Middle School is way too easy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I saw a comment on twitter that said is there any group that complains more than teachers....the answer is YES parents win by a landslide!! Nothing is good enough EVER!

There is a teacher above saying most of her 9th grade kids are behind in skills. Take her word for it. Of course parents care about their kids more than anyone else.

[Anonymous]

Are you at Lanier/KJMS?

[Anonymous]

Lake Braddock?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I saw a comment on twitter that said is there any group that complains more than teachers....the answer is YES parents win by a landslide!! Nothing is good enough EVER!

There is a teacher above saying most of her 9th grade kids are behind in skills. Take her word for it. Of course parents care about their kids more than anyone else.

No parents complain about everything and want to do nothing. Parent your kids, make sure they are getting what they need. If you think it's "too easy" get them into something after school to challenge them. So tired of hearing complaints about schools never doing enough. There is caring and then there is just a lot of negativity

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I saw a comment on twitter that said is there any group that complains more than teachers....the answer is YES parents win by a landslide!! Nothing is good enough EVER!

There is a teacher above saying most of her 9th grade kids are behind in skills. Take her word for it. Of course parents care about their kids more than anyone else.

No parents complain about everything and want to do nothing. Parent your kids, make sure they are getting what they need. If you think it's "too easy" get them into something after school to challenge them. So tired of hearing complaints about schools never doing enough. There is caring and then there is just a lot of negativity

No. This is completely wrong. People are complaining because the academics are poor and the local parochial school or any other private school can offter more strength in their regular Ed program. Not my issue that FCPS likes to be a sanctuary for immigrants who pay no taxes. We spend money and live here and school is fcpss job. If they are stretched too thin it's because they promised to be too much to people for votes and not for education. My kid is a stellar student and person and has no discipline issues whatsoever and in fact has been called out as a model student. Fcps sold us that there would be an advanced curriculum. The curriculum is a joke and there are three levels not one that is remotely advanced. How can a school have 3 levels and they are all remedial? It's just a pack of lies. If you want parents to do more send home some homework for chrissake.

[Anonymous]

One year in elementary the teacher read all the books because there was only one copy. I have absolutely no idea where the money is going but it's not to educatation. And parents are asking to do more at home but they don't want to do the lesson planning and make it a fight at home. You want them to work at other skills right like organization and getting along? Having mom or dad regularly be teacher is a recipe for disaster. Just send some homework for practice and up the challenge level in the AAP classes. This is not hard stuff.

[Anonymous]

So all you are doing is kicking the can down the road for the high school teachers and parents to try to pick up all the slack by not giving homework and giving easy assignments. If I was in charge of the school system high schook teachers would be paid a lot more than middle school teachers. Middle school teachers get the benefit of only teaching one core subject but have no pressure to make sure kids can handle AP classes or graduate or go onto college. And the 8th grade teachers have to pick up the slack of the 7th grade teachers in writing for that 8th grade writing sol test.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Which electives did your child choose? Perhaps they selected ones that are too easy for their skill level? As far as the core classes, you should make sure that your child is reading at least 1 hour per day after school from a high level book of your or their choosing. (Let me know if you would like suggestions for books.) Also, I would recommend that they do extra practice through Khan Academy for math. Perhaps 30 min per day? Your child should also be filling their free time with several hours of sports practice or exercise every day. Do they play an instrument?

Why do I need to be scheduling Khan academy and buying books and setting reading times? Also what about writing? Do I have to plan that too? This is 7th grade. Now I need to be a teacher to my kid for 2 hours a day?

PP here. No, you do not have to plan or teach anything. Can your kid not go to their school or community library and check out high level books of interest? Can they not find Khan Academy on the Internet? If not, perhaps you should be teaching your child some of these life skills.

As far as writing, certainly you can encourage your child to write more. I suggest buying them a journal or diary to help them get an opportunity to write more.

+1 to the suggestions above.

Honestly, OP, if you are upset about the amount of assigned homework, then you should just personally encourage (require?) your child to read an hour from a good book every evening. And if you are concerned about their writing skills, then have them write down some thoughts and ideas about what they just read. This should not require much time and monitoring on your part.

I am assuming that your child is in Algebra 1 Honors in 7th grade and finding it easy? Then I would not worry about supplementing the math at all. They will learn what they need to and do fine going through the FCPS math curriculum: Alg 1 Honors in 7th, Geometry Honors in 8th, Alg 2 Honors in 9th, Precal Honors in 10th, Calculus BC in 11th (plus a math elective like AP Statistics), and MV Calc in 12th (plus a math elective like Linear Algebra). FCPS has a good advanced math curriculum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So all you are doing is kicking the can down the road for the high school teachers and parents to try to pick up all the slack by not giving homework and giving easy assignments. If I was in charge of the school system high schook teachers would be paid a lot more than middle school teachers. Middle school teachers get the benefit of only teaching one core subject but have no pressure to make sure kids can handle AP classes or graduate or go onto college. And the 8th grade teachers have to pick up the slack of the 7th grade teachers in writing for that 8th grade writing sol test.

This is a ridiculous statement. Someone could also argue ES teachers should be paid more because they teach 6-7 different subjects and have less planning than secondary teachers.

[Anonymous]

I've heard it ramps up in 8th grade. I have a kid in AAP at Kilmer and yes, I've commented that the grades seems way inflated. But she has more than 30 minutes of homework a week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One challenging history question to solve btw does not make up for a 5-page research paper or a 2-page fictional story of a historical figure. Less time equals less rigor most of the time.But regardless there are also no challenging questions.

My kid has already done essays in both her English and History classes. What MS is this OP?

[Anonymous]

You know I have my issues with FCPS but I can't help but get this funny feeling that as midterms approach, we are going to see a lot more threads and responses about FCPS sucking.
It's one thing to bring up a specific issue or look for feedback. But the generic "FCPS sucks" "FCPS needs to step it up" "Go private" responses are inane at this point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Enroll your DC in a full-fledged supplemental tutoring program at a center like C2. C2 would be thrilled to provide intensive instruction and you can think of it as college prep!

By this post, you are saying that you think the amount of rigor in 7th grade, whether general education, honors, or AAP, is all appropriate.

You can go right out and say that rather than posting silly stuff.

PP and my comment was direct and sincere.

Backstory is that I’m a fcps alum, married to a FCPS grad and have been fcps parents since 2006.

Each of our DC have needed progressively more expensive and intensive tutoring. DH served as DC’s math tutor from fifth grade
until junior year when we had to go with both a paid, private tutor and a center for SAT prep.

One failed SOLs first go round in 3rd and we got a call from the AP urging DC to attend a remedial prep course so DC re test ASAP. Declined this “service.”
Another DC was placed into a SOL math prep to help bolster scores.
Fine, but this was only to boost scores and post test there was never any offer to help.

Our DC begin SAT prep right ahead of junior year.

FCPS has so many dirty little secrets and the fact that a huge percentage of DC students get outside help is carefully concealed by parents, by administrators and teachers is just one secret.

See also: AAP and IEP gamesmanship.

I am not trying to be mean but you realize many kids pass advanced on SOLs and do well on the SATs without any tutoring? I agree with the math piece and I am getting my kids outside math experiences because FCPS conflates advanced math with accelerated math.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So all you are doing is kicking the can down the road for the high school teachers and parents to try to pick up all the slack by not giving homework and giving easy assignments. If I was in charge of the school system high schook teachers would be paid a lot more than middle school teachers. Middle school teachers get the benefit of only teaching one core subject but have no pressure to make sure kids can handle AP classes or graduate or go onto college. And the 8th grade teachers have to pick up the slack of the 7th grade teachers in writing for that 8th grade writing sol test.

This is a ridiculous statement. Someone could also argue ES teachers should be paid more because they teach 6-7 different subjects and have less planning than secondary teachers.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I saw a comment on twitter that said is there any group that complains more than teachers....the answer is YES parents win by a landslide!! Nothing is good enough EVER!

There is a teacher above saying most of her 9th grade kids are behind in skills. Take her word for it. Of course parents care about their kids more than anyone else.

No parents complain about everything and want to do nothing. Parent your kids, make sure they are getting what they need. If you think it's "too easy" get them into something after school to challenge them. So tired of hearing complaints about schools never doing enough. There is caring and then there is just a lot of negativity

No. This is completely wrong. People are complaining because the academics are poor and the local parochial school or any other private school can offter more strength in their regular Ed program. Not my issue that FCPS likes to be a sanctuary for immigrants who pay no taxes. We spend money and live here and school is fcpss job. If they are stretched too thin it's because they promised to be too much to people for votes and not for education. My kid is a stellar student and person and has no discipline issues whatsoever and in fact has been called out as a model student. Fcps sold us that there would be an advanced curriculum. The curriculum is a joke and there are three levels not one that is remotely advanced. How can a school have 3 levels and they are all remedial? It's just a pack of lies. If you want parents to do more send home some homework for chrissake.

Go to a private schools-stop your tantrums.