Reply to what is the difference between Madison HS, Oakton, and Reston high schools?

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Reply to "what is the difference between Madison HS, Oakton, and Reston high schools?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My youngest just graduated from South Lakes. All 3 of our children graduated from there. My 3 were very different, and were all served well. Oldest was super strong academically and did mostly IB/dual-enrollment. Middle had IEP and did a mix of classes. Youngest was very involved with theatre and chorus and also a strong student who did mostly IB/dual-enrollment. I would say that SLHS has a very strong arts program, both performing and visual arts. I say this from direct experience.  We live about 2 miles from the high school.  Reston trails are amazing.  My kids took the bus to school until they could drive, but they would sometimes walk home if the weather was nice.  As others have mentioned tons of kids walk to the shopping center near the school. There are mostly chain restaurants there., but we have an ice cream shop opening sometime this summer, and both Cafesano and reds table are great local spots.   As far as your concerns for your daughter and mean girls, etc.., I would say that the very best thing for all three of my kids was finding something to be involved in.  My oldest did robotics for a while as well as chorus., my middle did anime club for a while and chorus as well.   My youngest was in theater and chorus.  I know lots of people whose kids are involved in marching band and Orchestra.  The same goes for sports.  What I’ve seen across the board that no matter the activity, being involved in something during high school really helps create a more positive high school experience especially as it relates to making friends.  My direct experience was with the arts, and our experience was positive across the board with regard to friendships.  I’m not sure what your budget is, but a nice single-family home rental just went on the market this week in my neighborhood.[/quote]

How did your kids like the IB? Did it seem fluffy, or actually good as a teaching tool, or too hard and time intensive? Where did they do dual enrollment at?[/quote]

IB fluffy? Absolutely not. IB classes are extremely rigorous very writing intensive, but they really liked the classes for the most part. This prepared my college kids really well for the writing rigors of college.  All 3 are excellent writers.  Upper level math classes were intense, my oldest was the only one who went all the way with the IB math courses.  None of my three kids are big math lovers, so this may have been the case even if they were at an AP school. The majority of the dual-enrollment classes were through NOVA , but are held at SLHS just like any other class.  My daughter did take a dual-enrollment Geospatial analysis class that was through JMU.  [/quote]

Is there writing in math too? I thought that was a big difference that steers people to AP and away from IB school. That IB makes math more theory and there are papers/essays for IB?[/quote]

The IB Math classes take an integrated approach, blending algebra, trig, and calculus somehow. There is no IB Calculus class. I am not sure what the differences are between IB Math SL (standard) and HL (higher). I do know, from talking to friends with kids at SLHS, that there are rarely enough students to offer the IB Science classes at the HL level, I am not sure if the Math is offered at the HL on a regular basis. We are hoping to pupil place out of SLHS to an AP program where our child can take the AP Science and Math classes that are more in line with how math and science are taught in the US and at the higher level. If SHLS was able to offer the IB science classes at the HL level on an annual basis we would take a more serious look at staying but even then, IB Physics HL is algebra based and not calculus based.

You can get an excellent education with the IB program, but the classes are taught differently, it is more than just additional writing. The material covered in math and science is different than the material covered in AP class, which does not excite us. I think additional writing is valualbe but I would say that IB, as taught at SLHS, is better suited for a kid interested in the humanities then it is for a STEM student. The school has known about this for ages and has done nothing to fix the problem

Personally, I am hoping that my kid ends up at the new HS, which will more likely then not be AP, and we don't have to worry about pupil placing them. But we don't intend on staying at SLHS because the IB program is not strong in STEM.

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