Year in review - center vs. base school AAP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Is anyone willing/able to speak to their experience in a center or in local AAP at in retrospect having one (or more) school years under their belt? We kept my DD at her base school and I am somewhat questioning the choice. The work seemed a little more challenging but I still think she was a little bored. Honestly, the biggest change was the peer group and it wasn't all positive. It could be the age, but there was lots of tattletaling and social drama that she had not experienced previously. I am not sure the center would be that different and she is really not interested in changing schools but wanted to throw this question out there.

For us, the base school is the center, so the reflection is more about whether f/t AAP seems like an improvement over what would be expected in gen ed (dc is in 3rd grade).

My observation as someone who visited the classroom many times and also has a good relationship with my child is that the peer group changed, but not entirely in a good way. There were several rowdy kids and many coming from a different base school in a lower SES area. Teacher raises her voice regularly.

There are quite a few kids who might have been advanced relative to the base school but do not seem advanced in the current classroom. That is, because of current FCPS practices, you end up again with a very broad range of skills/abilities in one class.

Not that it matters--the teacher is sticking to the curriculum and is not adding in anything more advanced. There seems to be little by way of acceleration. They supposedly go "deeper" into concepts, but I do not see much evidence of challenge or teaching in a way that is engaging curiosity. Lots of paper being glued into note books. Teacher also refuses to allow dc to do other work that is more challenging (while another AAP teacher allows some kids to do algebra...). That's fine because we'll do other math at home and classroom can be practicing fluency.

The teacher just doesn't seem that into teaching (maybe time to retire?) and the method of teaching seems uncreative at best. Seems also very constrained by the curriculum and testing.

Agree with a lot of this. Center base school here...I kind of wish we hadn't done AAP. I think the behavior problems are worse than in the regular classrooms. The AAP teachers seem extremely fatigued. Also, I hate to say this, but the kids in AAP are so weird. Come at me...but they are. I think the parents are weird, too.

1224 here. I agree, I have second thoughts often especially since math has gone south this year and DC has just not connected with many AAP kids. Most of DCs friends are in gen ed. Has not made a single new AAP friend this year. DC says most are weirdos. But there are behavior issues in gen ed and I've done the math with approximately what percent of gen ed fails the SOL so I know DC would be invisible in that setting, just like early elementary before AAP.

If your kid is calling all the other kids “weirdos,” it sounds like your kid is the problem. Teach him some compassion and kindness.

Not the poster you're insulting here, but get off your high horse...up there pretending you've never come home and told your spouse or some other safe person that someone was weird. Please.

You categorize thousands of kids in AAP as "weird" and that seems like a pretty normal and common thing for you. No different than racists.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Having you as classmates, you aren't good enough for me, is basically what is being said when kids leave for center AAP.

Social life between center and kids at the base school, and the parents, it doesn't go well.

Adults are cordial-enough knowing all will cross paths again in MS and HS.

Um, what? Nobody is like this in real life. My kid goes to a center and mostly socializes with those kids bc they are who he sees 8 hours a day. But he still hangs out with neighborhood friends, and it’s really not that deep. I don’t even think the kids on his sports team know the schools everyone goes to or if anyone is in AAP.

Do what’s best for your kid - it’s all fine.

Dp. It does happen. Base school is the center, so even when they are all still at same school parents will say it's not worth scheduling a playdate because they'll never be in the same class again. Or, they'll say something like they need some time to get used to their new special environment, which is code for we're only hanging out with the aap crowd now.
True that it's not everyone, but how many kids at school do you know that aren't in your kids class

DP. Honestly I think you are projecting. My non-AAP center DD tonight saw some girls from her grade that weren't in her class at the restaurant we were eating at and actively avoided having to say hi to them. No other reason than, "they're not in my class." No one is actively avoiding kids just because they aren't AAP. They're just avoiding kids that they don't already talk to on a regular basis because they're kids and they don't know how to do small talk yet.

But, if they were friends in k-2 ( like already doing playdates) and still see each other at recess but the parents tell me the above when I reach out for a playdate and the playdates dry up...

DP. Totally projecting. My AAP kid had a best friend in his AAP class last year with playdates, parties etc. This year, they got split into different classes so they don't see each other near as much. I've suggested my kid continue the friendship outside of school by hosting a playdate with this kid he likes, but the reason is always "he isn't in my class".

I seem to have struck a nerve with you, but I'm literally talking about kids who are still friends, play at recess, sit together at lunch in the upper grades....it was never the kid, it was the parents.
This scenario is probably unique to base school is center kids.

There are also the little kid types of friendships that don't survive the kids being in different classes. I am aware of those, but that's not what I am talking about

[Anonymous]

We changed to center school after a year at local level 4. Night and day. Center school is the best education fcps csn offer. Huge difference in terms of rigor and depth. Best part is my daughter has more friends now. She kept her old friends and now how new ones. You can’t go wrong at this age the kids are like sponges and make friends much more easily than adults.

[Anonymous]

OP is your daughter in 4th? 4th grade is peak girl drama regardless of the school/peer setting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For my daughter, a 5th grader. Being in at the center in a full AAP class was the best thing.

There is much less drama in the AAP class, the girls are more studious. I know it is cohort dependent, but it seems like there is less drama in AAP for all grades.

It's definitely cohort dependent because we had the opposite experience in that the girls in the AAP center seemed more mature both academically and socially, which meant there was a lot of tween drama amongst them that didn't appear to be there with my daughter's friends who stayed at our base school (she went to our base school for SACC and remained in the Girl Scout troop, so she stayed close with them throughout ES).

[Anonymous]

We did both. DD went to the center, DS stayed back in LLIV. I think the center was more academically rigorous. I think that it challenged my DD more. She found like minded peers and had a great ES experience. We go out of pyramid for the center and MS was challenging and so was coming back in pyramid for HS. DS did well in LLIV. But the PBLs and extensions were lacking and it wasn’t as rigorous. He however had a great cohort and is thriving in HS so I’m not sure it made a huge difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[b]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Having you as classmates, you aren't good enough for me, is basically what is being said when kids leave for center AAP.

Social life between center and kids at the base school, and the parents, it doesn't go well.

Adults are cordial-enough knowing all will cross paths again in MS and HS.

Um, what? Nobody is like this in real life. My kid goes to a center and mostly socializes with those kids bc they are who he sees 8 hours a day. But he still hangs out with neighborhood friends, and it’s really not that deep. I don’t even think the kids on his sports team know the schools everyone goes to or if anyone is in AAP.

Do what’s best for your kid - it’s all fine.

Dp. It does happen. Base school is the center, so even when they are all still at same school parents will say it's not worth scheduling a playdate because they'll never be in the same class again. Or, they'll say something like they need some time to get used to their new special environment, which is code for we're only hanging out with the aap crowd now.
True that it's not everyone, but how many kids at school do you know that aren't in your kids class

DP. Honestly I think you are projecting. My non-AAP center DD tonight saw some girls from her grade that weren't in her class at the restaurant we were eating at and actively avoided having to say hi to them. No other reason than, "they're not in my class." No one is actively avoiding kids just because they aren't AAP. They're just avoiding kids that they don't already talk to on a regular basis because they're kids and they don't know how to do small talk yet.

But, if they were friends in k-2 ( like already doing playdates) and still see each other at recess but the parents tell me the above when I reach out for a playdate and the playdates dry up...

DP. Totally projecting. My AAP kid had a best friend in his AAP class last year with playdates, parties etc. This year, they got split into different classes so they don't see each other near as much. I've suggested my kid continue the friendship outside of school by hosting a playdate with this kid he likes, but the reason is always "he isn't in my class".

I seem to have struck a nerve with you, but I'm literally talking about kids who are still friends, play at recess, sit together at lunch in the upper grades....it was never the kid, it was the parents.
This scenario is probably unique to base school is center kids.

There are also the little kid types of friendships that don't survive the kids being in different classes. I am aware of those, but that's not what I am talking about

No nerve struck, just providing a counter point. We are also at a center that is our base school. Most of my kid's friends are actually in gen ed but my point was this sort of thing goes on even between AAP classrooms. The kids all play sports together at school recess but very few playdates unless the kids are in the same class. My own kid says that is the reason when asked why he doesn't want to host someone. I am more than willing to facilitate something but it is my kid not wanting to do it outside of school.

[Anonymous]

As a parent of a Gen Ed kid, I am not initiating any playdates with former friends now in AAP. I want to nurture the relationships my DD is experiencing now. Otherwise, there will always be *some* comment from an AAP kid as to why they aren't in the same class. Doesn't matter how polite the parents wish their kid will be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a parent of a Gen Ed kid, I am not initiating any playdates with former friends now in AAP. I want to nurture the relationships my DD is experiencing now. Otherwise, there will always be *some* comment from an AAP kid as to why they aren't in the same class. Doesn't matter how polite the parents wish their kid will be.

"Hi. It's me. I'm the problem, it's me." - PP