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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My experience has primarily been with the magnet programs. We have been in very diverse schools with high rates of FARMS/ESOL population and the overall experience has been good for us mainly because the classroom dynamics and peer group has been that of like-ability students.

I will say that Magnet program in HS was much more intense, Middle school was by far the weakest (even in the test-in) because it was just a few classes that were magnet.  As a result we continued to supplement outside of the school.

We see a lot of private school kids in the magnet program  in ES and MS, and my sense from talking to many of the parents is that the needs of highly able students are seldom met in private schools both in terms of peer grouping as well as curriculum.

Of course, this is all just an opinion.  As parents we take best decisions for our family and circumstances. [/quote]

Honest question: [b]if highly able kids aren’t being served well in private or public school, then what’s the answer for how to educate them before they get to magnet or top private HS’s[/b]?[/quote]

I am the PP whose post you commented on.

Ideally parents should keep a close eye on the abilities and needs of their children.  That way, you can customize what and how you supplement and enrich  your child outside the school day.  You can never ever control for all the variables in a school day - teachers, peers, curriculum, length of the period, student interest, length of instruction year, illness, textbooks. So, leaving it all to the school will be a recipe for at least a small disaster. How can a model that is based on giving a uniform education to all students (magnet, public, private) be able to hone in on your kids need for more specific and personalized education in a particular subject or topic? Especially as your kids needs and abilities may change every single day, in each period, in each subject, in each topic?  I am not advocating for homeschooling. I actually like public schools.  I like the diversity in all forms - SES, race, culture, abilities/needs that is represented and felt that it was worthwhile for my kids to be exposed to it. Parents can't be hands-off.

There are three things that we did as parents  1) made sure that a solid foundational curriculum was being imparted to our kids   2) researched all kinds of resources and incorporated what we felt was worthwhile and 3) as they grew up and showed aptitude and interest towards something, we made sure that we made opportunities and material available to them.

There is a baseline foundational curriculum that all students should get and there are some solid resources available that allows you to do so.  (BTW - I am the OP of a thread about curriculum and resources for ES and MS years - http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/716481.page ). What they are learning at school can certainly be supplemented by these resources.  Finally, we are resource heavy in DMV for all kinds of enriching experiences and we can certainly avail of them.

Once they enter HS, everything gets focussed on the HS journey and the college application process.   So it is vital that the first 14 years of their lives is spent in making their academic and educational foundation as strong and wide as it can be. The pace is HS becomes intense and so the less gaps in knowledge and foundational skills there are, the better.

As parents you have to maintain a delicate balance between [b]not pushing too hard but pushing hard enough[/b].  You have to become knowledgeable enough that you know when the instruction/curriculum/rigor is lacking for your child and how to rectify it. 
[/quote]

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