Struggling with local vs. center

[Anonymous]

When in doubt, always go to Center first and then return to base if you don't like the Center.

[Anonymous]

May I ask what was so impressive?

Some kids spoke about their experiences in front of all the visiting kids and parents. I'm sure they were selected because they're articulate and not shy, but they did well. The work samples in the 3rd grade classroom were impressive as compared to what I see in kid's 2nd grade room. Pleasure reading books in the classroom were above grade level. Teachers had been teaching AAP for a long time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
May I ask what was so impressive?

Some kids spoke about their experiences in front of all the visiting kids and parents. I'm sure they were selected because they're articulate and not shy, but they did well. The work samples in the 3rd grade classroom were impressive as compared to what I see in kid's 2nd grade room. Pleasure reading books in the classroom were above grade level. Teachers had been teaching AAP for a long time.


We went to our local orientation today and the same thing. Kids spoke about work and the AAP team has been there for a long time. I guess it depends.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When in doubt, always go to Center first and then return to base if you don't like the Center.

You can't return to language immersion if you leave base.

[Anonymous]

The key here is that once you leave an immersion program, you can’t return. If it’s going pretty well for your child there, I’d be hesitant to leave.

[Anonymous]

I don’t think there is a wrong decision. It just depends which you value more, the immersion program or the more focused AAP experience. As many have said, it’s not that different.

I may be way off, but it sounds like you’re talking about Laurel Ridge/White Oaks. I have experience with AAP at White Oaks, and it’s a great program. That’s not to say it’s worth going in your situation.

Good luck!

[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.

The vast majority of benefits of AAP is cohort of children yours will be with. You already have a similar vein of that in immersion, so the difference is going to be rather negligible. Immersion (some programs) are competitive and attracts like-minded type-A parents who are educational focused to know about it and apply ahead of time. If your child is doing well, I wouldn't move them.

[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.

The vast majority of benefits of AAP is cohort of children yours will be with. You already have a similar vein of that in immersion, so the difference is going to be rather negligible. Immersion (some programs) are competitive and attracts like-minded type-A parents who are educational focused to know about it and apply ahead of time. If your child is doing well, I wouldn't move them.

This. The immersion programs attract parents who are focused on language development or don't want their kids at their base school. You end up with involved parents who are focused on school and the kids tend to reflect that. I think the majority of the students accepted into AAP at our ES were in the LI program. Very few left for the center, the few who did were struggling socially. They struggled at the Center as well; they were not easy to get along with kids.

DS asked to move to the Center in 5th grade because math was boring and he wanted faster math. We told him that the curriculum for Advanced Math, that he was in, was the same at the base school as the Center so he decided to stay at the base school. He moved into AAP in MS with no issues, straight As in all the AAP subjects and Algebra 1 H. He was not hindered by not going to the Center.

[Anonymous]

If Local has Immersion + AAP, Local is a no brainer. You would get both the standard subject challenges along with the challenge of learning a foreign language. And all our AAP students want extra challenges, right?

In OP's case with the sibling at base too, it's a double no brainer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Similar situation here, except for us it was younger DS who was Center eligible. We didn’t like the message that it sent to either of our kids if we sent one to Center. Younger DS did local level iv, older DS did gen ed, and now both are in HS, and doing great.

This was the right decision for our family. Your decision may be different, and that’s okay too.