Basis is sucking the energy out of my child

[Anonymous]

Why do you guys come here to rub it in that OP and his child are struggling? Jut not very nice of you.

Hang in there, OP. We've been there with BASIS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why do you guys come here to rub it in that OP and his child are struggling? Jut not very nice of you.

Hang in there, OP. We've been there with BASIS.

I think the question is always, if things are not going well, is the issue the school or the kid?

What some parents, and this OP, is saying is that the problem is the school. They claim there's no meaningful teaching going on and no support from teachers. Others are saying that isn't their experience, teaching and teachers have been strong, so it must be the kid.

At the end of the day the thing with Basis is that there are only two paths to take. You stay or you leave.

For us Basis is working well (though I will never use all caps for their name, which annoys me to no end) but I am open to the fact that it could change for our kids and family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have two kids at Basis (both in middle school).

One completes all of her homework during the school day with little effort. She’s been extremely happy this year (though there’s one class with teacher turnover that she complains about).

My other child stresses more about the workload, but still manages to spend a lot of time doing video games and watching TV each evening, plus there’s almost never homework on weekends.

Both kids have stellar grades.

The school is far from perfect, but OP’s posting does not resonate with our family.

This is my family's experience, too.

Everyone knows that kids who succeed at Basis need to be smart and motivated. What a lot of people don't seem to know is that the kids who tend to be fast workers will be much more successful than the equally bright kids who just tend to work a bit slower. Homework loads can range from 20 minutes/day(my kids) - 4 hours/day depending on your child's efficiency.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have two kids at Basis (both in middle school).

One completes all of her homework during the school day with little effort. She’s been extremely happy this year (though there’s one class with teacher turnover that she complains about).

My other child stresses more about the workload, but still manages to spend a lot of time doing video games and watching TV each evening, plus there’s almost never homework on weekends.

Both kids have stellar grades.

The school is far from perfect, but OP’s posting does not resonate with our family.

This is my family's experience, too.

Everyone knows that kids who succeed at Basis need to be smart and motivated. What a lot of people don't seem to know is that the kids who tend to be fast workers will be much more successful than the equally bright kids who just tend to work a bit slower. Homework loads can range from 20 minutes/day(my kids) - 4 hours/day depending on your child's efficiency.

Yes, I have an 8th grade kid at a Big3 school (Sidwell/GDS/NCS). The kids that succeed in my kid's class aren't the brightest kids but the ones that can slog through a LOT of work each and every night without a break----commonly 2-4 hours/day. AND do this with joy because if they're not enjoying it, the wheels will eventually come off. I have 3 kids of very similar intelligence but only one would thrive in this environment. She/he just puts his/her nose to the grindstone and cranks out work every night. It would slowly make the other 2 completely miserable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The work loads have been so crazy and there are teachers that don’t seem to be teaching. And why is there zero communication between parents and teachers? Having a hard time here.

I’ve logged in my phone on my kid’s teams account so I can keep tabs. I do know some kids from last year who were having a hard time & BASIS gave them a lot of support. I’m sure that’s much harder to do this year. I’m sorry!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The work loads have been so crazy and there are teachers that don’t seem to be teaching. And why is there zero communication between parents and teachers? Having a hard time here.

I’ve logged in my phone on my kid’s teams account so I can keep tabs. I do know some kids from last year who were having a hard time & BASIS gave them a lot of support. I’m sure that’s much harder to do this year. I’m sorry!

+1 to this; I've downloaded teams to my computer and my phone. So that is kind of annoying b/c I get all the alerts and returned assignments,etc. But on the other hand no room to complain that I don't know what is going on!

Wondering what grade PPs' kids are in? Mine is in 6th. This year of DL (so far) has been easier than 5th grade. Less homework b/c my kid gets everything done during "class." But this goes to a PP's point above that kids who do well at Basis are the ones who focus and knock the work out quickly - no procrastination. I have no doubt that I am very fortunate in that respect (wrt to my kid's ability to handle DL and the workload).

FWIW, I have heard Basis admins say several times during state-of-school virtual meetings that the workload during distance learning is only about 2/3 (or some such rough estimate) compared with the regular year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The work loads have been so crazy and there are teachers that don’t seem to be teaching. And why is there zero communication between parents and teachers? Having a hard time here.

I’ve logged in my phone on my kid’s teams account so I can keep tabs. I do know some kids from last year who were having a hard time & BASIS gave them a lot of support. I’m sure that’s much harder to do this year. I’m sorry!

+1 to this; I've downloaded teams to my computer and my phone. So that is kind of annoying b/c I get all the alerts and returned assignments,etc. But on the other hand no room to complain that I don't know what is going on!

Wondering what grade PPs' kids are in? Mine is in 6th. This year of DL (so far) has been easier than 5th grade. Less homework b/c my kid gets everything done during "class." But this goes to a PP's point above that kids who do well at Basis are the ones who focus and knock the work out quickly - no procrastination. I have no doubt that I am very fortunate in that respect (wrt to my kid's ability to handle DL and the workload).

FWIW, I have heard Basis admins say several times during state-of-school virtual meetings that the workload during distance learning is only about 2/3 (or some such rough estimate) compared with the regular year?

Yes, and that the kids coming in to school all finish their work during the day. I don’t think any kid or family having a hard time should feel any shame about that — this is all just hard.

[Anonymous]

My kid is in sixth and has a ton of work. We are also not happy about the work load and the poor communication from staff. My kid is going well in terms of grades but everything else is terrible. Hoping for some changes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid is in sixth and has a ton of work. We are also not happy about the work load and the poor communication from staff. My kid is going well in terms of grades but everything else is terrible. Hoping for some changes.

+1 I honestly think the best change will be when they can be back IN school. I take some solace in the fact that they shouldn’t be as far behind as many of the students at schools with lesser expectations and more staffing issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid is in sixth and has a ton of work. We are also not happy about the work load and the poor communication from staff. My kid is going well in terms of grades but everything else is terrible. Hoping for some changes.

My kid is in 7th. The workload seems to have gotten better since the beginning of the year. But as Basis always goes, the great teachers teach & the less-good teachers just give a bunch of online packets and assignments. My issue is that they don't grade the assignments in a timely manner. It's hard for parents to know how our kids are doing when nothing gets graded until the last few days of the grading period.

[Anonymous]

I feel you, OP. BASIS has a terrible vibe, especially toward kids that may need that extra push.

[Anonymous]

So many people I know left.

[Anonymous]

Lot of people love BASIS.

[Anonymous]

I think both the prior two posters are correct. Basis is definitely not for every kid, but it works really well for some kids. The main problem is DCPS' complete and utter lack of good middle schools - this results in a lot of parents signing their kids up for Basis when really they know it probably would not be a good fit. But they don't have any other options so they (understandably) do it anyway .. . . but then they are upset when it (somewhat predictably) doesn't work out.

[Anonymous]

You nailed it, PP. This is the problem. Looking at BASIS through rose-colored classes seldom helps. Parents get seduced by a gentle 5th grade experience, only to find that some kids are falling apart from stress come 6th or 7th grade. The other problem is that implementation of the curriculum is very uneven. There are weak teachers, poor coordination with teachers on the part of admins, too much uninspired busy work taken home. It's not a suburban GT program that's been around for decades.