Recent Eastern Magnet Experiences

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ugh. These kids go to Eastern to escape the social bullying about their intelligence that they get from their local school peers about their interests but still get it from the parents of Eastern students.

All of DC's friends at Eastern to be really nice. Not a quirky, domineering, arrogant or overly serious one among them.

Thanks—this is helpful. My DC seems to gravitate toward friendships with kids who want to discuss and debate things with them. From the discourse on DCUM you sometimes think that's not what they'll find at a magnet program because all the kids are weird and have no social skills. I do always wonder if that's coming from people whose kids aren't super into discussion/debate, who think the kids for whom that's a central part of social connection are just weird. It's not weird, it's just a different kind of social connection.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1) Sometimes it was two hours of homework a night, and other times maybe just an hour. Almost always some work to complete on the weekends.

2) On the Report Cards - mostly As with one B one quarter. But some assignments were low grades, but was able to redo for a higher grade.

3) This can be a tough program for some kids with IEPs. It depends on your student and what their accommodations / needs are. Some of the teachers are great at following though with our kid, but others were not. Overall, the case manager has been very supportive, but actual follow-through / support in some of the classes was a battle. Many of the assignments are group work, and we were told cannot be modified, due to the group nature of the work. Actually, in the beginning we were told the curriculum could not be modified at all because it is a magnet, but extra time is allowed - which can lead to stressful piling up of work and getting behind in major projects. The group work put alot of social pressure and conflict on my kid because of some of his challenges (executive functioning, organization, etc), and the other kids depending on his work being on time.

4) The lunchroom - loud and crowded, but some kids eat quickly and then go to the media center.

NP. Wanted to add on to the group work comment that many kids in the program tend to be either quirky or arrogant and domineering or both. I am not talking about the kids with IEPs. The share of these kids at Eastern is just really high and it can be really challenging to work with those kids even for NT kids. There are some really nice, socially adept kids too but just fewer than you might find in a regular program, in the experience of DD.

YES! It's a group of high achievers but they take themselves very, very seriously. I compared them to many classmates I had in law school that just liked to hear themselves talk.

Ugh. These kids go to Eastern to escape the social bullying about their intelligence that they get from their local school peers about their interests but still get it from the parents of Eastern students.

All of DC's friends at Eastern to be really nice. Not a quirky, domineering, arrogant or overly serious one among them.

Must be a unicorn year then. There are kids everywhere like this - including their home schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1) Sometimes it was two hours of homework a night, and other times maybe just an hour. Almost always some work to complete on the weekends.

2) On the Report Cards - mostly As with one B one quarter. But some assignments were low grades, but was able to redo for a higher grade.

3) This can be a tough program for some kids with IEPs. It depends on your student and what their accommodations / needs are. Some of the teachers are great at following though with our kid, but others were not. Overall, the case manager has been very supportive, but actual follow-through / support in some of the classes was a battle. Many of the assignments are group work, and we were told cannot be modified, due to the group nature of the work. Actually, in the beginning we were told the curriculum could not be modified at all because it is a magnet, but extra time is allowed - which can lead to stressful piling up of work and getting behind in major projects. The group work put alot of social pressure and conflict on my kid because of some of his challenges (executive functioning, organization, etc), and the other kids depending on his work being on time.

4) The lunchroom - loud and crowded, but some kids eat quickly and then go to the media center.

NP. Wanted to add on to the group work comment that many kids in the program tend to be either quirky or arrogant and domineering or both. I am not talking about the kids with IEPs. The share of these kids at Eastern is just really high and it can be really challenging to work with those kids even for NT kids. There are some really nice, socially adept kids too but just fewer than you might find in a regular program, in the experience of DD.

YES! It's a group of high achievers but they take themselves very, very seriously. I compared them to many classmates I had in law school that just liked to hear themselves talk.

Ugh. These kids go to Eastern to escape the social bullying about their intelligence that they get from their local school peers about their interests but still get it from the parents of Eastern students.

All of DC's friends at Eastern to be really nice. Not a quirky, domineering, arrogant or overly serious one among them.

Must be a unicorn year then. There are kids everywhere like this - including their home schools.

Most of the kids are nice, but there are many who are also quirky and/or overly serious. Only a few arrogant or domineering ones.

[Anonymous]

Generally, I really wouldn't worry about the other kids at Eastern. Not enough of a thing to sway your choice about going to the school. You can always go back to the home school if it isn't working out. IMO as a current parent the only reason that I wouldn't have elected to send my kid there is if we lived in northern MOCO, as the bus rides are long.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Generally, I really wouldn't worry about the other kids at Eastern. Not enough of a thing to sway your choice about going to the school. You can always go back to the home school if it isn't working out. IMO as a current parent the only reason that I wouldn't have elected to send my kid there is if we lived in northern MOCO, as the bus rides are long.

Completely disagree. We know multiple kids who left because they didn't like it socially.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Generally, I really wouldn't worry about the other kids at Eastern. Not enough of a thing to sway your choice about going to the school. You can always go back to the home school if it isn't working out. IMO as a current parent the only reason that I wouldn't have elected to send my kid there is if we lived in northern MOCO, as the bus rides are long.

Completely disagree. We know multiple kids who left because they didn't like it socially.

I teach in the program. Foremost, not many students leave. Beyond that, in the past three years, I can think of a single student who left for social reasons rather than extracurricular, health, or family issues. If students are leaving for social reasons, they’re telling us something very different.

[Anonymous]

Current 6th grade daughter usually has 2-3 hours of homework…sometimes it’s only 20 minutes and occasionally it’s 4 hours. There were more long nights in the beginning, perhaps because she had a steeper learning curve, having come from a not so rigorous elementary. However, she has all high As, so she could probably put in less effort and be fine. The teachers are phenomenal. I have an older kid at another middle school and have never seen a paper marked up in the way the Eastern teacher marks up her work (although I have still loved some of my other kid’s teachers!) I have no idea where the Eastern teacher finds the time to do that, but my daughter is learning so much! It’s the high expectations/high support that are allowing her to thrive. Initially she was saying she hated it and wanted to go back to her home school, but now she is so happy with her choice. Socially, she shifted from being annoyed by the rowdy/misbehaving kids at her elementary school to being annoyed by the overly talkative/competitive kids at Eastern, but just like at her elementary school she has found friends.

[Anonymous]

Deadline for first round of offers to accept/reject was Friday. When will the next round of offers (to waitlisted kids) go out?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Generally, I really wouldn't worry about the other kids at Eastern. Not enough of a thing to sway your choice about going to the school. You can always go back to the home school if it isn't working out. IMO as a current parent the only reason that I wouldn't have elected to send my kid there is if we lived in northern MOCO, as the bus rides are long.

Completely disagree. We know multiple kids who left because they didn't like it socially.

I teach in the program. Foremost, not many students leave. Beyond that, in the past three years, I can think of a single student who left for social reasons rather than extracurricular, health, or family issues. If students are leaving for social reasons, they’re telling us something very different.

I think you're not as in tune with the students as you think you are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Deadline for first round of offers to accept/reject was Friday. When will the next round of offers (to waitlisted kids) go out?

IME, they tend to move to new offers really quickly. I'm not sure it will be today but I would think some people will be getting calls or emails this week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Generally, I really wouldn't worry about the other kids at Eastern. Not enough of a thing to sway your choice about going to the school. You can always go back to the home school if it isn't working out. IMO as a current parent the only reason that I wouldn't have elected to send my kid there is if we lived in northern MOCO, as the bus rides are long.

Completely disagree. We know multiple kids who left because they didn't like it socially.

I teach in the program. Foremost, not many students leave. Beyond that, in the past three years, I can think of a single student who left for social reasons rather than extracurricular, health, or family issues. If students are leaving for social reasons, they’re telling us something very different.

I think you're not as in tune with the students as you think you are.

And are you more in tune with the students?

This is only one family's experience but my kid is a 6th grader in the program and has reported a couple (~2) new kids in their classes since the beginning of the year. Presuming this was because others dropped out, this doesn't seem like a huge number and could also be explained by other factors (e.g., not wanting long bus rides or not managing the academic challenge).

Again, only one family's experience, but we have not heard anything about weird social dynamics within the magnet program. Only a handful of issues involving non-magnet kids teasing or bullying magnet kids (but nothing extreme or out of the ordinary for middle school kids; let's face it, a lot of them are jerks at this age).

[Anonymous]

Anyone familiar with the food options? Sounds like offerings include breakfast and a 3:15pm hot meal if staying after school? Do many kids eat meals from/at school? Do the students like the meals?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anyone familiar with the food options? Sounds like offerings include breakfast and a 3:15pm hot meal if staying after school? Do many kids eat meals from/at school? Do the students like the meals?

Generally, students eat the breakfast even if they ate a home.

The fried chicken drumstick is the only decent thing served at 3:15, but most kids will eat whatever else is provided. The vending machines are on then and many students get a snack from those.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone familiar with the food options? Sounds like offerings include breakfast and a 3:15pm hot meal if staying after school? Do many kids eat meals from/at school? Do the students like the meals?

Generally, students eat the breakfast even if they ate a home.

The fried chicken drumstick is the only decent thing served at 3:15, but most kids will eat whatever else is provided. The vending machines are on then and many students get a snack from those.

Completely different experience with DD. Very few of the magnet kids take the free breakfast and never seen anyone trying the 3:15 meal. Most humanities kids pack lunch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone familiar with the food options? Sounds like offerings include breakfast and a 3:15pm hot meal if staying after school? Do many kids eat meals from/at school? Do the students like the meals?

Generally, students eat the breakfast even if they ate a home.

The fried chicken drumstick is the only decent thing served at 3:15, but most kids will eat whatever else is provided. The vending machines are on then and many students get a snack from those.

Completely different experience with DD. Very few of the magnet kids take the free breakfast and never seen anyone trying the 3:15 meal. Most humanities kids pack lunch.

This may be selection bias, but in my experience the boys take the free food, magnet or no magnet.