Quiet Child in Middle School - Deal? Latin? BASIS?

[Anonymous]

To current LATIN parents.

How many hours of homework does your child spend on homework? Also, what is the number of tests/quizzes assigned for each day?
I am not talking about the gifted child, just an average child who studies and wants to be successful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thank you for everyone's great thoughts about my child. In the end, we have decided to submit an application at least to BASIS to enter as a 5th grader as they still have placements for 2013-2014. I definitely want to tour, get a feel for the place. I think we will pass on Latin because it doesn't seem so ingredibly different from Deal, other than possibly smaller class sizes. It seems the issues are similar. Deal seems like it's incredibly overcrowded with 7 elementary schools feeding into it, and many more coming from other OOB schools. Deal, as it happens, is no longer having tours and will not schedule a personal tour for me. So it goes, I guess...

Latin like Deal? I do not think so.

[Anonymous]

My guess is that my kid at Latin spends 1 to 2 hours on homework---sometimes less---maybe more if they are working on a big project. (This estimate is for middle school.) A typical homework night might be 10 math problems, a reading and set of short answer questions in science and either geography or civics (depending on which grade), about 10 sentences of Latin translation and then some reading for English---and perhaps a short writing assignment but the writing assignments are usually not every night. There is definitely homework but I do not feel like DC is overburdened. I also love the fun events they do---today is "Pi Day" (3.14---get it?) where the kids compete to see who has memorized the most numbers of Pi---with the winner getting to throw a pie at their teacher of choice. The teachers and administration are good sports ---the event builds camaraderie---and I guarantee that my child will never forget the number Pi. Yesterday the 5th grade went to the Museum of Medical History and DC came home brimming with information regarding how the brain functions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What? Not for nothing, but Deal and Latin are vastly different middle schools. Different culture ( uniforms, no uniforms ), different curriculum ( IB. MYP vs. Classical ), one is a neighborhood school, one is a charter school, one is huge, the other is tiny, one has a million extra curricular activities, the other has few. Need I go on?

Let it go. She clearly hasn't toured either school and doesn't care to. Odd to say the least.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What? Not for nothing, but Deal and Latin are vastly different middle schools. Different culture ( uniforms, no uniforms ), different curriculum ( IB. MYP vs. Classical ), one is a neighborhood school, one is a charter school, one is huge, the other is tiny, one has a million extra curricular activities, the other has few. Need I go on?

Let it go. She clearly hasn't toured either school and doesn't care to. Odd to say the least.

Thank you PP.

Parents at BASIS say their children study until midnight and still not done with homework. That it is normal to get 2 quizzes and 2,3 homeworks every night and if they don't finish they need to stay after school and finish it. ALso in math they just speed off because the teachers have to finish the book before May and that on weekends they cant go nowhere because the kids need to catch up with the lessons of the week with tutors because tutoring hours in the school are not enough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What? Not for nothing, but Deal and Latin are vastly different middle schools. Different culture ( uniforms, no uniforms ), different curriculum ( IB. MYP vs. Classical ), one is a neighborhood school, one is a charter school, one is huge, the other is tiny, one has a million extra curricular activities, the other has few. Need I go on?

Let it go. She clearly hasn't toured either school and doesn't care to. Odd to say the least.

Thank you PP.

Parents at BASIS say their children study until midnight and still not done with homework. That it is normal to get 2 quizzes and 2,3 homeworks every night and if they don't finish they need to stay after school and finish it. ALso in math they just speed off because the teachers have to finish the book before May and that on weekends they cant go nowhere because the kids need to catch up with the lessons of the week with tutors because tutoring hours in the school are not enough.

This is not what I'm hearing at all from BASIS parents (but I'm hearing concerns about kids fighting).

[Anonymous]

Tha kids who are fighting at BASIS are generally the ones who will have problems passing comps. And the big shots that they are, I'm not sure they will want to be in summer schools and then possibly repeat next year. The system should work this all out.

Yeah they have lots of homeworks and tests, but if your kid has to have that much tutoring, it might not be a good fit. Most we've had is 2 hours of homework, then again, it's not being done in front of the TV, playstation, etc.

[Anonymous]

The fighting has been isolated in the upper grades and it appears that it is effectively being dealt with.

My kid has maybe an hour and a half a night, and some nights less. The thing for us is that our DC with a short attention span and cluttered ways is now organized and finishes the work efficiently and can plan ahead for nights when there are activities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The fighting has been isolated in the upper grades and it appears that it is effectively being dealt with.

My kid has maybe an hour and a half a night, and some nights less. The thing for us is that our DC with a short attention span and cluttered ways is now organized and finishes the work efficiently and can plan ahead for nights when there are activities.

An hour and a half? What grade is he in?
For 8th grade we average 3-4hours

Average day of homework
30 problems every day, including 10 minutes of revewing new concepts, and 5 minutes of reviewing for mistakes (1 hour)
2 science homeworks per day (2 hours)
Reading and reviewing history, English homework, work on a project (1 hour)
Review for a test ( at least 30 minutes)

It's true that the pace of math is very fast, even by European standards.
It all depends on the child. My child tells me his classmates are very competitive. In fact one "smart" girl, usually quited poised, got so upset because she got a lower grade that my kid that she ripped part of my child's CJ.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The fighting has been isolated in the upper grades and it appears that it is effectively being dealt with.

My kid has maybe an hour and a half a night, and some nights less. The thing for us is that our DC with a short attention span and cluttered ways is now organized and finishes the work efficiently and can plan ahead for nights when there are activities.

An hour and a half? What grade is he in?
For 8th grade we average 3-4hours

Average day of homework
30 problems every day, including 10 minutes of revewing new concepts, and 5 minutes of reviewing for mistakes (1 hour)
2 science homeworks per day (2 hours)
Reading and reviewing history, English homework, work on a project (1 hour)
Review for a test ( at least 30 minutes)

It's true that the pace of math is very fast, even by European standards.
It all depends on the child. My child tells me his classmates are very competitive. In fact one "smart" girl, usually quited poised, got so upset because she got a lower grade that my kid that she ripped part of my child's CJ.

Thank you for this. Writing the deposit check for a real school (private). It hurts, but your testimony puts it all in perspective. Basis is a hot mess, but perfect for people who are too lazy to move to the suburbs.

[Anonymous]

OP here - this 3 hours a night sounds really high. Can others chime in - is this really the case for most kids? Not the highly advanced kids (I am guessing BASIS is much easier for them). I don't want to make my child miserable, and I want him to come home and also contribute to his family structure and chores he has around the house. But I also don't want him to be left behind because he isn't outgoing enough to raise him hand in class so he gets left behind. The base of knowledge needs to begin developing at a greatly clip, I would guess, and maybe BASIS provides that? Even if it's a bit forced.

And do kids have time for any afterschool activities, like dance or music lessons?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The fighting has been isolated in the upper grades and it appears that it is effectively being dealt with.

My kid has maybe an hour and a half a night, and some nights less. The thing for us is that our DC with a short attention span and cluttered ways is now organized and finishes the work efficiently and can plan ahead for nights when there are activities.

An hour and a half? What grade is he in?
For 8th grade we average 3-4hours

Average day of homework
30 problems every day, including 10 minutes of revewing new concepts, and 5 minutes of reviewing for mistakes (1 hour)
2 science homeworks per day (2 hours)
Reading and reviewing history, English homework, work on a project (1 hour)
Review for a test ( at least 30 minutes)

It's true that the pace of math is very fast, even by European standards.
It all depends on the child. My child tells me his classmates are very competitive. In fact one "smart" girl, usually quited poised, got so upset because she got a lower grade that my kid that she ripped part of my child's CJ.

Thank you for this. Writing the deposit check for a real school (private). It hurts, but your testimony puts it all in perspective. Basis is a hot mess, but perfect for people who are too lazy to move to the suburbs.

If you see someone sneeze on the street, do you then characterize Washington DC as a "hot mess" of infectious biohazards and plague? Are you vying for some kind of award for "most ridiculous post" with an assessment like that? By all means, take your fearful shrieking self away to a suburban private, but don't be so deluded as to think there won't be competetive kids and tearing of papers there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here - this 3 hours a night sounds really high. Can others chime in - is this really the case for most kids? Not the highly advanced kids (I am guessing BASIS is much easier for them). I don't want to make my child miserable, and I want him to come home and also contribute to his family structure and chores he has around the house. But I also don't want him to be left behind because he isn't outgoing enough to raise him hand in class so he gets left behind. The base of knowledge needs to begin developing at a greatly clip, I would guess, and maybe BASIS provides that? Even if it's a bit forced.

And do kids have time for any afterschool activities, like dance or music lessons?

BASIS parent here - our student has after-school activities just about every single day and has busy weekends with outside activities, and still manages to get school work done at a reasonable hour each night - and though shy and not super-competetive, has made honor roll and is doing well. Sure, it was an adjustment from our previous school experiences, where there weren't as many expectations or workload, but it has been well worth it. DC is thriving at BASIS, we are quite impressed with the content and learning that the school is providing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here - this 3 hours a night sounds really high. Can others chime in - is this really the case for most kids? Not the highly advanced kids (I am guessing BASIS is much easier for them). I don't want to make my child miserable, and I want him to come home and also contribute to his family structure and chores he has around the house. But I also don't want him to be left behind because he isn't outgoing enough to raise him hand in class so he gets left behind. The base of knowledge needs to begin developing at a greatly clip, I would guess, and maybe BASIS provides that? Even if it's a bit forced.

And do kids have time for any afterschool activities, like dance or music lessons?

My 5th grader had an after school activity until 5 pm. He got home at 5:20 and we hung out and had dinner with a friend who was visiting me from out of town until about 7. He started homework and was finished by 8:15. He probably would have been done earlier, but my DH and I were distracting as we were visiting with our friend in the next room. He took a shower and is now in bed at 8:40. He's probably reading a novel.

That amount of homework is pretty typical. He had his normal 30 math problems which he can get done in about 45 minutes. Math takes less time if he gets to some of them during class as his math teacher often gives the kids the last ten minutes or so to get a start on homework. He also had Latin and a bit of Physical Geography.

My child is pretty bright, but he's not a genius. He does work hard, pays attention in class and gets all his homework done. He still has time to play soccer a couple times a week and I make him practice his musical instrument pretty much every day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - this 3 hours a night sounds really high. Can others chime in - is this really the case for most kids? Not the highly advanced kids (I am guessing BASIS is much easier for them). I don't want to make my child miserable, and I want him to come home and also contribute to his family structure and chores he has around the house. But I also don't want him to be left behind because he isn't outgoing enough to raise him hand in class so he gets left behind. The base of knowledge needs to begin developing at a greatly clip, I would guess, and maybe BASIS provides that? Even if it's a bit forced.

And do kids have time for any afterschool activities, like dance or music lessons?

My 5th grader had an after school activity until 5 pm. He got home at 5:20 and we hung out and had dinner with a friend who was visiting me from out of town until about 7. He started homework and was finished by 8:15. He probably would have been done earlier, but my DH and I were distracting as we were visiting with our friend in the next room. He took a shower and is now in bed at 8:40. He's probably reading a novel.

That amount of homework is pretty typical. He had his normal 30 math problems which he can get done in about 45 minutes. Math takes less time if he gets to some of them during class as his math teacher often gives the kids the last ten minutes or so to get a start on homework. He also had Latin and a bit of Physical Geography.

My child is pretty bright, but he's not a genius. He does work hard, pays attention in class and gets all his homework done. He still has time to play soccer a couple times a week and I make him practice his musical instrument pretty much every day.

OP here again - BASIS parents, especially of 5th graders, I can't thank you enough!