Supplementing a sub-par school

[Anonymous]

If your kid goes to a sub-par city school, in what ways do you supplement their education to help them excel in life?

[Anonymous]

Serious music lessons
Tons of museums
Spending more on travel
Making more effort to have summer camps be enriching (not necessarily academic)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Serious music lessons
Tons of museums
Spending more on travel
Making more effort to have summer camps be enriching (not necessarily academic)

+1

And we read books as a family kind of like book clubs. Everyone takes a turn once a month, picks a book and we discuss. We sometimes read them out loud together or when they were younger we read to them.

[Anonymous]

If you have those kinds of beliefs you should probably move.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If your kid goes to a sub-par city school, in what ways do you supplement their education to help them excel in life?

Supplementing is great but stops working in middle and high school. They actually need to go to schools with challenging classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you have those kinds of beliefs you should probably move.

What is wrong with the sentiment to supplement for things the school doesn’t provide?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you have those kinds of beliefs you should probably move.

What is wrong with the sentiment to supplement for things the school doesn’t provide?

If you believe the school is “sub par” and you need to do something to ensure your kid “excels,” my guess is you don’t understand your kid and the education system in DC. It’s fine to pursue a certain type of education for you kid; but those of you with fantasies of your kid abstractly “excelling” will not find what you are looking for in DCPS. You want a suburban school. It’s ok to admit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If your kid goes to a sub-par city school, in what ways do you supplement their education to help them excel in life?

What is "sub par" about your city school?

[Anonymous]

For us we just make sure the kid knows how to do homework well and on time. Content doesn’t matter as much. Kid has been very successful in secondary schooling and tests well.

Probably not what DCUM would expect.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your kid goes to a sub-par city school, in what ways do you supplement their education to help them excel in life?

Supplementing is great but stops working in middle and high school. They actually need to go to schools with challenging classes.

THIS. What are you going to do? Supplement every single subject (math, English, science, social studies, etc…) and have your kid basically waste all day at their subpar school and then come home to do the actual real work?

When are they going to fit anything else in? And good luck getting their buy in for above.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For us we just make sure the kid knows how to do homework well and on time. Content doesn’t matter as much. Kid has been very successful in secondary schooling and tests well.

Probably not what DCUM would expect.

Content absolutely matters. Without content and background knowledge, your kid is not going to get a good foundation when more complex things, critical thinking, and analysis are asked.

[Anonymous]

OP here. I cannot afford to move out of the urban school my kid is in: I ideally would like to like in a suburb with good schools but I can’t afford it.

Issues I’m running into include my kid getting good grades, but testing very portly in math in spite of high grades. There are a lot of social and behavioral issues with the kids at my daughter’s school. A lot of the values amongst the other students don’t match the values i try to teach at home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I cannot afford to move out of the urban school my kid is in: I ideally would like to like in a suburb with good schools but I can’t afford it.

Issues I’m running into include my kid getting good grades, but testing very portly in math in spite of high grades. There are a lot of social and behavioral issues with the kids at my daughter’s school. A lot of the values amongst the other students don’t match the values i try to teach at home.

I do not live in the DMV. I live in a nice town in a school district that is reasonably well regarded and safe but not a district that affluent people move to for the schools.

I have found peer values to be a big issue. Even in the honors classes, a lot of kids are not trying to do their best and are coasting. There is a lack of discipline regarding graded assignments needing to be turned in on time. And people aren't very ambitious about where they go to college. There is a lot of mediocrity here and a fair bit has rubbed off onto my kid. On the other hand, it was easier for him to get into our selective state flagship from this district. I supplemented with travel, a study abroad summer program, and Mathnasium throughout high school.

[Anonymous]

I would move to the suburbs, even if that means getting a 1 or 2 bedroom apartment. The madness of the lottery in enough to make me move away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I cannot afford to move out of the urban school my kid is in: I ideally would like to like in a suburb with good schools but I can’t afford it.

Issues I’m running into include my kid getting good grades, but testing very poorly in math in spite of high grades. There are a lot of social and behavioral issues with the kids at my daughter’s school. A lot of the values amongst the other students don’t match the values i try to teach at home.

For math: use Khan Academy each summer. First review the last year’s math, then do the “ready for” class for the next year’s math.

For behavior/values: join a church (or similar) whose values more closely align with your own. (Doesn’t have to be religious. I think a lot of families use sports for this one.)