Eastern Middle, trying to decide

[Anonymous]

Just found out my child got into the Eastern magnet. They're a good student, bright and kind of low key. They're totally tweaked about missing their friends and not being able to walk to our home school as they envisioned. Am I overthinking this? I should make them go, right? FWIW their home school would not be a bad choice, but they wouldn't be in a magnet.

[Anonymous]

Go to the open house and then decide. I’d be reluctant to send a kid who doesn’t want to go though, but you know your kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Go to the open house and then decide. I’d be reluctant to send a kid who doesn’t want to go though, but you know your kid.

+1

[Anonymous]

My understanding is that for the non-magnet subjects, your student will be in the regular classrooms with the in-boundary kids for Eastern. That could work out just fine, but just know that the magnet program doesn't include every subject.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My understanding is that for the non-magnet subjects, your student will be in the regular classrooms with the in-boundary kids for Eastern. That could work out just fine, but just know that the magnet program doesn't include every subject.

Turn out they are mostly with magnet students for all classes other than PE since there are different levels of math, science and foreign languages and most non magnet students won’t be in those classes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Go to the open house and then decide. I’d be reluctant to send a kid who doesn’t want to go though, but you know your kid.

My DC had a friend who went. DC and this other kid were in a CES together. Other kid went to Eastern for half a year, decided it was not for them and went back to their home school. Eastern was a difficult environment.

OP, is your home MS reasonably strong?

I agree with the other PP that it would be hard to force a kid who doesn’t want to go.

FWIW, my DC went from a CES to our home MS and then ended up at a magnet HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My understanding is that for the non-magnet subjects, your student will be in the regular classrooms with the in-boundary kids for Eastern. That could work out just fine, but just know that the magnet program doesn't include every subject.

Turn out they are mostly with magnet students for all classes other than PE since there are different levels of math, science and foreign languages and most non magnet students won’t be in those classes

That's the opposite of TPMS where outside the magnet classes it's completely integrated.

[Anonymous]

Op--our home school is TPMS, which is a great school even without the magnet, so yeah the choice isn't easy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My understanding is that for the non-magnet subjects, your student will be in the regular classrooms with the in-boundary kids for Eastern. That could work out just fine, but just know that the magnet program doesn't include every subject.

Turn out they are mostly with magnet students for all classes other than PE since there are different levels of math, science and foreign languages and most non magnet students won’t be in those classes

There are not different levels of science and foreign languages, just math.

[Anonymous]

OP, I would defer to what my child wanted to do but ask them to be open to the possibility and attend the open house with an open mind. I would definitely not force my child to go -- that's a recipe for disaster.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op--our home school is TPMS, which is a great school even without the magnet, so yeah the choice isn't easy.

Hi, my kid went to TPMS magnet. We really liked it. Not just the magnet classes but also the nonmagnet ones. I would not force your kid to go to Eastern magnet over TPMS in bounds. Let her decide. Though it might be worth a) figuring out first if her friends are going to TPMS and b) gently explaining that sometimes friends groups change in middle school anyway

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Go to the open house and then decide. I’d be reluctant to send a kid who doesn’t want to go though, but you know your kid.

+1

+2

Also think about things like logistics. We didn’t get a spot at either but if we had, most likely would have declined since it would have meant waking up a full hour earlier every day. For some kids, including my DD, that would be miserable. Middle school is tough enough without pushing a kid into a special program.

[Anonymous]

I sent my kid to Eastern and I wouldn’t do it again although you don’t have as terrible a commute as we did. The students are intense. If your kid is low-key and not on board I would hesitate. But attend the open house and see what they think. You can always try it for a bit and switch back. You can’t do the reverse.
The science is particularly horrible at Eastern unless it’s changed in the couple years since my kid was there.

[Anonymous]

TPMS is a nice school....

[Anonymous]

I'd make sure your kid is really interested and not just trying to make you happy. There are smart kids everywhere, all over mcps, and you will definitely find them at your home school too. Even more so now that it's lottery driven.

(I am an Eastern grad and disliked it - the program and the kids. It was a mistake - though it made me realize what I didn't like which is equally valuable. This was awhile ago, so maybe the cohort of kids are just nicer these days.)