HGC letters

[Anonymous]

My ADHD son is currently in HGC. He is a math/science kid. Although he is a higher than average reader/writer, he is slower at them than most kids in the program. The heavy amounts of reading and writing make homework a bit stressful for us. But he loves the program and the friends he has made. Homework is his only complaint.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am glad to hear a lot of different opinions and experiences with the HGCs. I guess when I spoke with that one mother who had her kids at PC HGC she gave only one opinion. Glad to hear other positive experiences like being able to communicate with the teacher, having a diverse student body in terms of disabilities and abilities, the need to not have perfect behavior or be dismissed, and having a workload that is not overwhelming for many children. Interesting how people have such different thoughts on the same program. I guess I'll need to take a wait and see approach and see what *my* family thinks. Thanks for all the feedback!

It is hard to read tone on these forums and maybe people are not trying to be as mean-spirited as it comes across. Maybe it's more about having strong feelings or being upset at something other than the posters themselves. Hope so anyway. We're all parents in this parenting thing together!

I have a current 4th grader at the Pine Crest center. Both 4th grader teachers are nice, fair and funny. They've worked together for a long time, and they are both very funny. My child has the so called "nice" teacher. I believe she said she prefers to be contacted by email regarding issues. She has always been very quick to email me back the same day. Homework is very manageable, math most nights, but homework free weekends.

Most project work is actually done at school for my child's class. However the week leading up to project due dates can get intense but the teachers are very big on teaching time and project management. This is probably the most valuable thing my child is getting from the program.

My social, out going, sporty kid has made some really great friends.

[Anonymous]

Homework free weekends? That's great! I wonder if Barnsley is like that too. Does anyone know?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am glad to hear a lot of different opinions and experiences with the HGCs. I guess when I spoke with that one mother who had her kids at PC HGC she gave only one opinion. Glad to hear other positive experiences like being able to communicate with the teacher, having a diverse student body in terms of disabilities and abilities, the need to not have perfect behavior or be dismissed, and having a workload that is not overwhelming for many children. Interesting how people have such different thoughts on the same program. I guess I'll need to take a wait and see approach and see what *my* family thinks. Thanks for all the feedback!

It is hard to read tone on these forums and maybe people are not trying to be as mean-spirited as it comes across. Maybe it's more about having strong feelings or being upset at something other than the posters themselves. Hope so anyway. We're all parents in this parenting thing together!

I have a current 4th grader at the Pine Crest center. Both 4th grader teachers are nice, fair and funny. They've worked together for a long time, and they are both very funny. My child has the so called "nice" teacher. I believe she said she prefers to be contacted by email regarding issues. She has always been very quick to email me back the same day. Homework is very manageable, math most nights, but homework free weekends.

Most project work is actually done at school for my child's class. However the week leading up to project due dates can get intense but the teachers are very big on teaching time and project management. This is probably the most valuable thing my child is getting from the program.

My social, out going, sporty kid has made some really great friends.

This is great to hear. My daughter is very excited about attending in the fall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My ADHD son is currently in HGC. He is a math/science kid. Although he is a higher than average reader/writer, he is slower at them than most kids in the program. The heavy amounts of reading and writing make homework a bit stressful for us. But he loves the program and the friends he has made. Homework is his only complaint.

Good to hear there are other 2e kids in the program. Your son sounds a lot like mine. Are accommodations made for for his ADHD? Glad to hear he overall likes the program and has made friends.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am glad to hear a lot of different opinions and experiences with the HGCs. I guess when I spoke with that one mother who had her kids at PC HGC she gave only one opinion. Glad to hear other positive experiences like being able to communicate with the teacher, having a diverse student body in terms of disabilities and abilities, the need to not have perfect behavior or be dismissed, and having a workload that is not overwhelming for many children. Interesting how people have such different thoughts on the same program. I guess I'll need to take a wait and see approach and see what *my* family thinks. Thanks for all the feedback!

It is hard to read tone on these forums and maybe people are not trying to be as mean-spirited as it comes across. Maybe it's more about having strong feelings or being upset at something other than the posters themselves. Hope so anyway. We're all parents in this parenting thing together!

I have a current 4th grader at the Pine Crest center. Both 4th grader teachers are nice, fair and funny. They've worked together for a long time, and they are both very funny. My child has the so called "nice" teacher. I believe she said she prefers to be contacted by email regarding issues. She has always been very quick to email me back the same day. Homework is very manageable, math most nights, but homework free weekends.

Most project work is actually done at school for my child's class. However the week leading up to project due dates can get intense but the teachers are very big on teaching time and project management. This is probably the most valuable thing my child is getting from the program.

My social, out going, sporty kid has made some really great friends.

Very glad to hear what you said about the teachers. Funny is always good. My son has a great sense of humor so that will be important to him. Also good to hear they are both nice and fair. My son is very into things being fair so that would work well for him. Glad at least one teacher is confirmed to email back! Nice that you have experienced a manageable amount of homework. Thanks for the input--it is helpful!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Homework free weekends? That's great! I wonder if Barnsley is like that too. Does anyone know?

My DC is in Barnsley HGC. For the most part, they don't have w/e HW. However, they do have projects that span weeks, and we try to have DC work on the project over the w/e so DC isn't trying to complete all of it during the week. It's about pacing yourself and not procrastinating. As others have stated, time management is a huge thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our principal seemed to know who got accepted last year.

Child's third grade teacher told us that not only do the schools get the list of accepted students, they get the scores for all students who applied, including those who were rejected or wait listed. She also said that the school sometimes has no idea why one student was selected and another wasn't. For example, she said there were two students who had identical checklists and scores were almost exactly the same and one got in and one rejected. School also advocated for another student to get in, he scored very well, and was rejected.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am so confused about whether to accept or decline this program. Dd is very outgoing and social. I heard that the kids in the program tends to be quiet and not into sports. She loves sports.

Not true, most kids there excel in multiple extra-cirrucular activities and sports
DD's friends also like computer games, go to movies etc lots of outgoing kids there.

[Anonymous]

"My DC is in Barnsley HGC. For the most part, they don't have w/e HW. However, they do have projects that span weeks, and we try to have DC work on the project over the w/e so DC isn't trying to complete all of it during the week. It's about pacing yourself and not procrastinating. As others have stated, time management is a huge thing."

Thanks for the answer! My DC will start at Barnsley in the Fall. DC has ADHD with some executive function issues-including disorganization and inattentiveness (has a 504). Do you happen to know if teachers help a child like this get organized, break large project into smaller tasks, manage time, etc, or is it expected that the child does it herself (or the parent).

[Anonymous]

Child's third grade teacher told us that not only do the schools get the list of accepted students, they get the scores for all students who applied, including those who were rejected or wait listed. She also said that the school sometimes has no idea why one student was selected and another wasn't. For example, she said there were two students who had identical checklists and scores were almost exactly the same and one got in and one rejected. School also advocated for another student to get in, he scored very well, and was rejected.

Could it be to balance the male/female ratio or add diversity to the class? Also I'm surprised 3rd grade teacher get every detail and that he/she would discuss it with a parent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Child's third grade teacher told us that not only do the schools get the list of accepted students, they get the scores for all students who applied, including those who were rejected or wait listed. She also said that the school sometimes has no idea why one student was selected and another wasn't. For example, she said there were two students who had identical checklists and scores were almost exactly the same and one got in and one rejected. School also advocated for another student to get in, he scored very well, and was rejected.

Could it be to balance the male/female ratio or add diversity to the class? Also I'm surprised 3rd grade teacher get every detail and that he/she would discuss it with a parent.

She actually told us quite a lot of details about the scores and who was accepted, etc. I agree that most teachers would not discuss such things with parents but this one does.

To answer your other question, I think it is illegal to select based on race or gender.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"My DC is in Barnsley HGC. For the most part, they don't have w/e HW. However, they do have projects that span weeks, and we try to have DC work on the project over the w/e so DC isn't trying to complete all of it during the week. It's about pacing yourself and not procrastinating. As others have stated, time management is a huge thing."

Thanks for the answer! My DC will start at Barnsley in the Fall. DC has ADHD with some executive function issues-including disorganization and inattentiveness (has a 504). Do you happen to know if teachers help a child like this get organized, break large project into smaller tasks, manage time, etc, or is it expected that the child does it herself (or the parent).

My DD is not at Barnsley. We are really seeing her executive functioning issues since entering the program. I am not so sure how much they are teaching/addressing these things, but we are really working on them at home.

And she has work to do on the weekends, there is always vocabulary to study, a novel to read or projects to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Child's third grade teacher told us that not only do the schools get the list of accepted students, they get the scores for all students who applied, including those who were rejected or wait listed. She also said that the school sometimes has no idea why one student was selected and another wasn't. For example, she said there were two students who had identical checklists and scores were almost exactly the same and one got in and one rejected. School also advocated for another student to get in, he scored very well, and was rejected.

Could it be to balance the male/female ratio or add diversity to the class? Also I'm surprised 3rd grade teacher get every detail and that he/she would discuss it with a parent.

She actually told us quite a lot of details about the scores and who was accepted, etc. I agree that most teachers would not discuss such things with parents but this one does.

To answer your other question, I think it is illegal to select based on race or gender.

I would be furious if I learned that my child's teacher was sharing his/her personal information with other parents.

That is completely inappropriate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"My DC is in Barnsley HGC. For the most part, they don't have w/e HW. However, they do have projects that span weeks, and we try to have DC work on the project over the w/e so DC isn't trying to complete all of it during the week. It's about pacing yourself and not procrastinating. As others have stated, time management is a huge thing."

Thanks for the answer! My DC will start at Barnsley in the Fall. DC has ADHD with some executive function issues-including disorganization and inattentiveness (has a 504). Do you happen to know if teachers help a child like this get organized, break large project into smaller tasks, manage time, etc, or is it expected that the child does it herself (or the parent).

Yes, they are all about helping - BUT, and this is a big but, the child has to follow through, and it behooves the parent to gently remind the child to check the calendar, review important dates, and break tasks down to manageable pieces. We've had an overwhelmed kiddo on more than one occasion because he let things slide and kept telling us he had no homework etc., but we've helped him through it, and better that he learns now when it doesn't really matter, then later when it really does.