Humanities prgm at Poolesville

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s because it is only for upcounty and not equivalent to CAP. This board is dominated by people who live downcounty so have access nor interest in the program.

Frankly, I wish downcounty had something like this. CAP basically focuses on all the elements of the Eastern Humanities magnet that my kid really didn't enjoy, and they would have loved to have an option that focused on the Humanities part rather than the Media stuff.

After looking at the course lists, my kid didn't even apply to CAP. They're currently doing well in IB, but the curriculum and requirements are very rigid, and I know they would have appreciated more flexibility to follow their own path as they take different types of classes and their interests develop. I don't know how competitive the Poolesville Humanities program is, but the course list looks interesting and rigorous, at least. Not sure how it compares to the honors/AP offerings at other upcounty HS, though?

Agree. CAP is the most non-humanities humanities program ever. It feels like it was designed to churn out a bunch of PR flacks, which may be appreciated in DC but leaves me cold. I remember I asked one of the teachers if they taught literature and she gave me a lecture about how they only focused on non-white authors. That was a.) Not what I asked, and b.) An absurd way to teach literature.

Kid now also in IB. It does have some flexibility, I think, as the kids can choose areas of interest and focus for their high-level classes. I attended an orientation for CAP and I still have absolutely no idea what it's about. Journalism? I guess? Is the intent?

That's so wonderful and refreshing! I wish my kid had signed up now!

[teluguru]

Bumping coz my daughter selected for only humanities program in Pooleville and IB in Watkins for now

[Anonymous]

teluguru wrote:Bumping coz my daughter selected for only humanities program in Pooleville and IB in Watkins for now

Congrats?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s because it is only for upcounty and not equivalent to CAP. This board is dominated by people who live downcounty so have access nor interest in the program.

Frankly, I wish downcounty had something like this. CAP basically focuses on all the elements of the Eastern Humanities magnet that my kid really didn't enjoy, and they would have loved to have an option that focused on the Humanities part rather than the Media stuff.

After looking at the course lists, my kid didn't even apply to CAP. They're currently doing well in IB, but the curriculum and requirements are very rigid, and I know they would have appreciated more flexibility to follow their own path as they take different types of classes and their interests develop. I don't know how competitive the Poolesville Humanities program is, but the course list looks interesting and rigorous, at least. Not sure how it compares to the honors/AP offerings at other upcounty HS, though?

Start a campaign to get one and have it housed somewhere other than Blair.

I love Blair. I had two kids go through it, but it’s not the only school with a catchment area that would thrive in such a program. I have a third kid in MC2 at Northwood. Great school!

[Anonymous]

Any recent updates from folks whose kid go to Humanities in poolesville in the 24-25 school year.

[Anonymous]

I have an 11th grader in the Humanities house. She was also in the Humanities program at MLK. She loves reading, writing, history. She is not into art, so she wishes every single field trip did not focus on art, but she’s been very happy in the program. The workload was very manageable in her freshman and sophomore years, but it’s a lot in 11th grade and this is really the first time in her scholastic career that she’s feeling stress, trying to balance so many APs and calculus and physics and ECs and SAT prep. There are great opportunities for kids to participate in ECs at Poolesville because the school is small. It’s a wonderful cohort because the kids take academics seriously. DD has a great group of friends (many also from MLK) who are very supportive of one another. There’s a lot more drama among the girls in Global. There is socialization between the kids in different houses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have an 11th grader in the Humanities house. She was also in the Humanities program at MLK. She loves reading, writing, history. She is not into art, so she wishes every single field trip did not focus on art, but she’s been very happy in the program. The workload was very manageable in her freshman and sophomore years, but it’s a lot in 11th grade and this is really the first time in her scholastic career that she’s feeling stress, trying to balance so many APs and calculus and physics and ECs and SAT prep. There are great opportunities for kids to participate in ECs at Poolesville because the school is small. It’s a wonderful cohort because the kids take academics seriously. DD has a great group of friends (many also from MLK) who are very supportive of one another. There’s a lot more drama among the girls in Global. There is socialization between the kids in different houses.

Thank you for your input!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have an 11th grader in the Humanities house. She was also in the Humanities program at MLK. She loves reading, writing, history. She is not into art, so she wishes every single field trip did not focus on art, but she’s been very happy in the program. The workload was very manageable in her freshman and sophomore years, but it’s a lot in 11th grade and this is really the first time in her scholastic career that she’s feeling stress, trying to balance so many APs and calculus and physics and ECs and SAT prep. There are great opportunities for kids to participate in ECs at Poolesville because the school is small. It’s a wonderful cohort because the kids take academics seriously. DD has a great group of friends (many also from MLK) who are very supportive of one another. There’s a lot more drama among the girls in Global. There is socialization between the kids in different houses.

Do you recall what some of the books/(fiction, nonfiction) your daughter read in the humanities program in 9th and 10th grade?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have an 11th grader in the Humanities house. She was also in the Humanities program at MLK. She loves reading, writing, history. She is not into art, so she wishes every single field trip did not focus on art, but she’s been very happy in the program. The workload was very manageable in her freshman and sophomore years, but it’s a lot in 11th grade and this is really the first time in her scholastic career that she’s feeling stress, trying to balance so many APs and calculus and physics and ECs and SAT prep. There are great opportunities for kids to participate in ECs at Poolesville because the school is small. It’s a wonderful cohort because the kids take academics seriously. DD has a great group of friends (many also from MLK) who are very supportive of one another. There’s a lot more drama among the girls in Global. There is socialization between the kids in different houses.

Do you recall what some of the books/(fiction, nonfiction) your daughter read in the humanities program in 9th and 10th grade?

9th grade - various poems, Lord of the Flies, The Tempest
10th grade - The Scarlet Letter, The Crucible, Brave New World (might’ve been 9th), Song Yet Sung, The Great Gatsby
11th grade (so far) - chose to read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks out of several options, Julius Caesar

[Anonymous]

Also read A Lesson Before Dying

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have an 11th grader in the Humanities house. She was also in the Humanities program at MLK. She loves reading, writing, history. She is not into art, so she wishes every single field trip did not focus on art, but she’s been very happy in the program. The workload was very manageable in her freshman and sophomore years, but it’s a lot in 11th grade and this is really the first time in her scholastic career that she’s feeling stress, trying to balance so many APs and calculus and physics and ECs and SAT prep. There are great opportunities for kids to participate in ECs at Poolesville because the school is small. It’s a wonderful cohort because the kids take academics seriously. DD has a great group of friends (many also from MLK) who are very supportive of one another. There’s a lot more drama among the girls in Global. There is socialization between the kids in different houses.

Do you recall what some of the books/(fiction, nonfiction) your daughter read in the humanities program in 9th and 10th grade?

9th grade - various poems, Lord of the Flies, The Tempest
10th grade - The Scarlet Letter, The Crucible, Brave New World (might’ve been 9th), Song Yet Sung, The Great Gatsby
11th grade (so far) - chose to read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks out of several options, Julius Caesar

Most of those books are part of the regular MCPS curriculum too. What's different?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have an 11th grader in the Humanities house. She was also in the Humanities program at MLK. She loves reading, writing, history. She is not into art, so she wishes every single field trip did not focus on art, but she’s been very happy in the program. The workload was very manageable in her freshman and sophomore years, but it’s a lot in 11th grade and this is really the first time in her scholastic career that she’s feeling stress, trying to balance so many APs and calculus and physics and ECs and SAT prep. There are great opportunities for kids to participate in ECs at Poolesville because the school is small. It’s a wonderful cohort because the kids take academics seriously. DD has a great group of friends (many also from MLK) who are very supportive of one another. There’s a lot more drama among the girls in Global. There is socialization between the kids in different houses.

Do you recall what some of the books/(fiction, nonfiction) your daughter read in the humanities program in 9th and 10th grade?

9th grade - various poems, Lord of the Flies, The Tempest
10th grade - The Scarlet Letter, The Crucible, Brave New World (might’ve been 9th), Song Yet Sung, The Great Gatsby
11th grade (so far) - chose to read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks out of several options, Julius Caesar

Most of those books are part of the regular MCPS curriculum too. What's different?

The books are incorporated into a curriculum that’s special to the program. Also, the students are reading the books with a cohort of their academic peers. The teachers are theoretically better too. Although to be honest, the assigned reading is not the special part about Humanities. The biggest pros are the cohort, the research skills they build, etc.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for providing your input - My daughter is excited to join the humanities program. AI is soon going to take over a lot of IT jobs and end of the day what will really matter is knowing how to deal with people and i feel humanities is all about that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have an 11th grader in the Humanities house. She was also in the Humanities program at MLK. She loves reading, writing, history. She is not into art, so she wishes every single field trip did not focus on art, but she’s been very happy in the program. The workload was very manageable in her freshman and sophomore years, but it’s a lot in 11th grade and this is really the first time in her scholastic career that she’s feeling stress, trying to balance so many APs and calculus and physics and ECs and SAT prep. There are great opportunities for kids to participate in ECs at Poolesville because the school is small. It’s a wonderful cohort because the kids take academics seriously. DD has a great group of friends (many also from MLK) who are very supportive of one another. There’s a lot more drama among the girls in Global. There is socialization between the kids in different houses.

Do you recall what some of the books/(fiction, nonfiction) your daughter read in the humanities program in 9th and 10th grade?

9th grade - various poems, Lord of the Flies, The Tempest
10th grade - The Scarlet Letter, The Crucible, Brave New World (might’ve been 9th), Song Yet Sung, The Great Gatsby
11th grade (so far) - chose to read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks out of several options, Julius Caesar

Most of those books are part of the regular MCPS curriculum too. What's different?

The assigned reading isn’t a big part of the humanities magnet experience. The thing that sets the magnet apart (besides cohort) is that the curriculum weaves themes throughout English, history and arts classes and includes lots of projects. Some of the projects are the same competitions that students across the county participate in (National History Day, for example), but because the 3 humanities classes are coordinated, students have the opportunity to go deeper. Sometimes the humanities classes will have a block schedule to allow students a lot of time to work on a project. The humanities program is very focused on research and writing.

My child attended MLK, so projects like making a documentary aren’t new to my kid, but the quality of the finished project is next level by the time they’re in high school.

Also, an activity like History Bowl is huge at PHS. They send way more teams to competitions than other schools, despite the fact that PHS is a small school. There’s no concept at PHS of kids being nerds because they’re brainy, because that’s typical there.