Great school for active boy?
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Anonymous
| How old will your son be when he starts K? If he's a summer birthday, have you considered waiting a year? Even then, you'll probably want to look for a school that understands that kids need to be active, but your child may be a little more ready to sit and focus for longer periods of time. I have 2 sons with summer birthday who were active, but not fidgety, as little kids. We waited a year to send them to K and feel it was absolutely the right thing. BTW, they went to Somerset, but I know the school has changed quite a bit (they're in college now), so I don't know what the experience would be like now. |
Anonymous
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NPS. Mostly because the teachers and administrators really "get" kids and understand and celebrate the needs of different children. I have a "fidgety" child and he has never been scolded for being so. Instead, his teachers appreciate that some kids just need to run around, touch things and be kids and encourage parents to appreciate this also. You won't see the kids doing many worksheets, instead, they do a lot of hands-on learning and educational games. The academics are top-notch and kids are allowed to learn at their own pace. There are two recesses every day plus PE 3xs a week.
St. Patrick's is similar in many ways. The main reason we chose NPS over StP's is that class size is smaller at NPS. The K classes are 12-15 kids per class vs. StP's where they are 20+. We felt like a bigger class size offers more distractions and our child would be more likely to focus and participate in a smaller setting. However, I'd encourage you to take a look at StP's too as we know many happy active boys there also. |
Anonymous
Well, it's little bit of a hike for you, but Seneca Academy is likely a good fit. My son sounds the same as yours, and has done really well there. Lots of outdoors time, hands on learning, two recesses a day. Not just sitting at desks. There is no traditional gym. It's a tiny school. But they go outside a lot. They were outside every day we had snow this winter, although it never was much snow. And they have a large room where they will hold indoor activities if they need to. |
Anonymous
Yes. But she said they had him tested. |
Anonymous
But once the kids are in 7th grade this type of boy becomes a problem at STA so unless you want to move schools multiple times this would not be a good fit. |
Anonymous
She did say she had him tested, but if you read the test comment in context, I don't believe that she was talking about being tested for ADHD, I believe it was referencing academic testing. |
Anonymous
| Not good for boys: Primary Day and Beauvoir. It's somewhat counterintuitive since they are big boys school feeders, but neither had the teachers or the environment to 'like' boys that are boys. |
Anonymous
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PP, you are hilarious.
I know nothing about Primary Day, but have seen several active boys in DC's Beauvoir class. All are thriving. If you knew more about Beauvoir, you would know how well play time is incorporated, including PE, recess and time in the new outdoor playground. I am surprised at how much the children move around in their classroom, too. Thanks for a good laugh this morning. |
Anonymous
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Beauvoir: During my DS's time the more rambunctious boys were usually pooled into the same class each year. I'm assuming most of them were preADHD or already diagnosed.
There were about three or four boys by themselves/not pooled just mixed into the other classrooms where their "behavior" really stood out and who were expelled after 2nd grade or middle of third grade (a couple of them were later diagnosed as ADD/ADHD). These boys weren't recommended for admission to STA and their parents were given feedback from the school that they should apply elsewhere for fourth grade. |
Anonymous
Hmm - we are at Norwood & there are plenty of active kids... |
Anonymous
I disagree -- walk through STA Upper School lunch or sit in on a class and you'll see many cheerfully active/boisterous students doing just fine. An all-boys school doesn't last 100+ years by NOT getting active boys. |
Anonymous
Many of my ds's friends are on add/adhd meds and have been since form b/5th grade. You can be an active/boisterous boy at STA as long as you can hunker down and handle the academics with at least a passing grade. There are some really overly active/boisterous guys who have issues focusing and it could be a result of a learning disability or undiagnosed attention issues. |
Anonymous
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I'm the PP above who said that I think distance is a huge consideration. I think that it's important to take the child's whole day into account, not just the time in school, when looking at level of activity. I think that when you do, you may find that public school is a better option.
I'm going to give you a comparison. Let's say you're considering St. Patrick's, a school that's known for lots of outdoor time, but also for an agonizing long carpool line. St. Pat's hours are 8:15 to 2:50. On a typical day you might need to leave your home, by car, at 7:45, to allow for 15 minutes of driving, and 15 minutes of carpool line. At the end of the day, the carpool line is longer, so let's imagine that you get home at 3:30, which is, frankly optimistic. So, on a typical day at St. Pats, your would be away from home for 465 minutes. Now, let's imagine the same day at Somerset. You leave at 7:45, and walk to school. You're there by 8 and let your child play on the playground for 50 minutes before school starts. At the end of the day, your child gets out at 3:05, they spend those 25 minutes ambling, walking on curbs, stopping to play with a friend and get home at 3:30. So, before you even figure in recess or PE, the Somerset child is 75 minutes ahead of the St. Pats child. Do you think they'll have 75 minutes more of outdoor time at St. Pats? I doubt it. When I toured St. Pats, I seemed to remember the K and up kids had 2 30 minute recess and PE several days a week. Even assuming it's a PE day, and that the PE activity is one that involves a lot of movement (not a sure thing, there are plenty of times when PE means sitting in line for relay races, or taking turns watching and doing drills, or even sitting and discussing the rules of games), that means 90 minutes, and that's on the ideal day. Now, there's another thread hear that's a few years old that says that Somerset has 2 30 minute recesses in K. Now, whether that's still true, and whether it goes past K, I don't know, but I do know that the kids have some recess every day (because I live close by and have seen the kids playing outside), and that they have some PE (because it's on their website, although not how much. Even a single 20 minute recess on a no PE day would put them at 95 minutes which is ahead of St. Patrick's on a PE day, and I'd guess that Somerset has more than that. Now, there might be other reasons to pick St. Pats, but I think that local public schools have a huge advantage for active boys simply because of location, and a more reasonable length of the school day. I'd start my investigation there. |
Anonymous
| I don't think playing on the playground before/after school is a substitute for adequate recess/PE and movement throughout the school day. It's not just about how much exercise a kid gets in a day, more about getting their wiggles out, and that needs to be done throughout the day, not in one big chunk of time. Regardless, Somerset does not have 2 recesses at K. There is a 15-20 minute snack time outdoors (but they're also eating their snack, so that's not a true recess to me) and 30 minutes of recess before or after lunch. The snack is phased out in 1st grade. |
Anonymous
| Our elementary school is Somerset as well and while I have only heard great things about the school, I was worried that our active son would benefit from a smaller class size. Exactly the same concerns as OP, just don't want our son to be labeled "bad" or disruptive for needing to move or be more engaged by the teacher. I hear from neighbors that they "work movement into the lessons" and that sounds promising, and probably works for most kids. Our son is very active, really benefits from unstructured play a lot at this age, and needs direction during lesson time to stay on task. We chose NPS, where they have two K classes of 15 and one K class with 12. |