No good teachers at BASIS High school?

[Anonymous]

10:06 DC was homeschooled.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:10:06 DC was homeschooled.

kind of figured that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:11:23 please go on the website and see what the classes are per grade. In sixth, English is only 5x per week. The addition is that they have us history instead of phys geo and instead of science 5x per week, they have bio, chem and physics each three times per week. PE is less than every day and either art, music or drama are taken daily. It all works out and the class periods aren't longer.

Every year is different.

Yep. I know this was a question for us going in, so here's a hypothetical for 6th:

Math M-F period 1
History M-F period 2
Physics M/W period 3, F period 4
Biology M/Tu/Th period 4
Chemistry Tu/Th/F period 3
Aero M-F period 5
Lunch M-F period 6
Art M-F period 7
English M-F period 8
Latin W period 4 Th/F period 9
PE M/Tu/W period 9

In any given day, you have 6-7 graded courses (PE doesn't count, and Art barely does at this grade). They try to make it so a kid never has more than two sciences per day.

Math has homework 4 times per week, and is tested on the following Friday (always a one week lag). The Saxon curriculum is designed not to require any additional studying (for quizzes, etc). In reality, a little review is required here and there.

The science curriculum in 6th is naturally fairly rudimentary, and is based primarily on Holt's "Science and Technology" series. It's the same series that is used in middle schools nationwide -- it is normally available as the red book (Earth sciences, for 6th grade), green book (life sciences, for 7th grade), and blue book (physical sciences, for 8th grade). Basis covers the better part of the green and blue books during 6th grade. Honestly, though, I think the teachers tend to go quite a bit deeper than is required, because some of the material covered in class is deeper than those books go, particularly in biology, which tilts heavily toward anatomy & physiology.

As they are taught, biology and chemistry are probably similar to high school non-college prep courses. Certainly challenging for a 6th grader. Physics is taught at a very, very basic level. Kids perform at a wide range in that subject, though, because it is so theoretical and abstract. Some struggle tremendously, and some are bored out of their minds (I think the teacher told us it was about a 3:1 ratio).

Latin follows Wheelock, so it is not a blow-off. It moves a little slowly, as you would expect, but it is the real deal. Same goes for history -- it is almost at AP level, but moves along more slowly.

English is the most flexible. Teachers can vary their reading selections, but they are all focused on the fundamentals of grammar and citations at this stage. Writing style really isn't covered yet (logic is not introduced until 7th).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:10:06 DC was homeschooled.

How do you figure? My child was definitely not homeschooled. I have one who might be next year, but not that one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:10:06 DC was homeschooled.

How do you figure? My child was definitely not homeschooled. I have one who might be next year, but not that one.

Oh you sound like the parent that tells everyone she homeschool her child before coming to Basis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:10:06 DC was homeschooled.

How do you figure? My child was definitely not homeschooled. I have one who might be next year, but not that one.

Oh you sound like the parent that tells everyone she homeschool her child before coming to Basis.

There are more than a couple of kids there who were homeschooled. Most parents of gifted kids keep their yaps shut about it, because other parents treat them and their kids like s**t. Those that talk about it often are often just braggarts, and there are more of those in DC than parents of actually gifted kids in DC.

[Anonymous]

I was just saying that from what we have seen, the home schooled kids are the least far behind from the get go

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was just saying that from what we have seen, the home schooled kids are the least far behind from the get go

Fair enough. Sorry for being snippy. There's an awful lot of bitter verbal assaults on this site, and I jumped a little strongly.

Yes, those kids do seem to be the most prepared. We did a lot of preparation before the school year started, to make sure we were ahead from the start. It's a lesson we (parents) learned in college, and decided to start teaching to our kids at an early age.

Being ahead can turn a nightmare class into a breeze!

[Anonymous]

BASIS parents are like reading an Onion article on gifted education. Thanks for the laugh crazies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:BASIS parents are like reading an Onion article on gifted education. Thanks for the laugh crazies.

No problem, troll. Now please go away.

[Anonymous]

I am sorry that your child is having a rough time at school- but the title of your post is misleading. It's not the teachers fault. If 'every' teacher your child has this year is not good enough for your expectations... There are many reasons Basis may not be a good fit for your family- but don't blanket the entire school as not being good- when it sounds like they are doing exactly what the school set out to do.