CES Parents-does it get better?

[Anonymous]

My 4th grader wasn't thrilled when I told her she'd be going to the CES program and that she'd change schools, though she did realize that it was an honor and that she was lucky to "win the raffle" as she put it.

I know it's only been a month but she is completely miserable and hates school. She has made friends, which is huge, but her teacher is not the nurturing type and she's really feeling the pressure of the extra homework and higher expectations.
Any advice on how I can support her and how long to make her stick it out? At some point should we chalk it up to a mistake and go back to the old school? Though she was happy in the old school, very happy, she definitely was not being as challenged as she is now and did get frustrated at times with the slow pace of some of the other students. I definitely don't think childhood needs to be all unicorns and rainbows, but I also don't think 4th grade should be joyless.

[Anonymous]

Have you talked to her teacher about your concerns? I would start there.

[Anonymous]

My kid was relieved to have more interesting projects, and more in-depth reading and writing. She did not make close friends and missed her old friends, though, so she had the opposite problem yours has.

This is part of growing up, OP. Children have to learn to be happy with what they have - she has friends, you said. Teach her to see the glass half-full.

BTW, the writing taught in the CES is worth its weight in gold later on. Please sell that to her. My kid scored a 265 on her MAP-R in 7th grade this year. She is hired to write bios in an online gaming community she belongs to.

[Anonymous]

Some CES programs assign a fair bit of hw, but other Centers really do not, and want the kids to do the majority of the writing at school (so parents don’t “help”). I also think some kids work differently. My two kids went through the same Center and one had almost no hw because he was naturally efficient and the other takes after me and procrastinated. Ymmv.
We also don’t know what the workload would look like at your child’s home school in 4th but maybe you can ask neighbors.
Here is what I would do. If my home school offered only Benchmark, I would stay at the CES and figure out some creative ways to support your daughter with managing the workload. Use voice to text if her typing is slow. Have her read simultaneously with the audio book for a multi sensory approach. If my home school offered ELC, I would talk with the teacher and see if she has any guidance, but I would plan to stay at the very least until the end of q1 and then see where you are. I personally think Benchmark is such a limited curriculum for a gifted learner that it would factor highly into my personal decision.

[Anonymous]

It was definitely an adjustment for my son in terms of the extra work. The first quarter was not great, but he got on track after that. It took my involvement in helping him to get organized so he could stay on top of his deadlines. I would sit down with him weekly and review what was due and when, and what his plan was for getting it done. He did not go into it with good organizational skills, so it was a steep learning curve in that regard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some CES programs assign a fair bit of hw, but other Centers really do not, and want the kids to do the majority of the writing at school (so parents don’t “help”). I also think some kids work differently. My two kids went through the same Center and one had almost no hw because he was naturally efficient and the other takes after me and procrastinated. Ymmv.
We also don’t know what the workload would look like at your child’s home school in 4th but maybe you can ask neighbors.
Here is what I would do. If my home school offered only Benchmark, I would stay at the CES and figure out some creative ways to support your daughter with managing the workload. Use voice to text if her typing is slow. Have her read simultaneously with the audio book for a multi sensory approach. If my home school offered ELC, I would talk with the teacher and see if she has any guidance, but I would plan to stay at the very least until the end of q1 and then see where you are. I personally think Benchmark is such a limited curriculum for a gifted learner that it would factor highly into my personal decision.

It's true there's a huge amount of variation between CES teachers. My kids had a teacher in 4th who they learned a lot from that was really demanding. In 5th, they had a different teacher who gave next to 0 homework but they learned a lot from them too. The 4th grade teacher was great but the work was painful at times. I even having to help with the artsy projects for almost every weekend for months. The upside is they got so much better at writing and in the years to come were able to do everything without parental involvement.

[Anonymous]

I might get blasted for this. This post is not directed at the OP, but the new CES class in general.
I was worried that students would have this problem this year because mcps chose to pick student based on “lottery” methods instead of true merit methods, so the resulting picked students might find the curriculum difficult because they dont “belong” in the program/it’s not a right fit for them. In turn, the program is watered down which eventually leads to a lack of proper magnet education. Which I guess is mcps goal all along. Just my 2 cents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I might get blasted for this. This post is not directed at the OP, but the new CES class in general.
I was worried that students would have this problem this year because mcps chose to pick student based on “lottery” methods instead of true merit methods, so the resulting picked students might find the curriculum difficult because they dont “belong” in the program/it’s not a right fit for them. In turn, the program is watered down which eventually leads to a lack of proper magnet education. Which I guess is mcps goal all along. Just my 2 cents.

Because testing, which a group of parents do test prep for, is "true merit"

[Anonymous]

I'm a past CES parent, kids are older now. I work in a school with diverse needs and I don't think that any amount of test prep could really take a struggling kid and have them get into the CES. I think the bright kids will thrive even if they aren't truly gifted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I might get blasted for this. This post is not directed at the OP, but the new CES class in general.
I was worried that students would have this problem this year because mcps chose to pick student based on “lottery” methods instead of true merit methods, so the resulting picked students might find the curriculum difficult because they dont “belong” in the program/it’s not a right fit for them. In turn, the program is watered down which eventually leads to a lack of proper magnet education. Which I guess is mcps goal all along. Just my 2 cents.

Because testing, which a group of parents do test prep for, is "true merit"

There are some tests like cogat which u can’t really test prep for, mcps categorically removed this step in the process. Those test really show true merit.

[Anonymous]

4th grade was a hard, hard transition. There was crying and stress. But by 5th grade it was fine. Glad we did it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I might get blasted for this. This post is not directed at the OP, but the new CES class in general.
I was worried that students would have this problem this year because mcps chose to pick student based on “lottery” methods instead of true merit methods, so the resulting picked students might find the curriculum difficult because they dont “belong” in the program/it’s not a right fit for them. In turn, the program is watered down which eventually leads to a lack of proper magnet education. Which I guess is mcps goal all along. Just my 2 cents.

So the curriculum is both too hard and watered down? What?

Take your complaints elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

The joy will come back as they do more group work and extended projects. The first science unit may be a repeat of bits of 3td grade, but it gets more interesting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I might get blasted for this. This post is not directed at the OP, but the new CES class in general.
I was worried that students would have this problem this year because mcps chose to pick student based on “lottery” methods instead of true merit methods, so the resulting picked students might find the curriculum difficult because they dont “belong” in the program/it’s not a right fit for them. In turn, the program is watered down which eventually leads to a lack of proper magnet education. Which I guess is mcps goal all along. Just my 2 cents.

So the curriculum is both too hard and watered down? What?

Take your complaints elsewhere.

Uhmm...DP here. Your smug comment notwithstanding, I believe the previous poster you quoted said that "eventually" the magnet program will be "watered down." Not simultaneously. Unless you were trying to be ironic...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I might get blasted for this. This post is not directed at the OP, but the new CES class in general.
I was worried that students would have this problem this year because mcps chose to pick student based on “lottery” methods instead of true merit methods, so the resulting picked students might find the curriculum difficult because they dont “belong” in the program/it’s not a right fit for them. In turn, the program is watered down which eventually leads to a lack of proper magnet education. Which I guess is mcps goal all along. Just my 2 cents.

Because testing, which a group of parents do test prep for, is "true merit"

LOL very true. The truth is there are far more kids able to do the work than there are seats in these programs so what the PP is talking about isn't an issue, but I think the elitism appeals to a certain mindset