Key Immersion or Cardinal?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you think the math, science, social studies is as good in the immersion programs as in the neighborhood schools?

No.

Math and science are two courses taught EXCLUSIVELY in Spanish.

So that means instruction must be simplified and slowed down to allow Spanish learning to happen at the same time.

We have a DD, and math and science are already discouraging for girls enough we literally didn’t want it to be a foreign language.

Immersion is really for those with a Spanish speaking parent or who had a Spanish speaking nanny/Au pair. Two working parents, and a good neighborhood school, why are you punishing your family? You don’t learn Spanish for “free” there are costs.

I'm not a PC person and I don't want to call it sexist. But this type of mentality definitely won't help your DD in learning math and science.

FWIW I'm a mom with STEM background. I have two sons but if I have a daughter I would never say such things to her (or to anybody, really). From what I have seen, in early years girls do just as well in STEM as boys do.

You misunderstood. I mean society discourages girls from STEM, sorry. I’m actually a mathematician so it’s important to me.

[Anonymous]

Does Key have homework? I know some of the other schools don’t

[Anonymous]

We have a child at Key. We overall have been very happy with it and our child’s progress. For us, it is the right mix of caring/warm atmosphere and academics for elementary school. We have had teachers who clearly really love the kids and teaching, and we have been impressed with how well they seem to know the kids. The Principal is also excellent.

Over the years, I’ve come to the conclusion that a lot of people don’t really understand or maybe don’t value the second language. We think it is a huge gift that we can give our kids that will do nothing but assist them navigate an increasingly multilingual world. Moreover, aside from learning Spanish for it’s own sake, there’s substantial research that suggests that exposure to other languages benefits children in myriad ways. We feel really lucky to be at Key. Our child goes to school happy and confident, and I can see my child’s excitement and pride at having learned something hard when DC is able to use more and more Spanish.

On math and science, we have not seen anything to suggest it is slower or detrimental. We seem to be pacing the same as the other kids we know at other schools. Homework has been mixed. So far - we are halfway through - there has been some starting mostly in second. I’d say it is an appropriate amount and expectation to help them practice and develop good habits of reinforcing learning.

Just our perspective as current parents. Good luck with the decision.

[Anonymous]

Don't base this on an "info session." Go with your gut.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have a child at Key. We overall have been very happy with it and our child’s progress. For us, it is the right mix of caring/warm atmosphere and academics for elementary school. We have had teachers who clearly really love the kids and teaching, and we have been impressed with how well they seem to know the kids. The Principal is also excellent.

Over the years, I’ve come to the conclusion that a lot of people don’t really understand or maybe don’t value the second language. We think it is a huge gift that we can give our kids that will do nothing but assist them navigate an increasingly multilingual world. Moreover, aside from learning Spanish for it’s own sake, there’s substantial research that suggests that exposure to other languages benefits children in myriad ways. We feel really lucky to be at Key. Our child goes to school happy and confident, and I can see my child’s excitement and pride at having learned something hard when DC is able to use more and more Spanish.

On math and science, we have not seen anything to suggest it is slower or detrimental. We seem to be pacing the same as the other kids we know at other schools. Homework has been mixed. So far - we are halfway through - there has been some starting mostly in second. I’d say it is an appropriate amount and expectation to help them practice and develop good habits of reinforcing learning.

Just our perspective as current parents. Good luck with the decision.

Not OP but this is very helpful. Thank you for sharing. Particularly glad there is some homework - I don’t know how kids can go into middle school and do homework if they’ve never had to do it before.

[Anonymous]

We have a kid in 5th at Key. No homework other than reading at home and some reading projects in 3rd. 4th was COVID year for us so I can't speak to homework. In 5th we were told the policy is they are not allowed to bring math homework home. We have our kids do separate math homework. The gifted coordinator does give them math sheets they can do that are optional.

Overall we like the school. I do think bilingual is a big commitment though - but it may seem that way more for us since we had to try to keep up our kids spanish during the pandemic, which was not easy.