Dorothy Hamm - after-school clubs

[Anonymous]

The club activities at DHMS look very interesting, and some are what DD would love. We are currently choosing between private school and APS for middle school (DD is now in 5th grade). Can anyone share what their students' experiences were with DHMS clubs, such as Newspaper Club, Jazz Band and Investment Club? Are these worth noting?

[Anonymous]

Jazz band is an after school class— not a club. It’s part of “act 2” where they have additional electives after school. My daughter is in it, I don’t think a lot of sixth graders do it, and it has the same amount of homework as regular band (2 weekly grades assignments). The teacher is very nice.

[Anonymous]

The clubs are a great thing to have at DHMS. I'm so thankful for the teachers and staff who run them. Note though that the clubs are very kid driven, which means your child needs the executive functioning skills to sign up for (not all, but most are sign up driven) and go to the clubs. No one really helps with that. Some clubs fill up quickly and it has been overwhelming for my 6th grader to figure it all out and get himself to clubs. I'm hopeful he'll figure it out by the end of the year, but for now he's hanging out with his friends after school and eating at Lee Heights.

That all said, if you have the means and your child has been or has a likelihood of being accepting to a private school, I'd recommend the private school. DHMS has been fine (again the teachers are doing their best) but it's been hard for our son to juggle the independence, organization, social issues, and learning. If your student is coming from Taylor, they may have fewer social issues because their cohort is so large, but otherwise it's a smattering of kids from the other feeders and they are very much left to their own to figure out friendships. There's no outdoor time (they get maybe 5 minutes after lunch, but not much more...I've been helicopter monitoring that). The early mornings are rough and the afternoons out of school are long. Our son's 504 has not been followed at all. There's a heavy reliance on screen time. As long as your child is getting average/passing grades, there's not a lot of concern about social/emotional issues. There's a lot of talking up of the Phoenix Time and TA (homeroom) blocks as to the social/emotional and organizational/exec functioning aspects when your child is in 5th, but so far our son has spent that time watching movies on the iPad. We thought it would be more disruptive to move our son to private than to keep him within the APS system, but that was a lazy decision on our part and we should have made the switch.

[Anonymous]

I’ve had several got through Hamm and one is very active in the club scene. It’s been amazing. Child has own interests and is self motivated to go to certain clubs. Child sometimes brings friends but willing to go on their own. Child’s friends have brought child ti new clubs where child has been exposed to different interests. All of this means child is at school much later which is much better for everyone.

In terms of private, it really depends on which one. Academically there are only a handful that would meet my personal criteria but some kids just need some more coddling so really any smaller environment will suit them. Head over to the private school board where everyone will weigh in, including lots of Hamm/APS parents.

[Anonymous]

OP here - thanks for the input.

[Anonymous]

Being a part of your neighborhood community at the local public also has its benefits. I don’t think after school socializing with neighborhood friends is bad, but a balance of that and active participation in middle school clubs, after school electives, and sports are a big part of a well rounded experience.

Compare DHMS with local private/independent schools you might be interested in. There are pros and cons. There are the big ones like GDS, Maret, NCS, and St Albans and smaller independent and parochial schools. Personally I’d stick with public unless it’s one of the well-endowed independent schools and there’s a compelling reason to go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Being a part of your neighborhood community at the local public also has its benefits. I don’t think after school socializing with neighborhood friends is bad, but a balance of that and active participation in middle school clubs, after school electives, and sports are a big part of a well rounded experience.

Compare DHMS with local private/independent schools you might be interested in. There are pros and cons. There are the big ones like GDS, Maret, NCS, and St Albans and smaller independent and parochial schools. Personally I’d stick with public unless it’s one of the well-endowed independent schools and there’s a compelling reason to go.

To be clear, by big PP means reputation not size and getting into those handful of schools, particularly in the upper grades, is incredibly incredibly difficult.