Hearst or Inspired Teaching?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids started at IT and we moved to Hearst. I have nothing but nice things to say about IT, although I am several years removed now. It was a great community. I would pretty much parrot the sentiments expressed by the OOB Hearst parent up thread. For my family, Hearst was hands down the best option. My kids left IT kicking and screaming, but after the first month, never looked back.

As noted, they are both good options so I would say that it is a wholly personal choice. There is a Screen on the Green tomorrow as someone noted. The whole school will be there and it is a perfect opportunity for you to get a sense of the community. I would urge you to look for a similar event at IT.

The parents at both schools are very engaged, so that is a wash. I believe Hearst does have better after care options, but depending on where you live, the commute to Hearst might be fairly stressful and you could lose a lot of family time crossing the city.

I will end by saying that THERE IS NO PERFECT SCHOOL. If you're looking for nirvana, it doesn't exist--not even in the burbs. And even if you find a school that you really like, it will still have its up years and down years; years where your kid gets the best teacher and years where they end up with a dud; years where the administration is great and years where it takes a turn for the worse; years where the parents divide into camps and battle over some issue and years where they all sing, kumbaya.

I have more than one kid and have been through more schools than I can remember at this point. I've seen it all . Just find a school that serves your child well and has at least 80% of what's important to you. Then prepare yourself to roll with the changes over time .

Sorry mis-quoted

Great post! IT parent here. I will add that aftercare at ITS is pretty nice via the YMCA. It's relatively affordable considering they include winter and spring breaks. We hope it will be as good as last year (when we were onsite and had swimming, cooking and rock climbing) when they bring more specials/sports next school year. We have a friend that has left the Y aftercare to take part of a new aftercare program being offered by DPR behind the school at Edgewood Rec Center. They come pick up the kids after school and run a traditional aftercare program (homework help, snack etc). She said they are doing tennis lessons once a week and then switch playing various sports in the field outside. Oh yeah and its FREE! I think it's for ages 5+ though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids started at IT and we moved to Hearst. I have nothing but nice things to say about IT, although I am several years removed now. It was a great community. I would pretty much parrot the sentiments expressed by the OOB Hearst parent up thread. For my family, Hearst was hands down the best option. My kids left IT kicking and screaming, but after the first month, never looked back.

As noted, they are both good options so I would say that it is a wholly personal choice. There is a Screen on the Green tomorrow as someone noted. The whole school will be there and it is a perfect opportunity for you to get a sense of the community. I would urge you to look for a similar event at IT.

The parents at both schools are very engaged, so that is a wash. I believe Hearst does have better after care options, but depending on where you live, the commute to Hearst might be fairly stressful and you could lose a lot of family time crossing the city.

I will end by saying that THERE IS NO PERFECT SCHOOL. If you're looking for nirvana, it doesn't exist--not even in the burbs. And even if you find a school that you really like, it will still have its up years and down years; years where your kid gets the best teacher and years where they end up with a dud; years where the administration is great and years where it takes a turn for the worse; years where the parents divide into camps and battle over some issue and years where they all sing, kumbaya.

I have more than one kid and have been through more schools than I can remember at this point. I've seen it all . Just find a school that serves your child well and has at least 80% of what's important to you. Then prepare yourself to roll with the changes over time .

Great post! IT parent here. I will add that aftercare at ITS is pretty nice via the YMCA. It's relatively affordable considering they include winter and spring breaks. We hope it will be as good as last year (when we were onsite and had swimming, cooking and rock climbing) when they bring more specials/sports next school year. We have a friend that has left the Y aftercare to take part of a new aftercare program being offered by DPR behind the school at Edgewood Rec Center. They come pick up the kids after school and run a traditional aftercare program (homework help, snack etc). She said they are doing tennis lessons once a week and then switch playing various sports in the field outside. Oh yeah and its FREE! I think it's for ages 5+ though.

Some Hearst families do the DPR free aftercare at the Hearst Rec Center too. I think the quality of the regular after care is better, though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids started at IT and we moved to Hearst. I have nothing but nice things to say about IT, although I am several years removed now. It was a great community. I would pretty much parrot the sentiments expressed by the OOB Hearst parent up thread. For my family, Hearst was hands down the best option. My kids left IT kicking and screaming, but after the first month, never looked back.

As noted, they are both good options so I would say that it is a wholly personal choice. There is a Screen on the Green tomorrow as someone noted. The whole school will be there and it is a perfect opportunity for you to get a sense of the community. I would urge you to look for a similar event at IT.

The parents at both schools are very engaged, so that is a wash. I believe Hearst does have better after care options, but depending on where you live, the commute to Hearst might be fairly stressful and you could lose a lot of family time crossing the city.

I will end by saying that THERE IS NO PERFECT SCHOOL. If you're looking for nirvana, it doesn't exist--not even in the burbs. And even if you find a school that you really like, it will still have its up years and down years; years where your kid gets the best teacher and years where they end up with a dud; years where the administration is great and years where it takes a turn for the worse; years where the parents divide into camps and battle over some issue and years where they all sing, kumbaya.

I have more than one kid and have been through more schools than I can remember at this point. I've seen it all . Just find a school that serves your child well and has at least 80% of what's important to you. Then prepare yourself to roll with the changes over time .

I wish there were a way to get this message across to everyone! I completely agree with the bolded.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids started at IT and we moved to Hearst. I have nothing but nice things to say about IT, although I am several years removed now. It was a great community. I would pretty much parrot the sentiments expressed by the OOB Hearst parent up thread. For my family, Hearst was hands down the best option. My kids left IT kicking and screaming, but after the first month, never looked back.

As noted, they are both good options so I would say that it is a wholly personal choice. There is a Screen on the Green tomorrow as someone noted. The whole school will be there and it is a perfect opportunity for you to get a sense of the community. I would urge you to look for a similar event at IT.

The parents at both schools are very engaged, so that is a wash. I believe Hearst does have better after care options, but depending on where you live, the commute to Hearst might be fairly stressful and you could lose a lot of family time crossing the city.

I will end by saying that THERE IS NO PERFECT SCHOOL. If you're looking for nirvana, it doesn't exist--not even in the burbs. And even if you find a school that you really like, it will still have its up years and down years; years where your kid gets the best teacher and years where they end up with a dud; years where the administration is great and years where it takes a turn for the worse; years where the parents divide into camps and battle over some issue and years where they all sing, kumbaya.

I have more than one kid and have been through more schools than I can remember at this point. I've seen it all . Just find a school that serves your child well and has at least 80% of what's important to you. Then prepare yourself to roll with the changes over time .

I wish there were a way to get this message across to everyone! I completely agree with the bolded.

+1 million

[Anonymous]

+1 I try to remind myself that I didn't have awesome teachers every year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:+1 I try to remind myself that I didn't have awesome teachers every year.

Seriously, I went to a Catholic school with a strong academic program, but I had some terrible teachers-- first year teachers who went running from the field, old teachers who couldn't wait to retire, etc. Of course, best of all, we had nuns who would whack us on the head with books and rulers. On the plus side, I learned excellent grammar.

[Anonymous]

This has been immensely helpful, thanks. Especially helpful to put things in perspective. It helps to hear from parents at both schools, and from someone who has been to a lot of different school. Sometimes I think having so many choices is a curse, and that if I make a mistake with this choice my kids will suffer irrevocable damage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This has been immensely helpful, thanks. Especially helpful to put things in perspective. It helps to hear from parents at both schools, and from someone who has been to a lot of different school. Sometimes I think having so many choices is a curse, and that if I make a mistake with this choice my kids will suffer irrevocable damage.

Good luck with your decision. I am pretty certain neither school is going to cause any damage. They both seem like very strong schools. Where do you live?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This has been immensely helpful, thanks. Especially helpful to put things in perspective. It helps to hear from parents at both schools, and from someone who has been to a lot of different school. Sometimes I think having so many choices is a curse, and that if I make a mistake with this choice my kids will suffer irrevocable damage.

I understand. I'm the parent with multiple kids who has been through more schools than I can remember. My oldest went to 4 different schools, 4 consecutive years. I worried the whole way--for nothing. She is doing absolutely WONDERFUL now and quite frankly never really missed a a beat along the way. Kids are more resilient thank we think.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:+1 I try to remind myself that I didn't have awesome teachers every year.

Seriously, I went to a Catholic school with a strong academic program, but I had some terrible teachers-- first year teachers who went running from the field, old teachers who couldn't wait to retire, etc. Of course, best of all, we had nuns who would whack us on the head with books and rulers. On the plus side, I learned excellent grammar.

OMG!! I could have written this myself . I always tell my kids, my school experience was more like the movie "Matilda" .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This has been immensely helpful, thanks. Especially helpful to put things in perspective. It helps to hear from parents at both schools, and from someone who has been to a lot of different school. Sometimes I think having so many choices is a curse, and that if I make a mistake with this choice my kids will suffer irrevocable damage.

I would reframe this as there is no way to make a bad choice and to remember that your child will thrive in either school. Also, which did you rank more desirable in the lottery? If you can't decide, I'd just go with that one.

[Anonymous]

OP, take the advice from PP about focusing on middle school! You won't regret the middle school feed.