Feynman school
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Anonymous
How did you get this impression? |
Anonymous
Another NP here. I remember some of the boosterish Feynman posts of the past - and OP's post doesn't fit that mold. If this was the Feynman booster, it would have read something like this: "we visited and gosh those kids seem smart, but we liked it so much we're wondering if our 125 IQ DD will fit in." Or something similarly gushing along the lines of your basic Holton post. I get the impression the Feynman boosters, when they got a bad response here, were smart enough to learn to stop. (We don't have any connection to Feynman either.) |
Anonymous
| This is OP, I am no Feynman booster. I was just curious since we met someone that goes there. My "gifted" child is getting their education for free at the HGC that is why I was asking how it compared. I don't know much about Feynman, but from what I read it looks a little sketchy. |
Anonymous
I get that you're no booster. You're basically on here asking for someone to give you an admissions criteria that makes you feel like your kid could get in (even though you'll never apply.). You want to hear that you're getting for free what others are paying a lot of money for. Or preferably that you're getting something BETTER for free. If you really care enough, do your research. Book a tour and actually see what they get compared to what your school offers. Coming onto this forum to try to find proof that your public is better than Feynman isn't cool at all. Especially when you say it's "sketchy" when you obviously know nothing about the school. You need to go some other way to validate your choice. We almost sent a child there and thought very highly of the school. Others may disagree, but either way it makes sense to actually visit and research the school before coming to a conclusion. |
Anonymous
Not OP, but... do you go through life always thinking absolute worst of everybody you meet? How sad! |
Anonymous
| I am curious about the iq level and focus too. |
Anonymous
Whoever it was that said this clearly has not visited the school, much less talked to anyone there - teachers, parents, etc.. I just did and I have no horse in the race. The program looks great and has some great people. There was no discussion about IQ at all, not by anyone. There was no effort to hype anything up, not by anyone. People were passionate about teaching, learning and the things that the children were doing.
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Anonymous
| I've heard non-positive comments about this school. I know a student in K left in the middle of the school year and went to another private. Parents say it was a huge mistake to have believed in Feynman. |
Anonymous
I am interested in this school. Could you please talk a little more about non-positive comments? |
Anonymous
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My child is at Feynman in the K class - I know the family who left. Let's just say the school is not a perfect fit for everyone, and some students should be in a different program that would be better suited for their needs and priorities. The remaining class is happy to be there. I think the fact someone would come on to rejuvenate a dead thread with vague comments speaks volumes about them, not the school.
What would you like to know about the school? I have a second child I'm sending next year as well. |
Anonymous
Gotta love the drive-by (and utterly unnecessary) Holton bashing. Keepin' it classy folks! 
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Anonymous
Thanks for sharing. Can you talk a little bit about the kind of kids that would thrive and the kind of kids that may not fit? |
Anonymous
| Also, can you say how many children are in each grade there? How many teachers per grade? |
Anonymous
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Most children can do well there, but children who are a little bit more precocious/inquisitive/interested in learning will really thrive. I was worried before we started if it would be the right "fit" or not...and we have been really happy there. My child is right in the mix, and really has a peer group.
Many of the children there are the kids who will express boredom when not fully engaged. At the school - they seem to get engrossed in the learning - their questions of "why?" and "what if?" are encouraged, not treated as a disruption. The teachers are great at following their lead and letting the class explore some of those questions. They spend a fair amount of time doing STEM - conducting experiments, engaging in critical thinking and asking questions. They also have opportunities for creative outlets in Music, Drama/Movement and Art, and they spend a significant amount of time in the Fall participating in Destination Imagination. Even during play times, you'll find the kids creating a bit more complexity (on their own - no prompting). This morning during free play time, there was one group playing chess, someone making puppets, a few kids coloring, someone working on a math sheet, and a few building with magna tiles. In addition to recess, they have "brain breaks" every day, as well, so it breaks up the day nicely. Children are not expected to sit at a table all day - they seem to move a fair amount, and spend time working in groups either standing or on the floor, and moving around the classroom. Socially, it really isn't different from other schools...but somehow they seem to click better with each other than they might with children at other schools. My child often had trouble finding other children who liked doing the same things during recess at another school - but here, the other students find the same things fun and interesting and ask to join in to play. Some of the kids are climbing on the playground equipment or playing soccer, but other times, there are elaborate games they create. Because the classes are small, teachers have the ability to truly individualize education, so if a student is further behind others in a particular topic (my child had never done any formal math education and fine motor skills like writing are a challenge), so the curriculum will be paced to them. The teachers find ways to encourage them to learn without being held back (like scribing for the kids who really can't sustain the fine motor skills later in the day, using manipulatives to learn/demonstrate math skills). Most of the kids learn fairly quickly, so will pick up on new skills and master them with relative ease. They differentiate in all the subjects, so there is a group that is moving through the material a bit quicker and with a bit more depth, and a group that usually needs a little extra attention. They change the groups for every unit covered, and readjust based on the child's needs. I would say the school is not high-pressured at all or focused on pushing the kids to do/learn more than they are able, so if the goal is to send your child there and expect them to be solving complex math problems and pushed hard to do that - it won't happen. It just isn't a place that caters to parents wanting children to perform or show off or impress others. They don't give much in the way of homework (my child in K had no homework this year). I've seen amazing progress, and have really found the content fantastic. They really learn a lot about topics I would not expect them to master...they have learned about the water cycle in the past few weeks (and learned a song to help them understand). My child likes going to school - and school tends to run a little late every day because the kids like to stay and finish up what they are doing. There are a few children in the class that seem to have an innate ability - others just learn rapidly and are good at the complexities of applying concepts across different disciplines. So they learn about charts in math, and then in STEM they conduct experiments and use charts. They work on skills like 1:1 correspondence for counting and addition/subtraction while counting how many paperclips the bridges they built can support, and then determine which structure is the strongest. I think a child who struggles with processing or retaining information, or one who does not yet have any reading skills and is really struggling with those concepts (which is completely age-appropriate) might not thrive there. The teachers do not put any pressure on the children to read if they aren't ready, and they are patient working on the pre-reading skills and the pre-math skills, but the children may become acutely aware that the other children are mastering these tasks. We all know that you cannot MAKE a child read or do math before they are ready to learn those concepts...so if a parent is sending a child who isn't a quick learner there as a means of pressuring them to master the concepts (and riding the teachers to make their child learn/do more), they will find the school may not ideally be the right environment for the family. If your child loves to learn and be creative and asks questions or seems to really be quick on picking up things, or has a strong interest or skill in an area, then the school will likely be a great fit. |
Anonymous
| Thank you so much for sharing. We will definitely explore the school further. |