Struggling with local vs. center

[Anonymous]

We are struggling with whether to keep our child in the base school or go to the center. We had been leaning toward staying but the cohort is small and the program is brand new, so we are a little concerned there won't be a peer group. The principal said they are doing the cluster model. Reasons we were leaning toward staying is that our school has immersion, our child is very happy there, and we have other kids in the school. Our DC is not complaining that she is bored currently.

[Anonymous]

If your base is high SES, or even mid SES, your child will have a peer group even in the cluster model. Our base/center is in the Woodson pyramid and my kids had academic peers in both the AAP class and gen ed. When they opened advanced math to more kids there were a ton of gen ed kids who easily made it and did the work just fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If your base is high SES, or even mid SES, your child will have a peer group even in the cluster model. Our base/center is in the Woodson pyramid and my kids had academic peers in both the AAP class and gen ed. When they opened advanced math to more kids there were a ton of gen ed kids who easily made it and did the work just fine.

OP - thanks this is helpful information. I was honestly surprised at some of the kids who were not found eligible so this is a really good point. The peer group is still strong and I think immersion attracts people who are academically inclined and push that with their kids.

[Anonymous]

What language is your child participating in? We were at Fox Mill with Japanese and no LLIV, it came later. We chose immersion over LIV because we thought early exposure to a language like Japanese was valuable and the school had a strong advanced math program. We also knew we could defer until he went to Carson for MS. That way he could complete 2 years of foreign language and participate in the AAP classes. At the time, Carson did not allow 2 years of any other language except for the Japanese Immersion kids.

If my kid was in Spanish or French we would have considered the move because those languages are more available at MS and HS.

We also asked our child for his thoughts. He might have been in 3rd grade but it is his education. If he didn’t seem to be getting much out of the Japanese or was having social issues and wanted to move we would have considered that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What language is your child participating in? We were at Fox Mill with Japanese and no LLIV, it came later. We chose immersion over LIV because we thought early exposure to a language like Japanese was valuable and the school had a strong advanced math program. We also knew we could defer until he went to Carson for MS. That way he could complete 2 years of foreign language and participate in the AAP classes. At the time, Carson did not allow 2 years of any other language except for the Japanese Immersion kids.

If my kid was in Spanish or French we would have considered the move because those languages are more available at MS and HS.

We also asked our child for his thoughts. He might have been in 3rd grade but it is his education. If he didn’t seem to be getting much out of the Japanese or was having social issues and wanted to move we would have considered that.

She's in Spanish.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What language is your child participating in? We were at Fox Mill with Japanese and no LLIV, it came later. We chose immersion over LIV because we thought early exposure to a language like Japanese was valuable and the school had a strong advanced math program. We also knew we could defer until he went to Carson for MS. That way he could complete 2 years of foreign language and participate in the AAP classes. At the time, Carson did not allow 2 years of any other language except for the Japanese Immersion kids.

If my kid was in Spanish or French we would have considered the move because those languages are more available at MS and HS.

We also asked our child for his thoughts. He might have been in 3rd grade but it is his education. If he didn’t seem to be getting much out of the Japanese or was having social issues and wanted to move we would have considered that.

She's in Spanish.

DS moved into AAP in MS after staying in LI with no issues. I would stay if her school offers Advanced Math and she is happy. The kids in LI programs tend to have involved parents and the classes can be closer to a LIV class as it is. The main area of acceleration is in math, so focus there. We would have considered moving more if he had been in Spanish or French but we really liked the Japanese and he was happy at the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are struggling with whether to keep our child in the base school or go to the center. We had been leaning toward staying but the cohort is small and the program is brand new, so we are a little concerned there won't be a peer group. The principal said they are doing the cluster model. Reasons we were leaning toward staying is that our school has immersion, our child is very happy there, and we have other kids in the school. Our DC is not complaining that she is bored currently.

I could have written this. My current thinking is that if it’s not broken, don’t fix it. Immersion has so many benefits. I might feel differently if it were possible to re-enter immersion if the center doesn’t turn out to be a good fit, but that’s just not the situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are struggling with whether to keep our child in the base school or go to the center. We had been leaning toward staying but the cohort is small and the program is brand new, so we are a little concerned there won't be a peer group. The principal said they are doing the cluster model. Reasons we were leaning toward staying is that our school has immersion, our child is very happy there, and we have other kids in the school. Our DC is not complaining that she is bored currently.

I could have written this. My current thinking is that if it’s not broken, don’t fix it. Immersion has so many benefits. I might feel differently if it were possible to re-enter immersion if the center doesn’t turn out to be a good fit, but that’s just not the situation.

Op here. This is how we are leaning. The fact that leaving immersion means forgoing the opportunity to go back is something I hadn't really thought about (but yes, it is obvious!).

[Anonymous]

Whatever you do, keep your kids together.
- a mom who has kids in different schools

[Anonymous]

we have other kids in the school.

This is the reason to stay. Keep siblings together.

[Anonymous]

Can those who say to keep siblings together elaborate? Are there non-obvious reasons why? We like our home school, but the center school was really impressive. It seems kid would have friends at center school and also be able to continue after-school activities with kids from home school. The only major drawback is younger kid, who will not qualify for AAP, actively relies on older kid for help. I hate the idea of splitting them up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can those who say to keep siblings together elaborate? Are there non-obvious reasons why? We like our home school, but the center school was really impressive. It seems kid would have friends at center school and also be able to continue after-school activities with kids from home school. The only major drawback is younger kid, who will not qualify for AAP, actively relies on older kid for help. I hate the idea of splitting them up.

May I ask what was so impressive?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can those who say to keep siblings together elaborate? Are there non-obvious reasons why? We like our home school, but the center school was really impressive. It seems kid would have friends at center school and also be able to continue after-school activities with kids from home school. The only major drawback is younger kid, who will not qualify for AAP, actively relies on older kid for help. I hate the idea of splitting them up.

I can only speak for myself, but we have one kid who was found eligible for AAP full-time and one with SN who struggles academically. There is already enough of a dynamic of the AAP kid having things come easy to them compared to their sibling. I think sending AAP kid to the center while other child stays at the base could be damaging for both kids emotionally. Also, we are embedded in the community at the base school with friends where both kids are close with them, older child walks younger SN sibling to classroom, etc. I don't want to deprive the older one of an opportunity but I do think their sibling relationship is worth more in the long run than what I perceive to be a marginal difference between the center and local level IV.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can those who say to keep siblings together elaborate? Are there non-obvious reasons why? We like our home school, but the center school was really impressive. It seems kid would have friends at center school and also be able to continue after-school activities with kids from home school. The only major drawback is younger kid, who will not qualify for AAP, actively relies on older kid for help. I hate the idea of splitting them up.

I have the opposite view. If you kind of feel the younger one is less likely to make it to AAP, it is better to separate them to different schools. If they are in the same school, they will talk about all the teachers they have, curriculum, projects, classwork etc. And they will compare their grades, and feedback from the teachers will be different. The younger one will know, and will get hurt if get compared directly that way. If they are in different schools, everything is different anyway, no direct comparison. It triggers less sibling rivalry.

[Anonymous]

Separate schools will make your life more complicated and divide the investment/attention/energy you have to give to the schools. In our case it also led to some resentment between siblings. Looking back, not worth it. They all end up in the same place in 7th grade.