Fact Finder.

^I'll PM you now and try to explain the English school system, it's annoying.

I need a bit of info for a character i'm writing.

What typical lessons would a fourteen year old American have? Just your average student. And how long is the school day in America? (California to be exact).

Most school days are just shy of eight hours. I don't know about California, but here, the school day starts around 8-810 and ends around 1510-1520. At fourteen, the character is probably around freshmen year in high school. Basic classes would be science, math (probably Algebra I), a basic writing class (english over here), and a social studies class. They might also have extra curriculars (band, choir, speech, debate, theater, or sports) that they partake in as well.

Perhaps a more current 14 year old can take it from here?

beej:

I need a bit of info for a character i'm writing.

What typical lessons would a fourteen year old American have? Just your average student. And how long is the school day in America? (California to be exact).

I was a freshman in high school when I was 14. That's the ninth grade. My classes were in block scheduling, four a day from 8:00 to 2:45. I had Biology, P.E., Algebra I, and Marching Band first semester. If I didn't have band, I probably would have been put in General Business or something. The second semester, I had English I, American History, Math Elective (same as Algebra I, the class is all year long), and Biology I (same situation as Algebra).

In my school, freshman had to take P.E. (only one semester) and couldn't take a foreign language. And all of our classes were in a separate hall at the end of the school. I didn't have any classes with upperclassmen.

That's not California though. i'm on the east coast. I'd assume, however, that schools are extremely similar across the map. Here's my schools schedule and offered classes if it would help you.

I should point out as well that every school is different. Some do the block scheduling mentioned above, others have 8 periods a day, and each class is about 45 minutes long. There's also a lunch break in there (my high school, back in the dark ages, had three lunch times: 11-1130, 1130-noon and noon-1230, for Lunch A, B, and C). We also had to take four semesters of P.E. and at least two of a foreign language. Most schools offer only Spanish; others branch out into German or French and even fewer languages beyond that.

beej:

I need a bit of info for a character i'm writing.

What typical lessons would a fourteen year old American have? Just your average student. And how long is the school day in America? (California to be exact).

I had a good friend who spent a couple years at my high school in South Carolina, but she was originally from the west coast (she lived near Las Vegas), and their school schedule was very different from my own. I had the block schedule: four classes a semester that were each an hour and a half long, and I had the same classes every day.

Her school was set on an AB schedule, which is really more like a college's schedule. She had one set of classes on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and another set of classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Her days were divided into six periods, with each period being an hour long.

Another guy I know grew up in California, but he was in a year-long school, so there was no three months off for summer break, he and his brother just got a couple weeks off here and there. I think his classes were set up into six hour-long periods as well.

As far as classes go, I think most freshmen, regardless of the school, end up taking the same classes. Most people get their gen ed classes out of the way, like PE and US History. I think I took PE, geometry, English, and a French class the first semester of my freshman year, then I took algebra II, physical science, an art class, and a social studies class, so I think most freshman just take a general class in each subject. There was also a business computer class required at my high school (it taught like, how to use Powerpoint, Word, Excel, all that stuff) that a lot of people got out of the way during their freshman year, but I ended up putting it off until I was a senior

How do you play backyard football?

I know in actual football there's yards and stuff, but what is the basic concept with no yards?

Siriano;:

How do you play backyard football?

I know in actual football there's yards and stuff, but what is the basic concept with no yards?

I'm not too sure if you're talking about British football or American football, but I can give some insight into British backyard football. (Or schoolyard, but whatever).

We used to play between a wall and a gate, just to have a solid area to play in. You'd play with a really bad ball, and 90% of the time, it would end up on the roof of the school, or hitting a window. You would set a certain width, which you would usually run out of anyway, so yards/width didn't really matter anyway. There were no rules, and we all ended up in the nurses room at least once a week with concussions/scraped knees (we played on the concrete because we're idiots).

Oh, and we used our school jumpers as goalposts, just so we had a solid area to shoot at. And nothing ever went offside.

As far as American football is concerned, however, I'm clueless. I still don't know the difference between American football and soccer. But I guess it would work the exact same. If you're talking semi-professional, however, they may be a bit tighter on widths and stuff, possibly using jumpers as markers (yeah, the jumper thing stuck with me)

Hope that helps! :)

Siriano;:

How do you play backyard football?

I know in actual football there's yards and stuff, but what is the basic concept with no yards?

The goal's just to make touchdowns, basically. I've never really seen football played casually where they kept track of yards, field goals, the like. It's basically just about making touchdowns/stopping the person with the ball from making touchdowns

Mibba deleted my post.

URGH!

I need help with all things regarding Germany, the German language, army and more specifically, the Third Reich, WW2 and the Holocaust.

beej:

I need a bit of info for a character i'm writing.

What typical lessons would a fourteen year old American have? Just your average student. And how long is the school day in America? (California to be exact).

I'm fourteen and in the eighth grade, I don't know if you want a freshman student schedule but

Right now I'm taking Spanish I, American History, English, Physical Education, Algebra I, Latin I, General Music, Computer Science, and Research (my elective).

My school day is from 8:30 AM to 3:00 PM or so, but most people at my school stay later to get some homework done or go to after school clubs.

I'd imagine that a California public school would probably have classes from 8:00 or so AM to 3:00 or 3:30 PM. Private schools usually end around 2:30 or 3:00, based on my own experience.

I'm also on the east coast, but I think it's basically the same as far as I'm aware.

In a story I'm writing the main character contracts hepatitis C. I've researched it pretty extensively but I still find everything hep C-related so confusing, but I really, really, really want/need to include it in the story. Can anyone give me a couple of super informative sites about hep C? Or, preferably, do any of you know anyone with hep C and would be willing to PM information, as well as answer any specific questions about it whenever it comes up?

chai latte:

In a story I'm writing the main character contracts hepatitis C. I've researched it pretty extensively but I still find everything hep C-related so confusing, but I really, really, really want/need to include it in the story. Can anyone give me a couple of super informative sites about hep C? Or, preferably, do any of you know anyone with hep C and would be willing to PM information, as well as answer any specific questions about it whenever it comes up?

Web MD is a great resource for anything health related.
http://www.webmd.com/hepatitis/hepc-guide/default

Just something to keep in mind when you're writing, HepC carriers often don't know they have it or have no symptoms until liver damage is already occurring, so that's something to keep in mind.

be back soon.:

Mibba deleted my post.

URGH!

I need help with all things regarding Germany, the German language, army and more specifically, the Third Reich, WW2 and the Holocaust.

I know quite a lot about all those things, but what specific information are you looking for about them - are you looking for dates and stuff, or just more general facts about what life was like in those times? If you like, you can PM me.

This might sound like a silly question, but when bands play live, do guitarists have to connect their guitar with a wire to something so that the sound is louder? Obviously I'm not a musician, so I'm really unsure and I feel very stupid asking a question that might be really obvious to others :') I'm sure I've heard of some band mishaps, where a wire of some sort comes out while they're playing and it cuts off the sound. Am I right? I'm specifically talking about guitarists.

Twiggy.:

This might sound like a silly question, but when bands play live, do guitarists have to connect their guitar with a wire to something so that the sound is louder? Obviously I'm not a musician, so I'm really unsure and I feel very stupid asking a question that might be really obvious to others :') I'm sure I've heard of some band mishaps, where a wire of some sort comes out while they're playing and it cuts off the sound. Am I right? I'm specifically talking about guitarists.

yeah, they have wires which connect them to amps, which project the sound, and if you unplug it, the sound would cut out.

little motorkitty;:

yeah, they have wires which connect them to amps, which project the sound, and if you unplug it, the sound would cut out.

Thank you very much! x

Kurtni:

Web MD is a great resource for anything health related.
http://www.webmd.com/hepatitis/hepc-guide/default

Just something to keep in mind when you're writing, HepC carriers often don't know they have it or have no symptoms until liver damage is already occurring, so that's something to keep in mind.

Thanks so much! Great resource. :)

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When do high school seniors usually receive acceptance/rejection letters from colleges? And when do they usually start applying? I graduated a year ago but I never applied for college, nor did most of my friends, so I'm totally lost on the process.

Any other information about the whole enrolling process, typical schedules, anything else at all, etc. would be great as well.

^ It depends. If you're applying for early decision, applications are generally due at the beginning of senior year, usually around November, then you hear back from the college sometime in January. For regular decision, applications aren't due until December or January, and you hear back from the college in March or April.

Stupid question but can you un-add authors?