Better to Defer AAP one year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I understand that in odd grades students learn new things, while in even grades kids hone skills learned in the previous year. If you have a borderline student (eg, lowest CoGAT among AAP accepted peers ), would it be better to defer AAP for a year, or will the leap be too much to go from GE/immersion 3rd to AAP 4th grade?

You either have a kid who belongs in AAP or you don't. If you have to put this much thought into gaming your child's start, perhaps you need to rethink.

Don't know where you heard the nonsense about odd and even years. AAP kids learn new skills every year.

+1 ...the amount they learn in fourth grade is massive.

They learn a "massive" amount about Virginia history and very little else. I don't think 4th is an important formative year.

Really? Our science curriculum is massive and the kids complete 5th grade math.

Maybe it was school or teacher specific, but when DC was in 4th there was very little science. There was no science SOL[u] and the teacher spent most of her time on VA history. They did do 5th grade math, but that was just going into more detail on stuff they did in 4th.

Whether there is a science SOL isn't the determiner as to whether there is a lot of substance to science in a particular year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Start in 3rd along with most of the other children. It's better for social reasons and math progress.

From a longtime AAP parent (child started in third and did it all the way through MS): This post is right. It's socially harder and harder with each passing year to change schools, so go ahead and do it in third grade. And yes, it helps with math progression so your child is on the same page as the rest of the class. Our DD's elementary AAP center had one or two kids who came in new each year, and while they did fine both academically and socially, I know from talking with their parents that they all wished they had started AAP in third and just gone all the way through, rather than waiting. Bear in mind, that's just some parents, at one center, but it's what I found.

As for the conflict in above posts about "fourth grade is nothing but history" or "no, it's not" -- we found that each grade had plenty of every subject.

Not sure where the "odd and even year" myth came from, OP. That's a new one to me. It's just not so; please don't give it any credence and if you know parents who go around saying that -- please tell them to ask an elementary AAP teacher who can let them know this is just pure myth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Start in 3rd along with most of the other children. It's better for social reasons and math progress.

From a longtime AAP parent (child started in third and did it all the way through MS): This post is right. It's socially harder and harder with each passing year to change schools, so go ahead and do it in third grade. And yes, it helps with math progression so your child is on the same page as the rest of the class. Our DD's elementary AAP center had one or two kids who came in new each year, and while they did fine both academically and socially, I know from talking with their parents that they all wished they had started AAP in third and just gone all the way through, rather than waiting. Bear in mind, that's just some parents, at one center, but it's what I found.

As for the conflict in above posts about "fourth grade is nothing but history" or "no, it's not" -- we found that each grade had plenty of every subject.

Not sure where the "odd and even year" myth came from, OP. That's a new one to me. It's just not so; please don't give it any credence and if you know parents who go around saying that -- please tell them to ask an elementary AAP teacher who can let them know this is just pure myth.[/quote]


That is one crazy myth.
Debunk it and find the curriculum on the county's website: http://www.fcps.edu/is/pos/es.shtml

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Start in 3rd along with most of the other children. It's better for social reasons and math progress.

From a longtime AAP parent (child started in third and did it all the way through MS): This post is right. It's socially harder and harder with each passing year to change schools, so go ahead and do it in third grade. And yes, it helps with math progression so your child is on the same page as the rest of the class. Our DD's elementary AAP center had one or two kids who came in new each year, and while they did fine both academically and socially, I know from talking with their parents that they all wished they had started AAP in third and just gone all the way through, rather than waiting. Bear in mind, that's just some parents, at one center, but it's what I found.

As for the conflict in above posts about "fourth grade is nothing but history" or "no, it's not" -- we found that each grade had plenty of every subject.

Not sure where the "odd and even year" myth came from, OP. That's a new one to me. It's just not so; please don't give it any credence and if you know parents who go around saying that -- please tell them to ask an elementary AAP teacher who can let them know this is just pure myth.

If DS gets into AAP our thought was to do LLIV until his younger sister gets in (or see if she gets in) and then move them both to the center. DS would be entering 5th as they are 2 yrs apart. Most kids go to the center but some do stay for LLIV. We thought this would be the best option. Based on your advice it seems my son wouldn't be behind but would lose out on a peer group. Would your advice stand?

Also, what if we stayed LLIV through 6th, any thoughts on how it would affect DS in terms of making AAP friends in 7th and 8th? Anyone done this? Not done center in ES. How did your AAP child integrate with other AAP kids in MS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I understand that in odd grades students learn new things, while in even grades kids hone skills learned in the previous year. If you have a borderline student (eg, lowest CoGAT among AAP accepted peers ), would it be better to defer AAP for a year, or will the leap be too much to go from GE/immersion 3rd to AAP 4th grade?

You either have a kid who belongs in AAP or you don't. If you have to put this much thought into gaming your child's start, perhaps you need to rethink.

Don't know where you heard the nonsense about odd and even years. AAP kids learn new skills every year.

+1 ...the amount they learn in fourth grade is massive.

They learn a "massive" amount about Virginia history and very little else. I don't think 4th is an important formative year.

Really? Our science curriculum is massive and the kids complete 5th grade math.

Maybe it was school or teacher specific, but when DC was in 4th there was very little science. There was no science SOL[u] and the teacher spent most of her time on VA history. They did do 5th grade math, but that was just going into more detail on stuff they did in 4th.

Whether there is a science SOL isn't the determiner as to whether there is a lot of substance to science in a particular year.

I am willing to bet if they had a science SOL that year she would have spent more time on science.