if your child is in HGC for 4th and 5th grade

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One thing HGC parents should keep in mind when picking middle school is that something like 1/3 of the middle school magnet kids don't get into RMIB, Blair SMAC or CAP or Poolsville.

Of course it is difficult to figure out where your DC stands in such things but, if you know they were near the median scores to get into the HGC and/or had trouble getting As at the HGC and/or when talking to the HGC teachers you can figure out that they are not at the top of at least one subject, then you might want to head to your home MS.

It is much better for most middle schoolers to be at the top of their heap than to need to work really hard to be average. It can be really painful to work hard for 3 years and then not get into a HS magnet.

Is very difficult socially. To be with same group of kids through MS and then back to home for HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At Takoma. English has been a boring disaster, but at least we have math and sci.

Do you think English at TPMS is any worse than home MS? or are you comparing to Eastern?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One thing HGC parents should keep in mind when picking middle school is that something like 1/3 of the middle school magnet kids don't get into RMIB, Blair SMAC or CAP or Poolsville.

Of course it is difficult to figure out where your DC stands in such things but, if you know they were near the median scores to get into the HGC and/or had trouble getting As at the HGC and/or when talking to the HGC teachers you can figure out that they are not at the top of at least one subject, then you might want to head to your home MS.

It is much better for most middle schoolers to be at the top of their heap than to need to work really hard to be average. It can be really painful to work hard for 3 years and then not get into a HS magnet.

Agree with all of this. Also, for JW MS, if you live in the RM cluster, the IB program in RM sets aside certain number of seats for RM cluster kids (they still have to test I believe), like they do with TPMS/Eastern.

[Anonymous]

went to regular zoned middle school for 6th, and so far bored and disengaged. But I don't think i'd do it differently, because the magnet schools are too far away. Will just give creative time at home, lots of outdoor time, and hope high school is better.

[Anonymous]

"Is very difficult socially. To be with same group of kids through MS and then back to home for HS."

Exactly. While some of the kids in the lowest third of the MS magnets will happily gravitate back to their home HS, it is a much bigger deal to not be able to keep up with your friends in the 8th grade than it is in the 5th.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"Is very difficult socially. To be with same group of kids through MS and then back to home for HS."

Exactly. While some of the kids in the lowest third of the MS magnets will happily gravitate back to their home HS, it is a much bigger deal to not be able to keep up with your friends in the 8th grade than it is in the 5th.

This is so kid specific. One of my kids would be miserable socially and academically in the home middle school

[Anonymous]

Anyone with experience going from Barnsley to North Bethesda MS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"Is very difficult socially. To be with same group of kids through MS and then back to home for HS."

Exactly. While some of the kids in the lowest third of the MS magnets will happily gravitate back to their home HS, it is a much bigger deal to not be able to keep up with your friends in the 8th grade than it is in the 5th.

Honestly, this so depends on the child. I had a very bright, somewhat shy DC at the HGC. HGC happened also to be homeschool. DC went to magnet MS and then returned to home school HS rather than RM IB, which was so far away DC didn't even bother to apply. DC was definitely in the top of the magnet MS. Returning to home school HS was a bit boring in 9th. In retrospect, I should have pushed harder for school to allow DC to take more than one AP in 9th grade, but we were cautious about overloading DC.

The real problem in returning to the home HS is that the course/academic counseling for the transition is non-existent, so home HS had no understanding of how truly capable the magnet MS student is.

The other problem in returning to home HS is that the magnet MS kid will typically be quickly ahead of his/her peers academically, taking advanced math, languages and APs. This means they are in classes with students a year or more older. My DC has managed to navigate this. I am not really sure whether it is a benefit (no really good friends to distract DC in class) or a burden (sometimes DC doesn't know anyone in a class, and in HS kids are much more sensitive about talking to younger peers).

Generally, the choice to return to home HS has been worth it. DC can take APs or IB classes which are challenging but not overly so. Getting good grades is relatively easy and marginally boring for the most part. DC isn't traveling a great distance to school any more so overall the trade off of time has meant that DC can get deeply involved in other things in life (sports, personal interests, outside work, etc.)

Plus, there were other magnet MS kids that did return to the same home HS, so they still have their closest friends. The others that went on to magnet HS they keep in touch with by social media and see at least once a month or more at social events.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At Takoma. English has been a boring disaster, but at least we have math and sci.

Do you think English at TPMS is any worse than home MS? or are you comparing to Eastern?

Not PP, but I had a kid at EMS and TPMS magnets. TPMS english is definitely worse than EMS magnet, but probably pretty similar to any homeschool english.

Similarly, EMS math and science are nothing compared to TPMS magnet science, but pretty similar to any homeschool program. Although, I have to say that science, in particular at EMS, was pretty bad/easy/boring at a number of points across 3 years. Expectations for non-magnet students at Eastern are REALLY low, IMO, due to the culture of the administration.