What to do, or not to do, at the Green Acres parent interview.

[Anonymous]

We did not get in.
I think that I could give a bit of advice to those applying:
Appear to be really into the Progressive approach.
Do not ask about phonics.
Do not ask about drills or memorization.
Do not ask about competitive sports.
Do not tell them what other schools you've applied to unless those other schools are progressive like Lowell, or Burgundy, or perhaps Sheridan.
Yes, I know that many will flame me for this, but it is not in my interest anymore, we are very happy at our current school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We did not get in.
I think that I could give a bit of advice to those applying:
Appear to be really into the Progressive approach.
Do not ask about phonics.
Do not ask about drills or memorization.
Do not ask about competitive sports.
Do not tell them what other schools you've applied to unless those other schools are progressive like Lowell, or Burgundy, or perhaps Sheridan.
Yes, I know that many will flame me for this, but it is not in my interest anymore, we are very happy at our current school.

With the exception of the last item on your list, these are no-brainers for anyone who did even the tiniest bit of reasearch on the school. Yeesh!!

[Anonymous]

I did not ask about drills, but I did ask about phonics...that was dumb.

[Anonymous]

Do talk about your child and the type of school environment in which you feel your child would flourish.
Do talk about whether you feel a small teacher child ratio would benefit your child
Do ask how the outdoor world is incorporated into the curriculum
Do ask why the school is pre-k to 8 by design
Do ask how they feel about the new head Neal Brown
Do ask about the turtle ranch
Do ask about the science curriculum
Do ask about photography, ceramics, visual arts program
Do ask about how much time the kids spend outside each day
Do ask about the specials
Do ask about PE
Do ask about community service programs
Do ask about parent opportunities for involvement in the school
Do ask about how many years of experience the faculty have? Are the faculty happy? Do they feel supported by the administration to keep learning throughout their careers?

These are things that interested me. I really wasn't interested in asking about phonics or drills.

[Anonymous]

If you want phonics and drills look no further than Primary Day-

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We did not get in.
I think that I could give a bit of advice to those applying:
Appear to be really into the Progressive approach.
Do not ask about phonics.
Do not ask about drills or memorization.
Do not ask about competitive sports.
Do not tell them what other schools you've applied to unless those other schools are progressive like Lowell, or Burgundy, or perhaps Sheridan.
Yes, I know that many will flame me for this, but it is not in my interest anymore, we are very happy at our current school.

Excuse me, but why did you start this thread? Did someone ask in another thread?

[Anonymous]

Are these poems, or code?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We did not get in.
I think that I could give a bit of advice to those applying:
Appear to be really into the Progressive approach.
Do not ask about phonics.
Do not ask about drills or memorization.
Do not ask about competitive sports.
Do not tell them what other schools you've applied to unless those other schools are progressive like Lowell, or Burgundy, or perhaps Sheridan.
Yes, I know that many will flame me for this, but it is not in my interest anymore, we are very happy at our current school.

Excuse me, but why did you start this thread? Did someone ask in another thread?

As a FYI to all those that apply. They really ask about other schools that you are applying to, more than any other school. It seems like they want to know if you are truly into progressive or just applying to GA as "another" private school.

I actually found them to be the most mysterious (in a negative way) school that we applied to. We got into one of the Big 3, we are happy.

[Anonymous]

Well Beauvoir and Green Acres are a small world apart in their approach so they were probably right to reject you (not your child since it would be you who would pull your child out in the end because the school would not have been what you wanted).

[Anonymous]

I'm not at either school, but having toured most schools in the area an application to Beauvoir and Green Acres seems odd. If you are at GDS then my foot is in my mouth.

[Anonymous]

For what it's worth, we made it clear that we were really into progressive education and that was the only reason we were considering not going to public school-- which was not the case as far as I could tell for any other parent on visiting day or the playdate-- but we didn't get in either.

[Anonymous]

They also want kids whose birthdays are in September - March. That is they want older kids, entering K at 5 1/2 rather than just turning 5.

[Anonymous]

That's a generalization, particularly with summer boys, that can be applied at any of the area private schools.

[Anonymous]

I'm not the PP who said this, but she's right. Green Acres actually uses a June 1 cutoff date, and says they'll consider summer birthdays case-by-case. Grrr.

[Anonymous]

Not pp either, but Green Acres might be the only school that actually states this. Good luck trying to get your summer boy into any of the big three or four. Not going to happen and if you call and ask they will say something along the lines of case-by-case/you know your child best [but it is highly unlikey he will be admitted].