Middle School is way too easy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why can't you just accept the fact that the standards have been watered down and honors and AAP is just honors and AAP in name these days? Why can't that actually be a correct narrative?

NP, I’ve taught AAP for 15 years. It is leas rigorous…and the kids getting in are much lower. Many cannot handle the past rigor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Which electives did your child choose? Perhaps they selected ones that are too easy for their skill level? As far as the core classes, you should make sure that your child is reading at least 1 hour per day after school from a high level book of your or their choosing. (Let me know if you would like suggestions for books.) Also, I would recommend that they do extra practice through Khan Academy for math. Perhaps 30 min per day? Your child should also be filling their free time with several hours of sports practice or exercise every day. Do they play an instrument?

Why do I need to be scheduling Khan academy and buying books and setting reading times? Also what about writing? Do I have to plan that too? This is 7th grade. Now I need to be a teacher to my kid for 2 hours a day?

Yes, if you want more rigor than you need to supply it.

Why if Prince William just does it as part of their schooling? What is holding Fairfax back?

You think that Prince William schools are generally better than Fairfax County schools?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Which electives did your child choose? Perhaps they selected ones that are too easy for their skill level? As far as the core classes, you should make sure that your child is reading at least 1 hour per day after school from a high level book of your or their choosing. (Let me know if you would like suggestions for books.) Also, I would recommend that they do extra practice through Khan Academy for math. Perhaps 30 min per day? Your child should also be filling their free time with several hours of sports practice or exercise every day. Do they play an instrument?

Why do I need to be scheduling Khan academy and buying books and setting reading times? Also what about writing? Do I have to plan that too? This is 7th grade. Now I need to be a teacher to my kid for 2 hours a day?

PP here. No, you do not have to plan or teach anything. Can your kid not go to their school or community library and check out high level books of interest? Can they not find Khan Academy on the Internet? If not, perhaps you should be teaching your child some of these life skills.

As far as writing, certainly you can encourage your child to write more. I suggest buying them a journal or diary to help them get an opportunity to write more.

Why go to school? What is actually happening at school that is worthwhile? Do I get the taxpayer dollars too? These are not honors or AAP classes. It's false advertising.

You’ve complained enough, homeschool. Even when your kids have graduated you’ll still be paying for public school. FCPS is looking for parent approval or satisfaction. Concentrate on what you can control - supplementing your DC’s education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:AAP curriculum has been watered down to allow those students who do not belong to succeed. In true AAP, only 20% of those actually enrolled would qualify.

This is the real reason!

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Get a life, Tiger Mom.

My kid can handle a lot more especially in English and yet there is no work. Then I've seen kids struggle and drop out of classes in high school or college. Why wait so long? My child isn't in 2nd grade anymore. They can handle 1 hour of homework a day.

“Afternoons are too busy to make up for the lack of rigor during the day”, but you want an hour of homework?

Why though? Why can't they just be kids before high school hits them? Don't they deserve free time?

Yes. Yes. they do. This is why I don't want to do C2 or private school with a long bus ride or drive or any of these options. I just want AAP classes that are actually advanced during the school day which if advanced should have some prep work for them such as writing a draft or reading a chapter or studying for a test.

This conversation just isn't going anywhere because no one actually believes the curriculum is watered down to the point where it is barely general ed much less AAP. If my observation were met with some truth the conversation would go better than arguing about the word playdate versus getting together with friends. Many people on this site these days just want to put people down and argue so instead of actually discussing the point as a possible reality you just spend your whole time defending.

OP, many people on this board have agreed with you today and in the past few years. There is just nothing you can do to change it unless you do it on your own.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Enroll your DC in a full-fledged supplemental tutoring program at a center like C2. C2 would be thrilled to provide intensive instruction and you can think of it as college prep!

When they give me a full scholarship and my kid gets credit for the classes and a bus comes to pick them up from the house sure. Why is C2 able to do this but not FCPS? Are you saying FCPS used to be capable but now isn't and they should stop taking my tax dollars and stop having these classes in name only? My friend's kid btw was in a much lower-performing school district. Stop giving FCPS excuses for their poor curriculum. MCPS parents got on MCPS for their homegrown curriculum that didn't produce the results. FCPS results are not good of late. They need to step up their game.

We're moving toward the Korean system where the real learning occurs in afternoon/evening tutoring schools and kids use the regular school day to snooze so they are fresh for night school. It's not a good equilibrium. Kids are overburdened with total academic hours there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Get a life, Tiger Mom.

My kid can handle a lot more especially in English and yet there is no work. Then I've seen kids struggle and drop out of classes in high school or college. Why wait so long? My child isn't in 2nd grade anymore. They can handle 1 hour of homework a day.

“Afternoons are too busy to make up for the lack of rigor during the day”, but you want an hour of homework?

Why though? Why can't they just be kids before high school hits them? Don't they deserve free time?

Yes. Yes. they do. This is why I don't want to do C2 or private school with a long bus ride or drive or any of these options. I just want AAP classes that are actually advanced during the school day which if advanced should have some prep work for them such as writing a draft or reading a chapter or studying for a test.

This conversation just isn't going anywhere because no one actually believes the curriculum is watered down to the point where it is barely general ed much less AAP. If my observation were met with some truth the conversation would go better than arguing about the word playdate versus getting together with friends. Many people on this site these days just want to put people down and argue so instead of actually discussing the point as a possible reality you just spend your whole time defending.

OP, I get your frustration in all your posts, but trying to compare in general in such a huge school system will not be very fruitful. If you're looking to have a more nuanced conversation you'll have to provide the actual school. Middle schools can be very different, even within AAP. E.g TJ feeders will very likely have a much more rigorous subset of classes within the school aimed at the "TJ crowd" peer group. On the other hand the same subject on paper in a different AAP class will be much more watered down. You can't really compare things across this huge school system without more info.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:AAP curriculum has been watered down to allow those students who do not belong to succeed. In true AAP, only 20% of those actually enrolled would qualify.

This is the real reason!

Go on over to the AAP board and check out the number of parents screaming about appeals and test prep and lawsuits and so on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Get a life, Tiger Mom.

My kid can handle a lot more especially in English and yet there is no work. Then I've seen kids struggle and drop out of classes in high school or college. Why wait so long? My child isn't in 2nd grade anymore. They can handle 1 hour of homework a day.

“Afternoons are too busy to make up for the lack of rigor during the day”, but you want an hour of homework?

Why though? Why can't they just be kids before high school hits them? Don't they deserve free time?

Yes. Yes. they do. This is why I don't want to do C2 or private school with a long bus ride or drive or any of these options. I just want AAP classes that are actually advanced during the school day which if advanced should have some prep work for them such as writing a draft or reading a chapter or studying for a test.

This conversation just isn't going anywhere because no one actually believes the curriculum is watered down to the point where it is barely general ed much less AAP. If my observation were met with some truth the conversation would go better than arguing about the word playdate versus getting together with friends. Many people on this site these days just want to put people down and argue so instead of actually discussing the point as a possible reality you just spend your whole time defending.

OP, I get your frustration in all your posts, but trying to compare in general in such a huge school system will not be very fruitful. If you're looking to have a more nuanced conversation you'll have to provide the actual school. Middle schools can be very different, even within AAP. E.g TJ feeders will very likely have a much more rigorous subset of classes within the school aimed at the "TJ crowd" peer group. On the other hand the same subject on paper in a different AAP class will be much more watered down. You can't really compare things across this huge school system without more info.

It’s not a tj feeder unfortunately.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Which electives did your child choose? Perhaps they selected ones that are too easy for their skill level? As far as the core classes, you should make sure that your child is reading at least 1 hour per day after school from a high level book of your or their choosing. (Let me know if you would like suggestions for books.) Also, I would recommend that they do extra practice through Khan Academy for math. Perhaps 30 min per day? Your child should also be filling their free time with several hours of sports practice or exercise every day. Do they play an instrument?

Why do I need to be scheduling Khan academy and buying books and setting reading times? Also what about writing? Do I have to plan that too? This is 7th grade. Now I need to be a teacher to my kid for 2 hours a day?

Yes, if you want more rigor than you need to supply it.

Why if Prince William just does it as part of their schooling? What is holding Fairfax back?

You think that Prince William schools are generally better than Fairfax County schools?

The student maybe not based on money and upbringing but the curriculum yes at the middle school level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Which electives did your child choose? Perhaps they selected ones that are too easy for their skill level? As far as the core classes, you should make sure that your child is reading at least 1 hour per day after school from a high level book of your or their choosing. (Let me know if you would like suggestions for books.) Also, I would recommend that they do extra practice through Khan Academy for math. Perhaps 30 min per day? Your child should also be filling their free time with several hours of sports practice or exercise every day. Do they play an instrument?

Why do I need to be scheduling Khan academy and buying books and setting reading times? Also what about writing? Do I have to plan that too? This is 7th grade. Now I need to be a teacher to my kid for 2 hours a day?

Yes, if you want more rigor than you need to supply it.

Why if Prince William just does it as part of their schooling? What is holding Fairfax back?

You think that Prince William schools are generally better than Fairfax County schools?

The student maybe not based on money and upbringing but the curriculum yes at the middle school level.

What, specifically, is in their curriculum that Fairfax lacks? And how do you know this? Even when I was an educator with kids in the system I had no idea the specifics of how a teacher in another county ran their classroom on a daily basis. I’m genuinely curious if all this is posted somewhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like you should consider sending your kid to private school.

+1

[Anonymous]

I saw a comment on twitter that said is there any group that complains more than teachers....the answer is YES parents win by a landslide!! Nothing is good enough EVER!

[Anonymous]

OP, people keep asking what school and you dont reply. Are you a troll? Because a sane person does not keep coming back over and over, saying that we aren’t helpful and that they are going to leave, and then continues to say the same argument the same way over and over.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, people keep asking what school and you dont reply. Are you a troll? Because a sane person does not keep coming back over and over, saying that we aren’t helpful and that they are going to leave, and then continues to say the same argument the same way over and over.

Because it’s irrelevant. It’s not a TJ feeder but is an AAP center. That is a small enough category to discuss whether AAP classes generally are too watered down unless the school has a lot of parental pressure to get into TJ.