Reply to Flint Hill Elementary vs Louise Archer Elementary for AAPIV kiddos

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]As I mentioned, both are very good schools. Just that academics are much stronger at LA. FH tends to emphasize sports a bit more, and this manifests itself in Madison HS, where academics are a distinctive second to sports.

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I don't understand what you're trying to say. Flint Hill doesn't "emphasizes sports." There're no school sport teams or clubs. A lot of kids play in a rec league for baseball, soccer, or basketball or join a swim team during the summer, but isn't this the norm for families who want their kids to grow healthy and happy? Plus, kids from both Flint Hill and Louise Archer, AAP or not, eventually end up at Madison.[/quote]

Do not disagree.

Families at Flint Hill generally tend to actively participate in sports. That is healthy and important. I love that. No disrespect.

At the same time, LA families tend to put more emphasis on academics. Thus many academic activities tend to be stronger at LA. This has an impact on class room as well.

I am not at all saying one is better than the other. So if a family has a kid who is not going to play sports or would emphasize academics, then LA is the obvious choice. There is a limited amount of time in a week, if you are going to put time on one thing, it would take away time from other things.

It is nice to have such excellent choices right next to each other. Not a slam on any school. Had kids in both and like them both, a lot.

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Why does it have to be one or the other? Plenty of families have their kids participate in both sports and academic enrichment. What is your kid doing every day after school and during the weekend that they can't possibly do anything else?[/quote]

Not one or the other, but which one you are going to emphasize.

I bring up the example of Madison HS, because that is where the seeds planted during elementary school come to their logical conclusion.

Madison is strong in many sports and band. You see it in practice and emphasis. I ended up going to multiple HS presentations (where middle school parents get a glimpse of the HS), and Madison's was an anomaly in terms of how much time is spent on sports and how well attended and energetic that segment was.

In academics, you can see the opposite. This does not mean students are dummies or don't get high-quality education. But it is not rigorous. I had the opportunity to see the same course being taught at Madison and another school. At Madison, looking at specific questions on the test and, more importantly, how some of the assessments are graded, it is crystal clear that it is less rigorous. It does not mean that Madison does not prepare students for college. It does. But, many of the classes do not have the rigor that I would expect.

You would expect a team that plays/practices basketball 1 hour a week to be weaker than a team that plays/practices 5 hours a week. However, when it comes to academics, people tend to act like that is not the case.

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What in the world are you talking about? Archer feeds to Madison too… the entire pyramid is both sports and academic competitive. There are plenty of kids at both schools that are emphasizing both.

One of the biggest differences with a center vs local level iv is that your kid will be mixed in with non level iv kids at the local school. Their peer group is limited to aap level iv kids at the center. Also to consider with this pyramid is middle school. Level iv goes to Luther Jackson while everyone else goes to Thoreau. You can choose to go to Thoreau from Archer, but you will throw them into a “new” peer group - less of an issue if you have friends built into your neighborhood who have been going to FHES, but something to consider.

For families with multiple elem age kids, the schedule can suck and seems to be a major factor to decide. Archer runs on the later elementary schedule where FHES starts earlier at dismisses at 3:30. Depending where you are in the boundary though this matters less - if you are walkable to both, for example - or just walkable to FHES — in the latter instance they will bus your kid back to FHES to walk home.

Also, at the centers, there can be a culture of exclusivity within aap - I don’t know if that’s the case at archer, but we experienced that when we were zoned to a center previously. Kids who weren’t level iv sometimes complained about feeling like second class citizens. (My kiddo was aap; we heard this from other parents on her club sports team)[/quote]

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