Why is the GT program in APS so anemic?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Elementary school parenting is a blip on the radar of your life. You all will learn soon enough that what you are doing here is sweating the small stuff. None of it means anything.

High school parents here, I strongly disagree. These are fundamental skills, and you were building a love of learning or associating school with boredom.

Funny. Truly gifted kids will love learning what they’re passionate about. Most learn in spite of teachers. Parents just want to brag about their kids being gifted.

That's nonsense.

Gifted kids will read and learn vocabulary and facts but you need a teacher to, for example, teach you how to write different kinds of papers--how to identify a good research question, construct a thesis statement, evaluate evidence, etc. I got 1500 on the SATs but got to college without knowing how to write a paper because I had lousy teachers in high school and they didn't offer any AP classes except for calculus, bio, and chem. Or on the science side -- I killed it on exams throughout high school but had no idea how to design my own project because we always just followed the instructions we were given. There is so much wasted talent because schools are happy when there are kids that aren't much work for them, that just do well and don't need help and get good scores.

Sorry, I was agreeing with the person who said it's nonsense that gifted students will love learning what they're passionate about. Gifted kids need to be educated as well as other kids.

Completely agree. In elementary, teachers either professed to love my kid because “he’s just so easy” or were annoyed when he would ask too many follow up questions or try to expand on the subject. Elementary science was mostly non-existent, but what was taught drove my kid nuts because he couldn’t understand why teachers would insist that there are only 3 states of matter. It sounds ridiculous to adults, but trying to teach a little kid to smile and nod and give the teacher the answer they want to hear is soul crushing.

Ha, your example makes me laugh because my kid also complains about the school only teaching 3 states of matter. But I don't think any teacher has ever told my kid to stop asking questions. Mine is in APS and has started to get pulled out for additional science (5th grade) but he also creates his own projects in science ( does them at home and brings them in) but also counting down the days till high school science.

Is the Internet short on science learning? Are there no local STEM summer camps you can afford? My 4th grader did a Boolean Girl programming camps subsidized by Arlington last summer that was great. My eldest seems to be learning quite a bit in her life science class in 7th grade at an Arlington MS.

Sheesh, naysayers, our public schools can't be everything to all comers. Just supplement already. HS science comes up fast.

Oh goody my DD can twiddle thumbs in class for 30 hrs a week but will make it up with 3 hours on the weekend or one week in the summer.

I just hate the waste of time that it is. Put her in a comfortable study hall with books and puzzles and legos, our outside playing, if your aren’t going to teach her. I would home school except we both work and it would be isolating.

If your kid is that bored, why not move to Fairfax? Our kids are in bilingual program in APS, I think that helped keep them from getting bored.

When we moved here they had a pull out gifted program. We bought a house older kids are in school — going to FCPS is much harder than it was 6 years ago (and housing is now more expensive in FFX while Arlington has dropped because who cares about commute)

Arlington housing prices have not dropped.

Compare to peak of pandemic, they certainly have, and compared to fairfax they have dropped further. Thus to make a lateral move it will cost more. Even exurbs have risen remarkably relative to arlington like Howard Co.

Huh? You can still get way more for the money in FCPS over APS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Elementary school parenting is a blip on the radar of your life. You all will learn soon enough that what you are doing here is sweating the small stuff. None of it means anything.

High school parents here, I strongly disagree. These are fundamental skills, and you were building a love of learning or associating school with boredom.

Funny. Truly gifted kids will love learning what they’re passionate about. Most learn in spite of teachers. Parents just want to brag about their kids being gifted.

That's nonsense.

Gifted kids will read and learn vocabulary and facts but you need a teacher to, for example, teach you how to write different kinds of papers--how to identify a good research question, construct a thesis statement, evaluate evidence, etc. I got 1500 on the SATs but got to college without knowing how to write a paper because I had lousy teachers in high school and they didn't offer any AP classes except for calculus, bio, and chem. Or on the science side -- I killed it on exams throughout high school but had no idea how to design my own project because we always just followed the instructions we were given. There is so much wasted talent because schools are happy when there are kids that aren't much work for them, that just do well and don't need help and get good scores.

Sorry, I was agreeing with the person who said it's nonsense that gifted students will love learning what they're passionate about. Gifted kids need to be educated as well as other kids.

Completely agree. In elementary, teachers either professed to love my kid because “he’s just so easy” or were annoyed when he would ask too many follow up questions or try to expand on the subject. Elementary science was mostly non-existent, but what was taught drove my kid nuts because he couldn’t understand why teachers would insist that there are only 3 states of matter. It sounds ridiculous to adults, but trying to teach a little kid to smile and nod and give the teacher the answer they want to hear is soul crushing.

Ha, your example makes me laugh because my kid also complains about the school only teaching 3 states of matter. But I don't think any teacher has ever told my kid to stop asking questions. Mine is in APS and has started to get pulled out for additional science (5th grade) but he also creates his own projects in science ( does them at home and brings them in) but also counting down the days till high school science.

Is the Internet short on science learning? Are there no local STEM summer camps you can afford? My 4th grader did a Boolean Girl programming camps subsidized by Arlington last summer that was great. My eldest seems to be learning quite a bit in her life science class in 7th grade at an Arlington MS.

Sheesh, naysayers, our public schools can't be everything to all comers. Just supplement already. HS science comes up fast.

Oh goody my DD can twiddle thumbs in class for 30 hrs a week but will make it up with 3 hours on the weekend or one week in the summer.

I just hate the waste of time that it is. Put her in a comfortable study hall with books and puzzles and legos, our outside playing, if your aren’t going to teach her. I would home school except we both work and it would be isolating.

If your kid is that bored, why not move to Fairfax? Our kids are in bilingual program in APS, I think that helped keep them from getting bored.

When we moved here they had a pull out gifted program. We bought a house older kids are in school — going to FCPS is much harder than it was 6 years ago (and housing is now more expensive in FFX while Arlington has dropped because who cares about commute)

Arlington housing prices have not dropped.

Compare to peak of pandemic, they certainly have, and compared to fairfax they have dropped further. Thus to make a lateral move it will cost more. Even exurbs have risen remarkably relative to arlington like Howard Co.

Huh? You can still get way more for the money in FCPS over APS.

In 2019 a $1M house in McLean was bigger while a $1M in No Arlington was smaller.

In 2020, those positions have switched, and our house has appreciated slower than McLean/Langley (I think partly because of schools).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Elementary school parenting is a blip on the radar of your life. You all will learn soon enough that what you are doing here is sweating the small stuff. None of it means anything.

High school parents here, I strongly disagree. These are fundamental skills, and you were building a love of learning or associating school with boredom.

Funny. Truly gifted kids will love learning what they’re passionate about. Most learn in spite of teachers. Parents just want to brag about their kids being gifted.

That's nonsense.

Gifted kids will read and learn vocabulary and facts but you need a teacher to, for example, teach you how to write different kinds of papers--how to identify a good research question, construct a thesis statement, evaluate evidence, etc. I got 1500 on the SATs but got to college without knowing how to write a paper because I had lousy teachers in high school and they didn't offer any AP classes except for calculus, bio, and chem. Or on the science side -- I killed it on exams throughout high school but had no idea how to design my own project because we always just followed the instructions we were given. There is so much wasted talent because schools are happy when there are kids that aren't much work for them, that just do well and don't need help and get good scores.

Sorry, I was agreeing with the person who said it's nonsense that gifted students will love learning what they're passionate about. Gifted kids need to be educated as well as other kids.

Completely agree. In elementary, teachers either professed to love my kid because “he’s just so easy” or were annoyed when he would ask too many follow up questions or try to expand on the subject. Elementary science was mostly non-existent, but what was taught drove my kid nuts because he couldn’t understand why teachers would insist that there are only 3 states of matter. It sounds ridiculous to adults, but trying to teach a little kid to smile and nod and give the teacher the answer they want to hear is soul crushing.

Ha, your example makes me laugh because my kid also complains about the school only teaching 3 states of matter. But I don't think any teacher has ever told my kid to stop asking questions. Mine is in APS and has started to get pulled out for additional science (5th grade) but he also creates his own projects in science ( does them at home and brings them in) but also counting down the days till high school science.

Is the Internet short on science learning? Are there no local STEM summer camps you can afford? My 4th grader did a Boolean Girl programming camps subsidized by Arlington last summer that was great. My eldest seems to be learning quite a bit in her life science class in 7th grade at an Arlington MS.

Sheesh, naysayers, our public schools can't be everything to all comers. Just supplement already. HS science comes up fast.

Oh goody my DD can twiddle thumbs in class for 30 hrs a week but will make it up with 3 hours on the weekend or one week in the summer.

I just hate the waste of time that it is. Put her in a comfortable study hall with books and puzzles and legos, our outside playing, if your aren’t going to teach her. I would home school except we both work and it would be isolating.

If your kid is that bored, why not move to Fairfax? Our kids are in bilingual program in APS, I think that helped keep them from getting bored.

When we moved here they had a pull out gifted program. We bought a house older kids are in school — going to FCPS is much harder than it was 6 years ago (and housing is now more expensive in FFX while Arlington has dropped because who cares about commute)

Arlington housing prices have not dropped.

Compare to peak of pandemic, they certainly have, and compared to fairfax they have dropped further. Thus to make a lateral move it will cost more. Even exurbs have risen remarkably relative to arlington like Howard Co.

Huh? You can still get way more for the money in FCPS over APS.

In 2019 a $1M house in McLean was bigger while a $1M in No Arlington was smaller.

In 2020, those positions have switched, and our house has appreciated slower than McLean/Langley (I think partly because of schools).

Either way if you own a house in Arlington you can buy one in Fairfax (biggest issue is probably interest rates)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Elementary school parenting is a blip on the radar of your life. You all will learn soon enough that what you are doing here is sweating the small stuff. None of it means anything.

High school parents here, I strongly disagree. These are fundamental skills, and you were building a love of learning or associating school with boredom.

Funny. Truly gifted kids will love learning what they’re passionate about. Most learn in spite of teachers. Parents just want to brag about their kids being gifted.

That's nonsense.

Gifted kids will read and learn vocabulary and facts but you need a teacher to, for example, teach you how to write different kinds of papers--how to identify a good research question, construct a thesis statement, evaluate evidence, etc. I got 1500 on the SATs but got to college without knowing how to write a paper because I had lousy teachers in high school and they didn't offer any AP classes except for calculus, bio, and chem. Or on the science side -- I killed it on exams throughout high school but had no idea how to design my own project because we always just followed the instructions we were given. There is so much wasted talent because schools are happy when there are kids that aren't much work for them, that just do well and don't need help and get good scores.

Sorry, I was agreeing with the person who said it's nonsense that gifted students will love learning what they're passionate about. Gifted kids need to be educated as well as other kids.

Completely agree. In elementary, teachers either professed to love my kid because “he’s just so easy” or were annoyed when he would ask too many follow up questions or try to expand on the subject. Elementary science was mostly non-existent, but what was taught drove my kid nuts because he couldn’t understand why teachers would insist that there are only 3 states of matter. It sounds ridiculous to adults, but trying to teach a little kid to smile and nod and give the teacher the answer they want to hear is soul crushing.

Ha, your example makes me laugh because my kid also complains about the school only teaching 3 states of matter. But I don't think any teacher has ever told my kid to stop asking questions. Mine is in APS and has started to get pulled out for additional science (5th grade) but he also creates his own projects in science ( does them at home and brings them in) but also counting down the days till high school science.

Is the Internet short on science learning? Are there no local STEM summer camps you can afford? My 4th grader did a Boolean Girl programming camps subsidized by Arlington last summer that was great. My eldest seems to be learning quite a bit in her life science class in 7th grade at an Arlington MS.

Sheesh, naysayers, our public schools can't be everything to all comers. Just supplement already. HS science comes up fast.

Oh goody my DD can twiddle thumbs in class for 30 hrs a week but will make it up with 3 hours on the weekend or one week in the summer.

I just hate the waste of time that it is. Put her in a comfortable study hall with books and puzzles and legos, our outside playing, if your aren’t going to teach her. I would home school except we both work and it would be isolating.

If your kid is that bored, why not move to Fairfax? Our kids are in bilingual program in APS, I think that helped keep them from getting bored.

When we moved here they had a pull out gifted program. We bought a house older kids are in school — going to FCPS is much harder than it was 6 years ago (and housing is now more expensive in FFX while Arlington has dropped because who cares about commute)

Arlington housing prices have not dropped.

Compare to peak of pandemic, they certainly have, and compared to fairfax they have dropped further. Thus to make a lateral move it will cost more. Even exurbs have risen remarkably relative to arlington like Howard Co.

Huh? You can still get way more for the money in FCPS over APS.

In 2019 a $1M house in McLean was bigger while a $1M in No Arlington was smaller.

In 2020, those positions have switched, and our house has appreciated slower than McLean/Langley (I think partly because of schools).

I don’t think it has anything to do with schools, more with increased ability to telework

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Elementary school parenting is a blip on the radar of your life. You all will learn soon enough that what you are doing here is sweating the small stuff. None of it means anything.

High school parents here, I strongly disagree. These are fundamental skills, and you were building a love of learning or associating school with boredom.

Funny. Truly gifted kids will love learning what they’re passionate about. Most learn in spite of teachers. Parents just want to brag about their kids being gifted.

That's nonsense.

Gifted kids will read and learn vocabulary and facts but you need a teacher to, for example, teach you how to write different kinds of papers--how to identify a good research question, construct a thesis statement, evaluate evidence, etc. I got 1500 on the SATs but got to college without knowing how to write a paper because I had lousy teachers in high school and they didn't offer any AP classes except for calculus, bio, and chem. Or on the science side -- I killed it on exams throughout high school but had no idea how to design my own project because we always just followed the instructions we were given. There is so much wasted talent because schools are happy when there are kids that aren't much work for them, that just do well and don't need help and get good scores.

Sorry, I was agreeing with the person who said it's nonsense that gifted students will love learning what they're passionate about. Gifted kids need to be educated as well as other kids.

Completely agree. In elementary, teachers either professed to love my kid because “he’s just so easy” or were annoyed when he would ask too many follow up questions or try to expand on the subject. Elementary science was mostly non-existent, but what was taught drove my kid nuts because he couldn’t understand why teachers would insist that there are only 3 states of matter. It sounds ridiculous to adults, but trying to teach a little kid to smile and nod and give the teacher the answer they want to hear is soul crushing.

Ha, your example makes me laugh because my kid also complains about the school only teaching 3 states of matter. But I don't think any teacher has ever told my kid to stop asking questions. Mine is in APS and has started to get pulled out for additional science (5th grade) but he also creates his own projects in science ( does them at home and brings them in) but also counting down the days till high school science.

Is the Internet short on science learning? Are there no local STEM summer camps you can afford? My 4th grader did a Boolean Girl programming camps subsidized by Arlington last summer that was great. My eldest seems to be learning quite a bit in her life science class in 7th grade at an Arlington MS.

Sheesh, naysayers, our public schools can't be everything to all comers. Just supplement already. HS science comes up fast.

Oh goody my DD can twiddle thumbs in class for 30 hrs a week but will make it up with 3 hours on the weekend or one week in the summer.

I just hate the waste of time that it is. Put her in a comfortable study hall with books and puzzles and legos, our outside playing, if your aren’t going to teach her. I would home school except we both work and it would be isolating.

If your kid is that bored, why not move to Fairfax? Our kids are in bilingual program in APS, I think that helped keep them from getting bored.

When we moved here they had a pull out gifted program. We bought a house older kids are in school — going to FCPS is much harder than it was 6 years ago (and housing is now more expensive in FFX while Arlington has dropped because who cares about commute)

Arlington housing prices have not dropped.

Compare to peak of pandemic, they certainly have, and compared to fairfax they have dropped further. Thus to make a lateral move it will cost more. Even exurbs have risen remarkably relative to arlington like Howard Co.

Huh? You can still get way more for the money in FCPS over APS.

In 2019 a $1M house in McLean was bigger while a $1M in No Arlington was smaller.

In 2020, those positions have switched, and our house has appreciated slower than McLean/Langley (I think partly because of schools).

Not true. You still get more for your money in FCPS, even McLean.

McLean - 1/4 acre - 4br $950k
https://redf.in/62ln6x

Arlington - 10k lot - 3br $1.1M
https://redf.in/jPg5YH

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Elementary school parenting is a blip on the radar of your life. You all will learn soon enough that what you are doing here is sweating the small stuff. None of it means anything.

High school parents here, I strongly disagree. These are fundamental skills, and you were building a love of learning or associating school with boredom.

Funny. Truly gifted kids will love learning what they’re passionate about. Most learn in spite of teachers. Parents just want to brag about their kids being gifted.

That's nonsense.

Gifted kids will read and learn vocabulary and facts but you need a teacher to, for example, teach you how to write different kinds of papers--how to identify a good research question, construct a thesis statement, evaluate evidence, etc. I got 1500 on the SATs but got to college without knowing how to write a paper because I had lousy teachers in high school and they didn't offer any AP classes except for calculus, bio, and chem. Or on the science side -- I killed it on exams throughout high school but had no idea how to design my own project because we always just followed the instructions we were given. There is so much wasted talent because schools are happy when there are kids that aren't much work for them, that just do well and don't need help and get good scores.

Sorry, I was agreeing with the person who said it's nonsense that gifted students will love learning what they're passionate about. Gifted kids need to be educated as well as other kids.

Completely agree. In elementary, teachers either professed to love my kid because “he’s just so easy” or were annoyed when he would ask too many follow up questions or try to expand on the subject. Elementary science was mostly non-existent, but what was taught drove my kid nuts because he couldn’t understand why teachers would insist that there are only 3 states of matter. It sounds ridiculous to adults, but trying to teach a little kid to smile and nod and give the teacher the answer they want to hear is soul crushing.

Ha, your example makes me laugh because my kid also complains about the school only teaching 3 states of matter. But I don't think any teacher has ever told my kid to stop asking questions. Mine is in APS and has started to get pulled out for additional science (5th grade) but he also creates his own projects in science ( does them at home and brings them in) but also counting down the days till high school science.

Is the Internet short on science learning? Are there no local STEM summer camps you can afford? My 4th grader did a Boolean Girl programming camps subsidized by Arlington last summer that was great. My eldest seems to be learning quite a bit in her life science class in 7th grade at an Arlington MS.

Sheesh, naysayers, our public schools can't be everything to all comers. Just supplement already. HS science comes up fast.

Oh goody my DD can twiddle thumbs in class for 30 hrs a week but will make it up with 3 hours on the weekend or one week in the summer.

I just hate the waste of time that it is. Put her in a comfortable study hall with books and puzzles and legos, our outside playing, if your aren’t going to teach her. I would home school except we both work and it would be isolating.

If your kid is that bored, why not move to Fairfax? Our kids are in bilingual program in APS, I think that helped keep them from getting bored.

When we moved here they had a pull out gifted program. We bought a house older kids are in school — going to FCPS is much harder than it was 6 years ago (and housing is now more expensive in FFX while Arlington has dropped because who cares about commute)

Arlington housing prices have not dropped.

Compare to peak of pandemic, they certainly have, and compared to fairfax they have dropped further. Thus to make a lateral move it will cost more. Even exurbs have risen remarkably relative to arlington like Howard Co.

Huh? You can still get way more for the money in FCPS over APS.

In 2019 a $1M house in McLean was bigger while a $1M in No Arlington was smaller.

In 2020, those positions have switched, and our house has appreciated slower than McLean/Langley (I think partly because of schools).

Not true. You still get more for your money in FCPS, even McLean.

McLean - 1/4 acre - 4br $950k
https://redf.in/62ln6x

Arlington - 10k lot - 3br $1.1M
https://redf.in/jPg5YH

The Arlington house has about $200k updates in it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Elementary school parenting is a blip on the radar of your life. You all will learn soon enough that what you are doing here is sweating the small stuff. None of it means anything.

High school parents here, I strongly disagree. These are fundamental skills, and you were building a love of learning or associating school with boredom.

Funny. Truly gifted kids will love learning what they’re passionate about. Most learn in spite of teachers. Parents just want to brag about their kids being gifted.

That's nonsense.

Gifted kids will read and learn vocabulary and facts but you need a teacher to, for example, teach you how to write different kinds of papers--how to identify a good research question, construct a thesis statement, evaluate evidence, etc. I got 1500 on the SATs but got to college without knowing how to write a paper because I had lousy teachers in high school and they didn't offer any AP classes except for calculus, bio, and chem. Or on the science side -- I killed it on exams throughout high school but had no idea how to design my own project because we always just followed the instructions we were given. There is so much wasted talent because schools are happy when there are kids that aren't much work for them, that just do well and don't need help and get good scores.

Sorry, I was agreeing with the person who said it's nonsense that gifted students will love learning what they're passionate about. Gifted kids need to be educated as well as other kids.

Completely agree. In elementary, teachers either professed to love my kid because “he’s just so easy” or were annoyed when he would ask too many follow up questions or try to expand on the subject. Elementary science was mostly non-existent, but what was taught drove my kid nuts because he couldn’t understand why teachers would insist that there are only 3 states of matter. It sounds ridiculous to adults, but trying to teach a little kid to smile and nod and give the teacher the answer they want to hear is soul crushing.

Ha, your example makes me laugh because my kid also complains about the school only teaching 3 states of matter. But I don't think any teacher has ever told my kid to stop asking questions. Mine is in APS and has started to get pulled out for additional science (5th grade) but he also creates his own projects in science ( does them at home and brings them in) but also counting down the days till high school science.

Is the Internet short on science learning? Are there no local STEM summer camps you can afford? My 4th grader did a Boolean Girl programming camps subsidized by Arlington last summer that was great. My eldest seems to be learning quite a bit in her life science class in 7th grade at an Arlington MS.

Sheesh, naysayers, our public schools can't be everything to all comers. Just supplement already. HS science comes up fast.

Oh goody my DD can twiddle thumbs in class for 30 hrs a week but will make it up with 3 hours on the weekend or one week in the summer.

I just hate the waste of time that it is. Put her in a comfortable study hall with books and puzzles and legos, our outside playing, if your aren’t going to teach her. I would home school except we both work and it would be isolating.

If your kid is that bored, why not move to Fairfax? Our kids are in bilingual program in APS, I think that helped keep them from getting bored.

When we moved here they had a pull out gifted program. We bought a house older kids are in school — going to FCPS is much harder than it was 6 years ago (and housing is now more expensive in FFX while Arlington has dropped because who cares about commute)

Arlington housing prices have not dropped.

Compare to peak of pandemic, they certainly have, and compared to fairfax they have dropped further. Thus to make a lateral move it will cost more. Even exurbs have risen remarkably relative to arlington like Howard Co.

Huh? You can still get way more for the money in FCPS over APS.

In 2019 a $1M house in McLean was bigger while a $1M in No Arlington was smaller.

In 2020, those positions have switched, and our house has appreciated slower than McLean/Langley (I think partly because of schools).

I think partly because you overpaid for your No Arlington house and therefore it doesn't have as wide an appreciation margin.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Elementary school parenting is a blip on the radar of your life. You all will learn soon enough that what you are doing here is sweating the small stuff. None of it means anything.

High school parents here, I strongly disagree. These are fundamental skills, and you were building a love of learning or associating school with boredom.

Funny. Truly gifted kids will love learning what they’re passionate about. Most learn in spite of teachers. Parents just want to brag about their kids being gifted.

That's nonsense.

Gifted kids will read and learn vocabulary and facts but you need a teacher to, for example, teach you how to write different kinds of papers--how to identify a good research question, construct a thesis statement, evaluate evidence, etc. I got 1500 on the SATs but got to college without knowing how to write a paper because I had lousy teachers in high school and they didn't offer any AP classes except for calculus, bio, and chem. Or on the science side -- I killed it on exams throughout high school but had no idea how to design my own project because we always just followed the instructions we were given. There is so much wasted talent because schools are happy when there are kids that aren't much work for them, that just do well and don't need help and get good scores.

Sorry, I was agreeing with the person who said it's nonsense that gifted students will love learning what they're passionate about. Gifted kids need to be educated as well as other kids.

Completely agree. In elementary, teachers either professed to love my kid because “he’s just so easy” or were annoyed when he would ask too many follow up questions or try to expand on the subject. Elementary science was mostly non-existent, but what was taught drove my kid nuts because he couldn’t understand why teachers would insist that there are only 3 states of matter. It sounds ridiculous to adults, but trying to teach a little kid to smile and nod and give the teacher the answer they want to hear is soul crushing.

Ha, your example makes me laugh because my kid also complains about the school only teaching 3 states of matter. But I don't think any teacher has ever told my kid to stop asking questions. Mine is in APS and has started to get pulled out for additional science (5th grade) but he also creates his own projects in science ( does them at home and brings them in) but also counting down the days till high school science.

Is the Internet short on science learning? Are there no local STEM summer camps you can afford? My 4th grader did a Boolean Girl programming camps subsidized by Arlington last summer that was great. My eldest seems to be learning quite a bit in her life science class in 7th grade at an Arlington MS.

Sheesh, naysayers, our public schools can't be everything to all comers. Just supplement already. HS science comes up fast.

Oh goody my DD can twiddle thumbs in class for 30 hrs a week but will make it up with 3 hours on the weekend or one week in the summer.

I just hate the waste of time that it is. Put her in a comfortable study hall with books and puzzles and legos, our outside playing, if your aren’t going to teach her. I would home school except we both work and it would be isolating.

If your kid is that bored, why not move to Fairfax? Our kids are in bilingual program in APS, I think that helped keep them from getting bored.

When we moved here they had a pull out gifted program. We bought a house older kids are in school — going to FCPS is much harder than it was 6 years ago (and housing is now more expensive in FFX while Arlington has dropped because who cares about commute)

Arlington housing prices have not dropped.

Compare to peak of pandemic, they certainly have, and compared to fairfax they have dropped further. Thus to make a lateral move it will cost more. Even exurbs have risen remarkably relative to arlington like Howard Co.

Huh? You can still get way more for the money in FCPS over APS.

In 2019 a $1M house in McLean was bigger while a $1M in No Arlington was smaller.

In 2020, those positions have switched, and our house has appreciated slower than McLean/Langley (I think partly because of schools).

I think partly because you overpaid for your No Arlington house and therefore it doesn't have as wide an appreciation margin.

What does overpaying even mean? We won a bidding war so we had a market price. Arlington has losts its luster harder since commute was big part of value

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am the poster whose kids went to TJ. My point is APS did give my kids a solid MS experience, otherwise they wouldn’t have made the TJ cut -the elementary experience was not bad -but we did supplement because our kids were math oriented and we could afford to give them a little extra, not a lot, though, but enough they got into higher level classes in middle school. So, not a bad APS experience. Quite honestly, I felt that elementary was more about the social aspect of growing up than about a “rigorous academic” experience. I am glad we didn’t push them early in life, except support the areas they liked. Things seem more competitive now, though, good luck to all of you.

Arlington has a certain number of seats and those seats are filled by kids from Arlington MS. Your kids were competing with other Arlington kids, not FCPS or Loudoun MS kids. If they did well at TJ that is a different story but they did not have to compete against anyone other then APS MS kids for admission.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Elementary school parenting is a blip on the radar of your life. You all will learn soon enough that what you are doing here is sweating the small stuff. None of it means anything.

High school parents here, I strongly disagree. These are fundamental skills, and you were building a love of learning or associating school with boredom.

Funny. Truly gifted kids will love learning what they’re passionate about. Most learn in spite of teachers. Parents just want to brag about their kids being gifted.

That's nonsense.

Gifted kids will read and learn vocabulary and facts but you need a teacher to, for example, teach you how to write different kinds of papers--how to identify a good research question, construct a thesis statement, evaluate evidence, etc. I got 1500 on the SATs but got to college without knowing how to write a paper because I had lousy teachers in high school and they didn't offer any AP classes except for calculus, bio, and chem. Or on the science side -- I killed it on exams throughout high school but had no idea how to design my own project because we always just followed the instructions we were given. There is so much wasted talent because schools are happy when there are kids that aren't much work for them, that just do well and don't need help and get good scores.

Sorry, I was agreeing with the person who said it's nonsense that gifted students will love learning what they're passionate about. Gifted kids need to be educated as well as other kids.

Completely agree. In elementary, teachers either professed to love my kid because “he’s just so easy” or were annoyed when he would ask too many follow up questions or try to expand on the subject. Elementary science was mostly non-existent, but what was taught drove my kid nuts because he couldn’t understand why teachers would insist that there are only 3 states of matter. It sounds ridiculous to adults, but trying to teach a little kid to smile and nod and give the teacher the answer they want to hear is soul crushing.

Ha, your example makes me laugh because my kid also complains about the school only teaching 3 states of matter. But I don't think any teacher has ever told my kid to stop asking questions. Mine is in APS and has started to get pulled out for additional science (5th grade) but he also creates his own projects in science ( does them at home and brings them in) but also counting down the days till high school science.

Is the Internet short on science learning? Are there no local STEM summer camps you can afford? My 4th grader did a Boolean Girl programming camps subsidized by Arlington last summer that was great. My eldest seems to be learning quite a bit in her life science class in 7th grade at an Arlington MS.

Sheesh, naysayers, our public schools can't be everything to all comers. Just supplement already. HS science comes up fast.

Oh goody my DD can twiddle thumbs in class for 30 hrs a week but will make it up with 3 hours on the weekend or one week in the summer.

I just hate the waste of time that it is. Put her in a comfortable study hall with books and puzzles and legos, our outside playing, if your aren’t going to teach her. I would home school except we both work and it would be isolating.

If your kid is that bored, why not move to Fairfax? Our kids are in bilingual program in APS, I think that helped keep them from getting bored.

When we moved here they had a pull out gifted program. We bought a house older kids are in school — going to FCPS is much harder than it was 6 years ago (and housing is now more expensive in FFX while Arlington has dropped because who cares about commute)

Arlington housing prices have not dropped.

Compare to peak of pandemic, they certainly have, and compared to fairfax they have dropped further. Thus to make a lateral move it will cost more. Even exurbs have risen remarkably relative to arlington like Howard Co.

Huh? You can still get way more for the money in FCPS over APS.

In 2019 a $1M house in McLean was bigger while a $1M in No Arlington was smaller.

In 2020, those positions have switched, and our house has appreciated slower than McLean/Langley (I think partly because of schools).

Not true. You still get more for your money in FCPS, even McLean.

McLean - 1/4 acre - 4br $950k
https://redf.in/62ln6x

Arlington - 10k lot - 3br $1.1M
https://redf.in/jPg5YH

The Arlington house has about $200k updates in it

It’s smaller and has a smaller lot. You get more for your money in FCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am the poster whose kids went to TJ. My point is APS did give my kids a solid MS experience, otherwise they wouldn’t have made the TJ cut -the elementary experience was not bad -but we did supplement because our kids were math oriented and we could afford to give them a little extra, not a lot, though, but enough they got into higher level classes in middle school. So, not a bad APS experience. Quite honestly, I felt that elementary was more about the social aspect of growing up than about a “rigorous academic” experience. I am glad we didn’t push them early in life, except support the areas they liked. Things seem more competitive now, though, good luck to all of you.

Arlington has a certain number of seats and those seats are filled by kids from Arlington MS. Your kids were competing with other Arlington kids, not FCPS or Loudoun MS kids. If they did well at TJ that is a different story but they did not have to compete against anyone other then APS MS kids for admission.

The allocation by MS is a recent change to the admissions process. Prior to that, kids were all competing against each other and APS had a max # of admissions. They weren’t evaluated separately. They didn’t always have the max # each year, it depended on the applicants.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am the poster whose kids went to TJ. My point is APS did give my kids a solid MS experience, otherwise they wouldn’t have made the TJ cut -the elementary experience was not bad -but we did supplement because our kids were math oriented and we could afford to give them a little extra, not a lot, though, but enough they got into higher level classes in middle school. So, not a bad APS experience. Quite honestly, I felt that elementary was more about the social aspect of growing up than about a “rigorous academic” experience. I am glad we didn’t push them early in life, except support the areas they liked. Things seem more competitive now, though, good luck to all of you.

Arlington has a certain number of seats and those seats are filled by kids from Arlington MS. Your kids were competing with other Arlington kids, not FCPS or Loudoun MS kids. If they did well at TJ that is a different story but they did not have to compete against anyone other then APS MS kids for admission.

The allocation by MS is a recent change to the admissions process. Prior to that, kids were all competing against each other and APS had a max # of admissions. They weren’t evaluated separately. They didn’t always have the max # each year, it depended on the applicants.

The PP point was your kids maybe were prepared by APS standard in MS (and you enriched in elementary which I suspect was a larger part), they just had to compete against other APS MS students for the APS TJ slots. So you really don’t know if the preparation was really that good or just TJ is good at leveling from a diverse income class (which I’m sure they are). Fewer parents enrich in APS at all; that’s why all the AOPS etc are not in Arlington, so you had little competition. APS parents are known as more chill, more sports focused that Fairfax where you have TJ prep academies like Sunshine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am the poster whose kids went to TJ. My point is APS did give my kids a solid MS experience, otherwise they wouldn’t have made the TJ cut -the elementary experience was not bad -but we did supplement because our kids were math oriented and we could afford to give them a little extra, not a lot, though, but enough they got into higher level classes in middle school. So, not a bad APS experience. Quite honestly, I felt that elementary was more about the social aspect of growing up than about a “rigorous academic” experience. I am glad we didn’t push them early in life, except support the areas they liked. Things seem more competitive now, though, good luck to all of you.

Arlington has a certain number of seats and those seats are filled by kids from Arlington MS. Your kids were competing with other Arlington kids, not FCPS or Loudoun MS kids. If they did well at TJ that is a different story but they did not have to compete against anyone other then APS MS kids for admission.

The allocation by MS is a recent change to the admissions process. Prior to that, kids were all competing against each other and APS had a max # of admissions. They weren’t evaluated separately. They didn’t always have the max # each year, it depended on the applicants.

The PP point was your kids maybe were prepared by APS standard in MS (and you enriched in elementary which I suspect was a larger part), they just had to compete against other APS MS students for the APS TJ slots. So you really don’t know if the preparation was really that good or just TJ is good at leveling from a diverse income class (which I’m sure they are). Fewer parents enrich in APS at all; that’s why all the AOPS etc are not in Arlington, so you had little competition. APS parents are known as more chill, more sports focused that Fairfax where you have TJ prep academies like Sunshine.

But it sounds like the PPs kids did well at TJ so maybe they were prepared after all

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am the poster whose kids went to TJ. My point is APS did give my kids a solid MS experience, otherwise they wouldn’t have made the TJ cut -the elementary experience was not bad -but we did supplement because our kids were math oriented and we could afford to give them a little extra, not a lot, though, but enough they got into higher level classes in middle school. So, not a bad APS experience. Quite honestly, I felt that elementary was more about the social aspect of growing up than about a “rigorous academic” experience. I am glad we didn’t push them early in life, except support the areas they liked. Things seem more competitive now, though, good luck to all of you.

Arlington has a certain number of seats and those seats are filled by kids from Arlington MS. Your kids were competing with other Arlington kids, not FCPS or Loudoun MS kids. If they did well at TJ that is a different story but they did not have to compete against anyone other then APS MS kids for admission.

The allocation by MS is a recent change to the admissions process. Prior to that, kids were all competing against each other and APS had a max # of admissions. They weren’t evaluated separately. They didn’t always have the max # each year, it depended on the applicants.

The PP point was your kids maybe were prepared by APS standard in MS (and you enriched in elementary which I suspect was a larger part), they just had to compete against other APS MS students for the APS TJ slots. So you really don’t know if the preparation was really that good or just TJ is good at leveling from a diverse income class (which I’m sure they are). Fewer parents enrich in APS at all; that’s why all the AOPS etc are not in Arlington, so you had little competition. APS parents are known as more chill, more sports focused that Fairfax where you have TJ prep academies like Sunshine.

Thank you for getting my point. Yes, not only did they do well at TJ but also got into top colleges. I do credit their MS experience for helping them to prepare. I must also clarify that the amount of enrichment we provided does not come close to what we heard other families did. We did not have a lot of disposable income at the time and did not see how having our kids do school every Saturday was good for their health. In elementary we focused a lot on building friendships. Could the elementary school have done more for them? Probably, but evidently their MS and HS results were good.

But it sounds like the PPs kids did well at TJ so maybe they were prepared after all

[Anonymous]

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Oops, inserted my comment in the wrong place. This is in response to 11:11

Thank you for getting my point. Yes, not only did they do well at TJ but also got into top colleges. I do credit their MS experience for helping them to prepare. I must also clarify that the amount of enrichment we provided does not come close to what we heard other families did. We did not have a lot of disposable income at the time and did not see how having our kids do school every Saturday was good for their health. In elementary we focused a lot on building friendships. Could the elementary school have done more for them? Probably, but evidently their MS and HS results were good.