Give me constructive advice on how to help my middle schooler in English
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Anonymous
no parental involvement. Why would a 13/14 yr old need their parents to listen to a book? And yea, my DD has been listening to audio books since she was 12. She doesn't need me to do it. Stop babying your MSers. |
Anonymous
No one said a MSer NEEDS a parent to read a book to them, they suggested they might enjoy it and as a way to get them to engage in reading more, particular of books they may like but not immediately choose themselves. The point being that listening can be just as enjoyable a reading experience, for some more, than actually reading the text. But yeah the rest of us our babying kids because we’re open minded enough to consider alternatives to forcing our kids to read books during the summer🙄 |
Anonymous
My husband and I read books to each other. Am I babying him? Nope, we are sharing a love of great books. Same with reading to MS kids. If you’re too lazy to do it, fine, but don’t claim it’s about independence. My MS kid mows neighbors’ lawns, walks their dogs, routinely watches their kids while they are in the house but busy, etc. He walks/bikes to the store to buy groceries. He reads on his own and with me or his dad. All these things can be true! |
Anonymous
And your basis for saying that her kids are ahead of the private school kids she knows is…….a DCUM thread? What is she supposed to do, just enroll both her kid at Sidwell, one in a non entry year to boot? She would be surrounded by people like you, so I can’t advise that. |
Anonymous
That’s an interesting list. Most of those don’t seem to screen for ability though or have a lower bar, like the highest threshold for Northwestern’s is 95 percentile, whereas CTY’s is 98 percentile. Many also don’t seem significantly cheaper. It’s just nice being around other top performing peers, but it depends what your kid needs. |
Anonymous
Reading aloud has been a family activity for centuries, there is nothing demeaning about it. It is the shared enjoyment of books. - Teacher |
Anonymous
I would never send my daughter to Sidwell, but ok. |
Anonymous
+1 I was about to write something along these lines. That private school advocate is doing a disservice to private schools. To pay for private and to have to deal with weird people like her would be tragic. |
Anonymous
No one is advocating anything. We couldn’t care less if you keep your kids in MCPS. |
Anonymous
If you’re making educational decisions based on this forum, you are negligent as a parent. |
Anonymous
So this is OP. Actually my kids attended private and international schools most of their lives. The past 2 years is their first time in public. I can say confidently that they are able to cover more material in math/science/humanities than at their private/international schools (I am not going to say where because I could out myself at this point). My spouse and I have an MD and PHD between us and we are quite fine with science and math here. Meanwhile, I have literally looked at the material that friends' middle schoolers are learning in math and humanities at various private schools and it's of a lower standard in math for sure and equal in humanities. Also, I can already tell you don't actually understand the diversity issue. We go to a majority - minority school and I appreciate that as a brown person. I could care less if your child has friends from all over - that's basically what every white person in the DMV says. And I will tell you that there's a huge difference between having 2 Muslim friends and having a special prayer room set aside for prayers that people actually use everyday. Every brown/black person knows what it's like to be a token versus having a real voice and a real home. Anyway, that's not what this thread is about. It's about how the English in mcps middle school is total crap. This isn't a thread for people to bash the public schools and pat yourselves on the back for sending them to private. It's for people who want to stay in public schools and are looking at reasonable, cost effective ways to improve their kids' education. Also, i'd like to know if anyone has done anything at their school level to improve the situation (advocating with the administration for example). |
Anonymous
You’ve looked at materials other people’s kids are covering? Enough to make a blanket statement? I call such MASSIVE BS. |
Anonymous
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It sucks that MS English is terrible at MCPS, and OP, I totally understand why you don't want to switch to private because of this.
However, if they don't have an interest in reading literature, I'm not sure it's going to work to force it on them during the summer. Not every 12 year-old wants to read Steinbeck while lounging at the pool, you know? If they're reading anything, that's a good thing, if they're busy pursuing other interests, that's also great, and their intellectual development is probably not going to be permanently harmed by a few years of classes that aren't challenging. And then in high school and college they'll have the opportunity to take classes where they'll be forced to read real meaty fiction, and if they're generally smart kids doing well in their other classes, and reading anything on their own for pleasure, they'll probably be prepared for it. |
Anonymous
| Just send your kid to Catholic school and they’ll teach them. |
Anonymous
OP has already categorically rejected private schools because apparently she’s looked at all the materials and knows it’s worse in private schools. LOLOLOL |