Culture of Holton-Arms

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What if you have a kid who wants to enter for 9th grade and has already taken Algebra 2?

Then they would placed into pre-calc. The US places students in the math class they test into.

The girls who are going through Holton MS end up either having to take Integrated to catch up or take Geometry outside Holton and test into Algebra 2.

[Anonymous]

Oh. I see they must do a pre-physics class in 9th grade and then another one later if they want, advanced physics. Hmm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oh. I see they must do a pre-physics class in 9th grade and then another one later if they want, advanced physics. Hmm.

It’s not pre-physics. It is just non-calculus based physics. The teacher is a literal PhD astrophysicist. The girls love the class.

[Anonymous]

DD is currently bored out of her mind because of the slow pace of her math class. Do current US parents who were in a similar situation have any advice for what we should do?

We have raised the issue to no avail. We have been told that DD can do accelerated math in US but have only received silence on how to address her current boredom during daily math class. DD asks us why it is this way, and we don’t know what to tell her.

We are frustrated and disappointed and looking for any guidance on how to get through this school year. I know that the real answer might be to move on, but for now, I am just looking for ways to get through the next 8 months. TIA.

[Anonymous]

So your DD is bored in 1 out of her 8 classes and you want to move on?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD is currently bored out of her mind because of the slow pace of her math class. Do current US parents who were in a similar situation have any advice for what we should do?

We have raised the issue to no avail. We have been told that DD can do accelerated math in US but have only received silence on how to address her current boredom during daily math class. DD asks us why it is this way, and we don’t know what to tell her.

We are frustrated and disappointed and looking for any guidance on how to get through this school year. I know that the real answer might be to move on, but for now, I am just looking for ways to get through the next 8 months. TIA.

She can't be a little bored for 50 minutes a day? The teacher refuses to give her higher level problems? She's not using the extra time she has to explore new concepts?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We've been at the school since lower, my daughter is now in the upper school near graduation. We loved the lower school and middle school as well. Upper school is a different story.

Upper school is a great fit for many girls, unfortunately, it has not been a great fit for my daughter.

If your daughter is off the charts smart, Holton is fantastic academically and I don't think you can find a better school.

On the most part, the teachers are exceptional.

Socially, the girls are extremely cliquey - if your daughter finds her clique, she will thrive - if not, she's going to be very lonely because it's difficult to make really close friends outside of school unless your daughter is on a team sport outside of school or has other resources to meet friends. And the amount of homework and test preparation in upper school is insane, so she's not going to have a lot of extra time.

Culturally, the school is extremely liberal and the girls are intolerant of girls who do not follow the same ideology. If your daughter/family is moderate or conservative, it's going to be a rough road for your daughter.

I hope this helps.

We are in Upper School now, and I agree with this poster that US is very challenging. Girls have their cliques and are not open to changing them. The US is a huge pressure cooker though, too. Be prepared for girls to get competitive and mean about it. The girls are all mostly over achievers so it creates a toxic environment. They are definitely not supportive of each other. Its quite the opposite of what we thought would happen in an all girls school. It is cut throat. Not diverse at all, too. The school is liberal but there is definitely a lack of diversity especially for this area which has been disappointing.

The administration is okay, not great. They don't listen to the girls complaints and just tell them that if they don't like it they can leave. The HOS is leaving which is great. I don't know anyone that is a fan. It will be interesting to see who they bring in. It will take time for any meaningful change to occur.

The families are mostly super wealthy. A lot of designer stuff being used/worn. We're probably on the high end of the annual incomes for the families that attend but I try to keep my DD grounded. No need for her to have a Louis Vuitton bag in high school!

LS is fine. MS gets bad. And US is toxic. If you enter is LS plan to leave for middle and high. It's just not worth it for the mental health of your child. I wish we had left but it was too late as we were in too long and too deep at that point.

THIS

[Anonymous]

I have a grad and an US student.

They have a fabulous supportive friend group. Their parents are great, too.

Classes are hard but the teachers really want the students to be successful so they are willing to help whenever they are asked.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So your DD is bored in 1 out of her 8 classes and you want to move on?

Yep. For $50k/year, we expect DD to be engaged in all of her classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do high school parents think of the physics first science curriculum at Holton?
Did it work for your girls? Did it get them to like physics and then take more advanced physics later on?

Love it—Freshman Physics teacher is a favorite and definitely made my daughter more interested in science. It has a good combination of instruction and hands on activities (ie egg drop, etc). She’s since taken Honors Chem and is in Honors Bio. She plans to take Advanced Physics senior year.

So physics is not taken AFTER geometry or algebra II??? It’s taken freshman year? How much math is used then?

It is a conceptual class. Very low level of math needed

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We've been at the school since lower, my daughter is now in the upper school near graduation. We loved the lower school and middle school as well. Upper school is a different story.

Upper school is a great fit for many girls, unfortunately, it has not been a great fit for my daughter.

If your daughter is off the charts smart, Holton is fantastic academically and I don't think you can find a better school.

On the most part, the teachers are exceptional.

Socially, the girls are extremely cliquey - if your daughter finds her clique, she will thrive - if not, she's going to be very lonely because it's difficult to make really close friends outside of school unless your daughter is on a team sport outside of school or has other resources to meet friends. And the amount of homework and test preparation in upper school is insane, so she's not going to have a lot of extra time.

Culturally, the school is extremely liberal and the girls are intolerant of girls who do not follow the same ideology. If your daughter/family is moderate or conservative, it's going to be a rough road for your daughter.

I hope this helps.

We are in Upper School now, and I agree with this poster that US is very challenging. Girls have their cliques and are not open to changing them. The US is a huge pressure cooker though, too. Be prepared for girls to get competitive and mean about it. The girls are all mostly over achievers so it creates a toxic environment. They are definitely not supportive of each other. Its quite the opposite of what we thought would happen in an all girls school. It is cut throat. Not diverse at all, too. The school is liberal but there is definitely a lack of diversity especially for this area which has been disappointing.

The administration is okay, not great. They don't listen to the girls complaints and just tell them that if they don't like it they can leave. The HOS is leaving which is great. I don't know anyone that is a fan. It will be interesting to see who they bring in. It will take time for any meaningful change to occur.

The families are mostly super wealthy. A lot of designer stuff being used/worn. We're probably on the high end of the annual incomes for the families that attend but I try to keep my DD grounded. No need for her to have a Louis Vuitton bag in high school!

LS is fine. MS gets bad. And US is toxic. If you enter is LS plan to leave for middle and high. It's just not worth it for the mental health of your child. I wish we had left but it was too late as we were in too long and too deep at that point.

None of this is consistent with our experience, but I guess to each her own.

THIS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DD is currently bored out of her mind because of the slow pace of her math class. Do current US parents who were in a similar situation have any advice for what we should do?

We have raised the issue to no avail. We have been told that DD can do accelerated math in US but have only received silence on how to address her current boredom during daily math class. DD asks us why it is this way, and we don’t know what to tell her.

We are frustrated and disappointed and looking for any guidance on how to get through this school year. I know that the real answer might be to move on, but for now, I am just looking for ways to get through the next 8 months. TIA.

A number of families augment with AOPS, Kumon, RSM, etc. There are a lot of positive aspects to the school, but the math in LS and MS can be a bit of a slog for some girls.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD is currently bored out of her mind because of the slow pace of her math class. Do current US parents who were in a similar situation have any advice for what we should do?

We have raised the issue to no avail. We have been told that DD can do accelerated math in US but have only received silence on how to address her current boredom during daily math class. DD asks us why it is this way, and we don’t know what to tell her.

We are frustrated and disappointed and looking for any guidance on how to get through this school year. I know that the real answer might be to move on, but for now, I am just looking for ways to get through the next 8 months. TIA.

A number of families augment with AOPS, Kumon, RSM, etc. There are a lot of positive aspects to the school, but the math in LS and MS can be a bit of a slog for some girls.

Thank you for trying to provide a helpful response.

The “what’s wrong with your kid being bored in class” responses were just bizarre.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do high school parents think of the physics first science curriculum at Holton?
Did it work for your girls? Did it get them to like physics and then take more advanced physics later on?

Love it—Freshman Physics teacher is a favorite and definitely made my daughter more interested in science. It has a good combination of instruction and hands on activities (ie egg drop, etc). She’s since taken Honors Chem and is in Honors Bio. She plans to take Advanced Physics senior year.

So physics is not taken AFTER geometry or algebra II??? It’s taken freshman year? How much math is used then?

It is a conceptual class. Very low level of math needed

Why bother? No other school does this. Is it a way for a liberal arts person to put a watered down version of high school physics on their transcript and hope a college accomplishments thinks it’s normal HS physics?

[Anonymous]

For my kid, who is not a STEM kid, it was a way to have a working familiarity with the principles of physics (and astrophysics) even though she doesn't plan to be a scientist, mathematician or engineer. She went on to take bio and chem and stopped there. I wish I'd had something similar--but as an adult I read Stephen Hawking's Theory of Everything instead.