GT/AAP school vs your home school - I love our home school

[Anonymous]

My dd is just in K, but I really like our home school a lot. So I have mixed feelings about GT/AAP. If she was thought worthy of that, we would have to move her to the GT center which is a different school with lower overall test scores. And plus I love our home school. What have people done in this situation? Is there still teaching to more advanced students available in the regular school - assuming that she is advanced? Like if her math or reading was at a higher level, I am assuming she could stay at her same school and possibly be in a more advanced class?

[Anonymous]

Seriously?! You're worried about this now? This should be a bridge you cross if and when you come to it. Otherwise, you're anxious over nothing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My dd is just in K, but I really like our home school a lot. So I have mixed feelings about GT/AAP. If she was thought worthy of that, we would have to move her to the GT center which is a different school with lower overall test scores. And plus I love our home school. What have people done in this situation? Is there still teaching to more advanced students available in the regular school - assuming that she is advanced? Like if her math or reading was at a higher level, I am assuming she could stay at her same school and possibly be in a more advanced class?

AAP center got lower test scores than home base school? That's very unusual.

I and my kids too loved the home base school, but ended up sending kids to GT center.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I and my kids too loved the home base school, but ended up sending kids to GT center.

Same here. But we didn't start thinking about it until 2nd grade - certainly not Kindergarten.

[Anonymous]

Op here, I'm not exactly worried about it. I just keep thinking my dd will be at her school for K-6, then every now and then I think - well what about the whole GT thing. It is pretty hyped here in Fairfax County you know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op here, I'm not exactly worried about it. I just keep thinking my dd will be at her school for K-6, then every now and then I think - well what about the whole GT thing. It is pretty hyped here in Fairfax County you know.

If you can get accepted into AAP you can defer attending the Center during elementary and then start with middle school. We know one parent who decided to do this as their DC is at a very good base school.

[Anonymous]

Don't know what your base and AAP schools are -- mine are the same, so we could be in the same school. At any rate, our AART seems to be really involved (but stretched too thin). They do have a lot of Level 2 and Level 3 services at our base school. So even if your child wasn't at the AAP, s/he could receive some advanced instruction including advanced math in 4th -6th (at some base schools --- not all).

There are various advanced services offered to kids who do not go to centers.

[Anonymous]

OP, you can always try it and if you don't like it, pull her and send her back to her base school.

[Anonymous]

We sent our child to the AAP School and we are very glad that we did. Actually, I think that our child's base school may have better teachers but the AAP school definitely has a more eclectic ("nerdy..."), culturally and ethnically diverse group of students. Also since there are more students (4 home room classes at our child's school) our child's classmates changes each year. At a base school your child will likely be with the same students each year. This good for developing close friendships I imagine but also can get your child pigeonholed as the the math wiz, the quiet one, class cutup, etc. Since our child’s classmates changes a bit each year there is perhaps a bit less of a chance for being stereotyped in that way or becoming stuck in one clique or another.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We sent our child to the AAP School and we are very glad that we did. Actually, I think that our child's base school may have better teachers but the AAP school definitely has a more eclectic ("nerdy..."), culturally and ethnically diverse group of students. Also since there are more students (4 home room classes at our child's school) our child's classmates changes each year. At a base school your child will likely be with the same students each year. This good for developing close friendships I imagine but also can get your child pigeonholed as the the math wiz, the quiet one, class cutup, etc. Since our child’s classmates changes a bit each year there is perhaps a bit less of a chance for being stereotyped in that way or becoming stuck in one clique or another.

DC may go to the same school. Sounds similar. There were some "mean girls" in the class last year, but now they've been dispersed to different classes, so yes, I can see the benefits of changing the class composition each year, but not all the AAP centers have 4 classes in the same grade do they?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We sent our child to the AAP School and we are very glad that we did. Actually, I think that our child's base school may have better teachers but the AAP school definitely has a more eclectic ("nerdy..."), culturally and ethnically diverse group of students. Also since there are more students (4 home room classes at our child's school) our child's classmates changes each year. At a base school your child will likely be with the same students each year. This good for developing close friendships I imagine but also can get your child pigeonholed as the the math wiz, the quiet one, class cutup, etc. Since our child’s classmates changes a bit each year there is perhaps a bit less of a chance for being stereotyped in that way or becoming stuck in one clique or another.

DC may go to the same school. Sounds similar. There were some "mean girls" in the class last year, but now they've been dispersed to different classes, so yes, I can see the benefits of changing the class composition each year, but not all the AAP centers have 4 classes in the same grade do they?

My kids 3rd grade has three classes at the AAP center.