Subject Choices In 1st Year

byronbay2

My daughter is in 6th class this year but we have received a letter from her prospective secondary school saying that she needs to pick her 1st year subjects by next February. We have no knowledge of the relative merits of any of the teachers who give the classes and my daughter has expressed no preference either way. Based on this (lack of) info, I would appreciate any advice on which of these choices would be better:

Business Studies or Home Economics or Music

German or French or Spanish

On a personal level, I would like her to be able to cook, clean, budget for a family etc (not in a sexist way, obviously!) but apparently Home Ec. is not like that in real life. Also, I can see no reason for her to study French but am willing to be convinced. BTW, she is already an excellent musician.

Any advice appreciated.

DublinArnie

You should let her make the choices overall, because she will have to carry these choices for three years and possibly throughout Leaving Cert, so it's best for her to do a subject she likes rather than a subject she hates.

Home Economics. This subject is basically biology, business studies and some "common sense" put together. You don't need any maths for it besides knowing how to add and subtract numbers. It depends on the school on how often you cook. When I did the subject, we cooked and baked every week throughout 1st and 2nd year. There is a cookery exam in 3rd year which is 20% of your overall JC mark, not to mention a childcare project (which I did) or a stiching project (didn't do) which gives another 20%.

I didn't do music or business studies for the JC, but I heard business is very theory based. If she loves music, maybe music would be a good option.

Learning another language besides Irish opens way more doors for her future. Many courses require a language, and Irish isn't the easiest of all languages.

Overall, DON'T MAKE THESE CHOICES WITHOUT HER KNOWING, she will most likely do better in school if she enjoys it.

spurious

What a strange school, that they expect children to choose subjects before they have tried them.

Our first years do 5 week tasters of two blocks of three subjects, following which (roughly around early January) they choose one from each block to follow through to Junior Cert..

Whatever about the languages, it's very unfair to expect a child to choose between unknown subjects, particularly when the practical is such a big part of two of the three.

Does the school offer any chance of trying out subjects? Even a couple of weeks would probably help many children decide.

byronbay2

spurious wrote: »

What a strange school, that they expect children to choose subjects before they have tried them.

Does the school offer any chance of trying out subjects? Even a couple of weeks would probably help many children decide.

They also expected me to pay €250 (+ €70 assessment test fee), by the end of last month, to book her a spot for NEXT year. Bit of a liberty, I thought.

As far as I know "suck it and see" is not an option, certainly there was no mention of it.

Bazinga_N

That's ridiculously early! I know my school made us pick subjects without ever trying them and it wasn't great but you get over it!

Honestly, if she's an excellent musician, have her take music. It's better to do something she loves. If she needs to take up Home-Ec or Business for her Leaving she doesn't need to have taken them for Junior Cert so it really doesn't matter.

Have your daughter look at some French, German or Spanish shows or songs or something on Youtube. See which she likes best and choose it. None of the languages are better or easier than each other tbh so it's really just whichever she likes best.

If she's not happy with her subjects, I'm sure she'll be allowed change subjects for the first few weeks!

Bazinga_N

DublinArnie wrote: »

Overall, DON'T MAKE THESE CHOICES WITHOUT HER KNOWING, she will most likely do better in school if she enjoys it.

Actually as well! This!

Do not under any circumstances choose your daughters subjects. You're not going to be studying them, she is. She has to do something she likes to do well. If you choose business for her and she hates it and has no interest in it, no matter how good her teacher is or how long you force her to study, she's unlikely to do as good as she would in a subject she likes.

This is her decision not yours. Ever since my parents practically choose my subjects for 1st year, I've completely blocked them out of anything to do with my education :P They will not be involved again.

IrishLassie26

I agree you can only make recommendations its up to her to decide. If she doesn`t like a subject they will probably allow her change within the first month or two of first year.
I`m doing business, french and music for my junior cert this year. If she is good at music and likes it then that`s a must. 25% of the junior cert music is practical so they would be easy marks. I wouldnt recommened doing home economics. Any of my friends who are doing it say they wish they didnt as a lot of it is covered in other subjects and a lot of it is common sense. For a language I find french the easiest. Alot of french words are the same in english so it is easy to pick up.

Moonbeam

if she is a good musician then she should pick music.
Business studies is a good thing to have and Home economics is common sense and cooking .
I did home economics for jc and say the lc exam and still can not cook or sew.

Spanish if she has no preference for langauges would probably be the most useful to her.

Bluestrike

Having done Music for the Junior Cert, i think that if she has already done music grades/plays an instrument it would be the easiest option. A lot of the work is theory and listening to music so if she has already done this through her instrument it wont be too hard for her to pick up the rest.Its a decision you and her will have to make but make sure you talk to her about it too as others have said and get her opinion on this. As for the language, All the exams for the JC are relatively the same with none that much easier or harder so its up you guys to decide what she will do. If you, the parents, can remember a language you did in school it may be useful for her to learn the same one so that you may help her? Or you could decide on what could help her in later life with these languages.

byronbay2

Thanks for the replies.

Music would seem to be a no-brainer to me but my wife says that it's very hard to get an A @ LC. However, my daughter is not only an accomplished musician but has also studied musicianship for several years and has a good understanding of the theory. I suppose it makes sense for her to continue with music but I like the idea of Home Ec., having seen so many adults who can't cook/bake/shop/use a washing machine etc.

Regarding French/German/Spanish: she already has a little bit of French (from school and holidays) but no Spanish or German. I, personally, don't see the value in learning French and would prefer Spanish (my No. 1 choice) or German. I will probably let her choose herself but advise Spanish.

Eims14

byronbay2 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies.

Music would seem to be a no-brainer to me but my wife says that it's very hard to get an A @ LC. However, my daughter is not only an accomplished musician but has also studied musicianship for several years and has a good understanding of the theory. I suppose it makes sense for her to continue with music but I like the idea of Home Ec., having seen so many adults who can't cook/bake/shop/use a washing machine etc.

Regarding French/German/Spanish: she already has a little bit of French (from school and holidays) but no Spanish or German. I, personally, don't see the value in learning French and would prefer Spanish (my No. 1 choice) or German. I will probably let her choose herself but advise Spanish.

I wouldn't recommend home-Ec myself it might just be my teacher but all I've learned Is to sew (v.badly) ,and whenever we cook I usually don't have a clue I know there's theory for how to use the washing machine but I don't think that's gonna be much of a help.All my friends do music and all love it and if I could pick my subjects again I would definitely put music no.1 especially because I also play music.

spurious

Not all schools do the sewing option.
In terms of an 'all round good education' subject (which some of us still care about) Home Economics is a good mix of life skills and consumer and health information.

Jijsaw

Did music for 1st year, business and home ec for JC and now doing business for LC.

Music: Interesting subject but I wasn't able to draw the musical notation also the teacher wasn't the nicest. Good subject if you've got a nice teacher.
Home Ec: Common sense mixed with cooking and sewing/knitting (I did knitting, made a teddy bear ) Fine subject for the JC, not a lot of work was needed (didn't study for the exam at all for the JC and got a B, I also slightly fecked up my cooking) Mixture of business law in with it as well.
Business: Accounting and theory, hated accounting as 'how you did it' wouldn't stay in my head. Theory is fine to learn off and overall a relatively useful subject for later life! It also splits into 3 subjects for LC: Accounting, Economics and Business.

Personally I'd have picked business as although I'm a massive music fan, I had no desire to study music or be a cook when I was 12

Eims14

Jijsaw wrote: »

Did music for 1st year, business and home ec for JC and now doing business for LC.

Music: Interesting subject but I wasn't able to draw the musical notation also the teacher wasn't the nicest. Good subject if you've got a nice teacher.
Home Ec: Common sense mixed with cooking and sewing/knitting (I did knitting, made a teddy bear ) Fine subject for the JC, not a lot of work was needed (didn't study for the exam at all for the JC and got a B, I also slightly fecked up my cooking) Mixture of business law in with it as well.
Business: Accounting and theory, hated accounting as 'how you did it' wouldn't stay in my head. Theory is fine to learn off and overall a relatively useful subject for later life! It also splits into 3 subjects for LC: Accounting, Economics and Business.

Personally I'd have picked business as although I'm a massive music fan, I had no desire to study music or be a cook when I was 12

This is what I meant to say.Im just not as good as putting thoughts into words-i.e. Eimear dumdum

if832uspx4eogt

I was made to choose my subjects before trying them (the module system was introduced the year later) and I chose two subjects I hated and had to do the Ordinary level course for JC because I was neither business headed nor good at cooking.
So choose carefully, you and her. Take her interests into account - if she likes Art don't force her to do Business because you think it'd be better. If I did the subjects I was good at - Music & Woodwork, I wouldn't have had to do two Ordinary level subjects.

Jijsaw

Also in regards to the languages:
I did French and German for JC and am doing French and German for LC, got As in both languages for JC at HL.

French is quite an "easy" language in that it's slightly similar to English. The most common language studied by students and spoken by 220-300 million people. Useful language if your daughter wants to travel in the future as it is spoken in African countries, France, bit of Switzerland, Quebec etc. Also she has a leg up on the other students having been to France before
German considered to be one of the most important languages to have as there are many jobs in Ireland, if you can speak German. You have to put in a bit of work for the JC (as you have to do with every subject really) but it's a lovely country and a nice language to have. Spoken by about 200 million people

GlowStick

byronbay2 wrote: »

My daughter is in 6th class this year but we have received a letter from her prospective secondary school saying that she needs to pick her 1st year subjects by next February. We have no knowledge of the relative merits of any of the teachers who give the classes and my daughter has expressed no preference either way. Based on this (lack of) info, I would appreciate any advice on which of these choices would be better:

Business Studies or Home Economics or Music

German or French or Spanish

On a personal level, I would like her to be able to cook, clean, budget for a family etc (not in a sexist way, obviously!) but apparently Home Ec. is not like that in real life. Also, I can see no reason for her to study French but am willing to be convinced. BTW, she is already an excellent musician.

Any advice appreciated.

Ok, coming from someone who has studied German and Spanish in university, and who has a bit of french too, I'd say study Spanish. In my opinion, it's by far the most useful language of the 3. It's a great language for travelling as it opens up a lot of South America. It's great in business too, no matter what job you end up in! It's also enjoyable to learn and the Spanish culture is amazing No language is easy to learn, but Spanish is handy to pick up. I had no Spanish when I started university, and after 2 years I had enough Spanish to live over there. So by the time your daughters Leaving Cert. comes around, she should have a pretty good level!

Just my two cents...

dylanobyrne1

Well, I am in 3rd year at the moment and I have done all of the subjects for secondary school education, out of the choice you have given above I would certainly advice German over French, not because it is easier, or even because it's easier to study on an exam, but because it is more widely used generally.

Out of Business Studies, Music and Home Ec. I would advice doing either Business Studies or Music, I am not female so I don't know if Home Ec. Is stationary in that particular school but I would certainly advice doing Business Studies out of those three, your daughter will pick up cooking and cleaning as she goes along probably. Business Studies opens more possibilities out of the three stated above.

Hope this helped