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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My 7th grader has good science and Algebra teachers but the 6th science teacher was terrible.

Magnet classes are very good.  It's a lot of work though. [/quote]

My DD was also accepted and this is what I'm worried about. Can you explain a bit more about the workload? My daughter loves to read but doesn't love to write. She's actually more of a mathy kid but was waitlisted at Takoma. We're going to give it a shot but I'm worried about her burning out in middle school. She's currently at an HGC and can handle that level of work. Is it a drastic increase in homework time commitment coming from an HGC? [/quote]

I would say no.  The people who have the biggest shock are those who came from a non-HGC elementary school and need to adjust to middle school (with 7 different teachers) and the magnet program workload at the same time.

I've had a few children go through Eastern's program.  My children who write down their homework and fill out their agenda did fine.  The one that did not, struggled at first.  They all were not good writers when they started but loved reading.  All became strong writers and without realizing it.

As to the math - all posts here are correct.  The math teachers are just normal MCPS math teachers.  Some ok, some good, some not ok.  They would be the same as if you remained in your home school.  That being said, two of my children who have 'graduated' from Eastern were accepted into the Blair SMAC (Math magnet) program so it didn't hurt them in that way.

All are involved in different sports/activities year-round.  However, we don't have the commuting issue as we live fairly close by.

I hope that helps.  [/quote]

To the poster whose kids went to Eastern then Blair SMAC -- were your kids able to perform at the same level as the TMPS kids, maybe after some adjustment, including in math competitions, or were they behind from the get go and, though they were able to get a great math education, never quite caught up to the other kids?  My kid is a math whiz but also loves reading/writing and, like all of us, could use some intense writing instruction.  Blair is so much closer to us that I think that would be better than Richard Montgomery IB for high school.  So Eastern magnet MS then a try for Blair SMAC seems ideal (I know he may not get in anywhere, but still, I'd like the information), but I would hate to have him disadvantaged in the math area, since that is where his true talent is and he likes math competitions.  Any wisdom to share?[/quote]

That is a great question.  I'm the PP.  So I have one that actually went to SMAC from Eastern so far (two got in -- one is at CAP; one is still in MS).  It was an adjustment for the first quarter.  There is an intensive math 'week' in the summer before 9th grade that I called "Algebra II by Fire Hose" where everyone did poorly on the test the first day and much better after 5 days.  The TPMS students did incrementally better (e.g. from 21 to 25 right) and non TPMS students improved more (15 to 23 right -- these are just examples, but you get the idea).  You take home the packet and can continue to work on it all summer.  That was a help - but I remember him coming home with huge eyes from that first day.  It was helpful to sit down at the table to make him realize it just was practice rather than raw brain power.  It helps if a parent is there to say it (if one of you was an engineer or math major).   I would constantly say that practice is an easy problem to fix - raw brain horsepower is harder to fix.

I also asked the magnet coordinator for his test score -- I told it to him because it was good.  I would not have told him if it was average.  That helped his confidence.  My student who went to CAP was not told their math test score, for example.  It wasn't as good.

They will tell you that the difference between middle school instruction disappears in the first semester and I agree with that.  It did take him a bit to feel confident.  He's beyond fine now.

He didn't join the math competitions until late in his sophomore year and that did impact his ability to 'compete'.  That was due to him being an introvert however -- if he had joined his freshman year, he would have been fine if he kept at it.

So, there is an initial difference -- some kids have seen the problems before and know the simple tricks for computer programming or math.  HOWEVER, that only helps for the first time the problem is shown.  After that, everyone is at the same place trying to learn.

If your child has any inclination for math over other subjects, I highly recommend it.  It is absolutely the best math instruction he/she will ever receive. Much better than a calculus teacher at a research university!  [/quote]

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