Why are you sending your child to Basis?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

That's what has happened to us in our expeditionary school.


Perhaps MS is a good place for students to start learning those skills, since it will be assumed they have them in HS, in college, and in life.

Just like you said, middle school is a good place to START learning research and critical thinking skills.
The problem is that students are not learning it. The teacher is assuming these are skills students will acquire on their own if they spend the entire language arts/socials studies timeslot day after day doing it. The emphasis is on the end product and the way it is supposed to look it. At this age, I strongly believe the emphasis should be more on the process than the product, so that they take the process and apply it to another activity.
I would not have been so disillusions and dismayed, had the teachers balanced grade level interesting activities with the complicated long-ranged expedition which is almost the same theme they did for over 5 months last school year -- only this year, they need to present it electronically as a class.

[Anonymous]

I was informed that they will be using Saxon Math.
They will about 15 mins of instruction, then they will start on their homework in class. The teacher is there to help students that are hav ing problems with the work. The next day they will go over homework problems that students had issues with.

[Anonymous]

I would be shocked if there is not homework every night. A child trying to take 6-10 AP exams by junior year of high school will simply have to study outside of class time. My DD is in a middle school which assigns little homework compared to other schools and she still has 45 minutes to 2 hrs a night, depending on the day and luck.

If they will be reading classics, for example, when would those books get read? During class? Doubtful, that's for discussion time. What about writing -- you need a block of time to write. Would that also be in class? Doubtful, how could the instructor bring out themes and talk about the book and also have time for the kids to sit and read it? Memorization of verb tenses for a second language? Again, that's something that a child has to work on alone most likely.

By all means, ask the founders this question and let us know the prognosis, but parents, I would not base your decision to attend on a promise of little homework.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am not that smart and I didn't work that hard in high school. I am very commited to showing up - I have always had good attendence. My parents supported me. I passed 4 AP tests. Why does Basis go on and on about kids having 4 hours of homework a day in order to pass a few AP tests????

Two points, PP.

First, BASIS upper school students must take a minimum of 8 AP courses and pass a minimum of 6 AP exams to graduate. Many pass more than the minimum.

Second, BASIS claims to assign very little homework. IIRC, BASIS students have regular homework only in math. The philosophy seems to be that, since the kids focus on learning to the exclusion of all else during the 7 hours they are at school each day, there is little reason to load them up with homework.

If this is true Basis is much more attractive to me. Every parent I know who attended the info sessions (several of whom are very impressed and are going to send their kids there) talked about there being hours of homework a night. If you look at the reviews on great schools, there is talk of hours of homework a night. If homework is regularly assigned only in math, we will definitely look at Basis for my kid. I don't care about my kid going to the best school in America, I want him to have a childhood.

I want my child to have a childhood and the premise of BASIS seem a little incongruous to me,,,

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am not that smart and I didn't work that hard in high school. I am very commited to showing up - I have always had good attendence. My parents supported me. I passed 4 AP tests. Why does Basis go on and on about kids having 4 hours of homework a day in order to pass a few AP tests????

Two points, PP.

First, BASIS upper school students must take a minimum of 8 AP courses and pass a minimum of 6 AP exams to graduate. Many pass more than the minimum.

Second, BASIS claims to assign very little homework. IIRC, BASIS students have regular homework only in math. The philosophy seems to be that, since the kids focus on learning to the exclusion of all else during the 7 hours they are at school each day, there is little reason to load them up with homework.

If this is true Basis is much more attractive to me. Every parent I know who attended the info sessions (several of whom are very impressed and are going to send their kids there) talked about there being hours of homework a night. If you look at the reviews on great schools, there is talk of hours of homework a night. If homework is regularly assigned only in math, we will definitely look at Basis for my kid. I don't care about my kid going to the best school in America, I want him to have a childhood.

PP here. My assertion that there is little regular homework assigned is based on my recollection of the discussion about homework during a BASIS Q&A a few months back. I have no first-hand knowledge of the amount of time the typical (or gifted or struggling) BASIS student spends on homework.

I have to admit that my recollection is not what it used to be. However, I was left with the impression that regular homework is assigned only in math and in other classes only sporadically. The school sets aside blocks of time during the day for kids to complete their work at school, rather than at home. The BASIS representatives offered various rationales for this approach: teachers are available to help kids have trouble; it is burdensome to parents to assume the responsibility for teaching at home; grading is based on exams much more than homework; limiting homework frees the kids to pursue extra curricular activities in the evenings and on the weekend. There might have been others.

That said, there are several posts on GreatSchools complaining about amount of homework assigned. There are also several claiming that the amount of homework is quite reasonable. I have no reason to believe one set of posts over these other. Perhaps there a bit of truth to both. One parent writes the following:

"If you just want your child to LEARN and you can let go of the high expectations of straight A's, there is nowhere near 3 hours of homework per night. My daughter is in 7th grade and all she has to do after school is math. Which takes about 1/2 hour because she utilizes the time the teachers actually give them DURING SCHOOL to do her work."

Another writes:

"I am so sorry your daughter had so much homework. That means she was wasting the time given in class to work on homework. I have two children at Basis and they rarely have homework. They use that time in class to complete the homework. What did your daughter do with that time? Teachers do this so if your child has a question about the homework they can ask the teacher for help. I wish you all the
best."

So, perhaps it is the children with poor time-management skill and those with perfectionist tendencies that spend hours on homework. Then again, perhaps most of the children spend hours on homework but under-report the time they spend on homework, thereby duping the teachers into believing that they are assigning a reasonable amount of work.

[Anonymous]

I like Basis, it is the think tank of schools. That's not for everyone but when it works it is a good thing.

[Anonymous]

And for what it's worth, I would take parental complaints about homework with a grain of salt. Parents of students at Deal routinely post on DCUM complaining about the amount of homework their kids have to do, although our first-hand experience has been that it's very manageable for an organized student and most of the complaining posters eventually clarify that their kids have ADHD or other organizational problems.

[Anonymous]

So BASIS is for neurotypical, organized students who work quickly, use their time wisely but are not perfectionists?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So BASIS is for neurotypical, organized students who work quickly, use their time wisely but are not perfectionists?

You drew an unsound inference, PP. Disorganized students, slow students and perfectionists belong at BASIS as well. However, they will have hours of homework.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I like Basis, it is the think tank of schools. That's not for everyone but when it works it is a good thing.

In Tucson, perhaps. But in downtown DC? This is a trainwreck waiting to happen! Pass the popcorn!

[Anonymous]

14:21, if the founders are saying that only math is given as actual homework and that the rest of the work is done during class hours, but then other parents of non-neurotypical kids or those who are not organized, or are perfectionists, or whatever (LOTS of kids in other words) are saying that their kids are finding the homework onerous, then the reality is that the founders may be unrealistic about their academic program. If a good portion of the kids have trouble completing their work in school then that's reality, despite what the school's organizers may say.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I like Basis, it is the think tank of schools. That's not for everyone but when it works it is a good thing.

In Tucson, perhaps. But in downtown DC? This is a trainwreck waiting to happen! Pass the popcorn!

Worse than the rest of DCPS? Not possible. But enjoy the schadenfreud.

[Anonymous]

If class time is wasted on homework, when does the actual instruction take place?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:14:21, if the founders are saying that only math is given as actual homework and that the rest of the work is done during class hours, but then other parents of non-neurotypical kids or those who are not organized, or are perfectionists, or whatever (LOTS of kids in other words) are saying that their kids are finding the homework onerous, then the reality is that the founders may be unrealistic about their academic program. If a good portion of the kids have trouble completing their work in school then that's reality, despite what the school's organizers may say.

This is the norm in many European countries.
Quite a bit of math homework, review questions in science, review concepts in social studies, and well-thought language/literature projects in the classroom which are interesting and cover an array of different topics.

[Anonymous]

Working great for Greece and Spain right now....