Any Current Green Acres Parents out there?

[Anonymous]

Interested in hearing about the good and issues you wish you could change as well as any problems you or your friends in the school may have faced and how the teachers and school addressed the issues. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

bump.

[Anonymous]

I have two kids (one of each) in the lower school at GAS and they LOVE school. Neither of our kids is an angel, though both are well-adjusted and pretty regular kids -- some strengths, some weaknesses, no major issues -- unless you count a bit of O.T., some executive function weaknesses, and a sports-obsession in the boy.

Problems in their grades have seemed completely normal for the ages involved, given what we know of other schools from friends. We aren't alarmed to hear that kindergartners sometimes have trouble sharing or that third grade girls can exclude each other. In a total of seven Green Acres years (between our two kids), we've only called the school once with a concern, and it was handled immediately and effectively.

We refuse to gossip with other parents about the did-you-hear-about "bullying" or the nasty things middle schoolers do. Sometimes I think that half the problems in schools nowadays are the result of parents blowing things out of proportion and making their kids worry. We assume our kids will be uncomfortable some of the time and that's one way they learn to cope with the world. The teachers are the professionals and we count on them to handle the things that come up -- not to stop every act of misbehavior, but to handle it with experience and perspective.

We chose Green Acres deliberately even though we live pretty close to Sidwell's lower school and have some good connections at other well-regarded schools. We are both Ivy-educated professionals, and we were impressed by Green Acres' list of high schools and colleges their graduates attend. BUT ... we believe that kids will grow up and do well naturally if we encourage them, provide them with all they need (but not everything they want), and expect them to resolve their own conflicts most of the time. We do not want our kids to face the kind of competitive academic pressures we hear about at all the so-called "top" schools in the area. We are really worried about the over-emphasis on academic success at the expense of the real goals of childhood (play, physical activity, assurance that adults like and care about them) in so many schools these days. We are sad when we hear about anxious adults measuring their kids' progress or their school's "quality" by how many kindergartners can read or how many seventh graders are taking geometry.

So, we think our kids have been really well served by the developmental model at Green Acres. My dear mother-in-law, who spent almost 50 years as a teacher and principal in the public schools, enthusiastically concurs with our choice.

By the way, Green Acres has a new head of school next year. People are understandably a little anxious about the transition, but we met him and he seems great. No sense worrying about the future until it arrives, we figure!

That's probably way too long -- but hope it helps.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for the detailed response. Can you speak to the academic diversity at the school? Are there children who are clearly ahead as well as clearly behind? If so, how does the school meet the needs of these children?

[Anonymous]

we do like the school. and we don't want to push our kid at this young age (K) on academically. but we also realize academic will be a major aspect as they grow up. we also notice the after GAS placement looks very good. but do you know how competitive the GAS graduates in after GAS (high school) compared to students from other schools?

[Anonymous]

Hi there. Sorry to have been gone a few days.

To the poster on 2/22 at 12:26:

I am sure there are some kids who are really bright and others who struggle in some areas. I think every school has this regardless of what they say. At Green Acres, our experience has been that both our kids have been challenged, but that the teachers don't try to challenge every student in the same way. For example, in third grade there may be a reading assignment, but because of the way the class is structured, there may be three or four different books that kids can choose, and the teacher guides them to choose books that make sense at their own reading levels. So students can answer questions about a main character's intentions, for example, without having all the stronger readers leading every discussion. There is no expectation that every student will do exactly the same thing, so it's easy to structure classes for a wide range of abilities. I think the school is proud of this and it was attractive to us.

One other point that's worth making. We think our kids learn a lot from others, both those who are stronger than they are and those who may not be, say, reading at the same rate. We are really happy that the school recognizes that each kid has strengths outside of any particular subject in the classroom. Our daughter has one classmate in particular who struggles in reading but who is really funny, a great athlete, super-adventurous, and a great leader of groups when the students work that way. If the school focused only on her reading weaknesses, she'd always feel beaten down and those other qualities wouldn't be accessible to our daughter. So it helps our kids understand that being "good at reading" isn't the only way kids can draw on each other's talents, and that academic weaknesses (within a range, obviously) aren't a reason kids shouldn't be able to be in school with each other.

To the poster at 14:27 (same person? no?):

I'm not sure I understand the question. If the Green Acres kids are being offered as many spots at GDS, Maret, St. Andrew's, and Sidwell as they seem to be offered, isn't that an indication that the kids are performing well? I know that GDS takes tons of Green Acres kids every year. Why would they take that many year after year if they weren't "competitive" with the others? And the college list has many strong placements as well, including multiples at Harvard, Brown, Wash U., NYU, Wesleyan, Oberlin, Carleton, etc., etc. Perhaps I'm missing a part of the question? If so, feel free to post again. I'll try to respond sooner this time!

Overall, for us, Green Acres was a "gut feeling" kind of place -- it just feels like the teachers really understand what kids need, rather than trying to make the kids into "miniature adults." If you are going to be nervous that your kids won't get as much homework as the MCPS kids, or that they enjoy school too much to be learning, or that they will be in classes with kids of wide abilities, the school's approach may not work for you. For us, those are all positives. Kids will grow up and learn calculus soon enough. We don't care if that's in 11th grade, 12th grade, or college. Our feeling is that they'll be much more ready to do that when they're ready if they have a great childhood foundation to build on.

Again, hope that's helpful!

[Anonymous]

12:26 here. Thanks again for the response. We really loved Green Acres and hope that our child might have the opportunity to go there. Their playground and facilities were unbelievable.

[Anonymous]

14:27 post here.
thank you very much. you made a very good point. i hope our dc will get acceptance too.