Hill Middle Schools

[Anonymous]

Yes!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We don't give a hoot about space and yards. All we want is our happy, walkable, neighborly row house life on the Hill, thanks. We'll suffer for it. We'll pay tutors, we'll commute to schools, we'll fill in middle school rigor gaps ourselves.

So you're happy, but what about your kids? How are they happy if they have to do so much supplementing after already being in school all day?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We don't give a hoot about space and yards. All we want is our happy, walkable, neighborly row house life on the Hill, thanks. We'll suffer for it. We'll pay tutors, we'll commute to schools, we'll fill in middle school rigor gaps ourselves.

So you're happy, but what about your kids? How are they happy if they have to do so much supplementing after already being in school all day?

Supplementing and having to drive your kids to extracurriculars and sports sucks up a lot of time when the school doesn’t meet these needs. Also the neighborhood kids disperse to different schools and friends in elementary are no longer friends in the teenage years when not together at school.

I would argue that the burbs where all the kids go to the same school K-12 and majority are involved in after school activities promotes more cohesive neighborhood friends.

PP isn’t thinking of her kids but herself. Also as your kid gets older, you and they will want more space. Being in a row house with 2 young kids is totally different ballgame than being in a small row house with 2 big teenagers, not to mention having friends over.

[Anonymous]

Serious question. Why are these people who think “the burbs” are so great spending time on a forum about DC schools? Why don’t they instead comment on forums about schools in Manassas or Bowie or wherever else counts as “the burbs.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Serious question. Why are these people who think “the burbs” are so great spending time on a forum about DC schools? Why don’t they instead comment on forums about schools in Manassas or Bowie or wherever else counts as “the burbs.”

Serious question. So you don’t understand why people who live in DC and/or on the hill are commenting on DC and/or hill schools and comparing it to options in the burbs? Maybe because that’s the only options some families have. Not everyone can afford private.

[Anonymous]

We get it, there are many good public middle schools in the burbs, and a few great ones. But we live on the Hill and like it that way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We don't give a hoot about space and yards. All we want is our happy, walkable, neighborly row house life on the Hill, thanks. We'll suffer for it. We'll pay tutors, we'll commute to schools, we'll fill in middle school rigor gaps ourselves.

So you're happy, but what about your kids? How are they happy if they have to do so much supplementing after already being in school all day?

Supplementing and having to drive your kids to extracurriculars and sports sucks up a lot of time when the school doesn’t meet these needs. Also the neighborhood kids disperse to different schools and friends in elementary are no longer friends in the teenage years when not together at school.

I would argue that the burbs where all the kids go to the same school K-12 and majority are involved in after school activities promotes more cohesive neighborhood friends.

PP isn’t thinking of her kids but herself. Also as your kid gets older, you and they will want more space. Being in a row house with 2 young kids is totally different ballgame than being in a small row house with 2 big teenagers, not to mention having friends over.

It really depends on the layout of the house. We're in one of the many Hill homes that have the basement set up as an in-law suite, and it's been perfect as a separate teenage zone. Better than the suburban house I grew up in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We don't give a hoot about space and yards. All we want is our happy, walkable, neighborly row house life on the Hill, thanks. We'll suffer for it. We'll pay tutors, we'll commute to schools, we'll fill in middle school rigor gaps ourselves.

So you're happy, but what about your kids? How are they happy if they have to do so much supplementing after already being in school all day?

Supplementing and having to drive your kids to extracurriculars and sports sucks up a lot of time when the school doesn’t meet these needs. Also the neighborhood kids disperse to different schools and friends in elementary are no longer friends in the teenage years when not together at school.

I would argue that the burbs where all the kids go to the same school K-12 and majority are involved in after school activities promotes more cohesive neighborhood friends.

PP isn’t thinking of her kids but herself. Also as your kid gets older, you and they will want more space. Being in a row house with 2 young kids is totally different ballgame than being in a small row house with 2 big teenagers, not to mention having friends over.

It really depends on the layout of the house. We're in one of the many Hill homes that have the basement set up as an in-law suite, and it's been perfect as a separate teenage zone. Better than the suburban house I grew up in.

+1

We have a nice open finished basement in our row home as do all of their friends

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We don't give a hoot about space and yards. All we want is our happy, walkable, neighborly row house life on the Hill, thanks. We'll suffer for it. We'll pay tutors, we'll commute to schools, we'll fill in middle school rigor gaps ourselves.

So you're happy, but what about your kids? How are they happy if they have to do so much supplementing after already being in school all day?

Supplementing and having to drive your kids to extracurriculars and sports sucks up a lot of time when the school doesn’t meet these needs. Also the neighborhood kids disperse to different schools and friends in elementary are no longer friends in the teenage years when not together at school.

I would argue that the burbs where all the kids go to the same school K-12 and majority are involved in after school activities promotes more cohesive neighborhood friends.

PP isn’t thinking of her kids but herself. Also as your kid gets older, you and they will want more space. Being in a row house with 2 young kids is totally different ballgame than being in a small row house with 2 big teenagers, not to mention having friends over.

This poster is hilarious. I have raised three teenagers on Capitol Hill and they are super connected and proud of where they come from. You will scoff, but they come back from college after comparing notes on how other kids were brought up and literally thank us for raising them here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We don't give a hoot about space and yards. All we want is our happy, walkable, neighborly row house life on the Hill, thanks. We'll suffer for it. We'll pay tutors, we'll commute to schools, we'll fill in middle school rigor gaps ourselves.

So you're happy, but what about your kids? How are they happy if they have to do so much supplementing after already being in school all day?

Supplementing and having to drive your kids to extracurriculars and sports sucks up a lot of time when the school doesn’t meet these needs. Also the neighborhood kids disperse to different schools and friends in elementary are no longer friends in the teenage years when not together at school.

I would argue that the burbs where all the kids go to the same school K-12 and majority are involved in after school activities promotes more cohesive neighborhood friends.

PP isn’t thinking of her kids but herself. Also as your kid gets older, you and they will want more space. Being in a row house with 2 young kids is totally different ballgame than being in a small row house with 2 big teenagers, not to mention having friends over.

I obviously have a biased sample because I live on the Hill, but I don't know any teenagers -- especially those pre-driving age -- who wouldn't rather live in the city than the burbs.

[Anonymous]

We can't ignore the research that urban setting is very mental health and independence friendly for teens. They can walk, hop on bus and metro, catch uber to go to school, sports, friends, events, libraries, internships, shadowing, jobs, museums, concerts etc and learn street savvy while coming back home every day and having parents to guide, well before they are 18 and suddenly in college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We can't ignore the research that urban setting is very mental health and independence friendly for teens. They can walk, hop on bus and metro, catch uber to go to school, sports, friends, events, libraries, internships, shadowing, jobs, museums, concerts etc and learn street savvy while coming back home every day and having parents to guide, well before they are 18 and suddenly in college.

Definitely agree with you, but Stuart Hobson is just a bad school period. You can live on the Hill and go elsewhere. The amount of money you pay for tutors is likely close to the cost of a smaller school private tuition.

I hate to say it, but parents who have the means to go elsewhere but send their kids to SH or EH are always judged by others. Sorry not sorry it’s true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s not that simple. Privates cost a bomb, even with fi aid, and giving up the community where you’ve lived for a long time is a huge deal. Plus DCPS seems to give preferential treatment in admissions for Walls and Banneker to families who stick with them for middle school.

Dcps does not give preferential treatment to poor performing middle schools such as Eliot Hine or Stuart Hobson.

[Anonymous]

Nonsense. Families of high-performing 8th graders who stuck with DCPS for middle school have always done very well in admission to Walls, Banneker and Ellington. The trend is readily apparent to anybody who's been paying attention to who gets in where for high school for many years, like we have.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nonsense. Families of high-performing 8th graders who stuck with DCPS for middle school have always done very well in admission to Walls, Banneker and Ellington. The trend is readily apparent to anybody who's been paying attention to who gets in where for high school for many years, like we have.

Except that is nonsense. There is an inherent oxymoron in your statement. High performing kids don’t go to failing schools.