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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]It all comes down to the parents.  If you want your kid to succeed at an immersion charter, you either have to have at least one parent with heritage/connection to that langauge, OR you need to be willing to work damn hard (couple of hours a day) at helping your kid with the homework.  Even then you probably won't get the tones right in a language like Chinese.

Another option might be to hire a Chinese or Spanish speaking nanny or au-pair and instruct them to only speak their native language to your kids.

Bottom line is that becoming fluent in a second language is hard work, even for the kids.  It doesn't just happen automatically -- you've got to push for it and put a LOT of time into it.  If you don't have some family tie or particular interest in China, probably better to go for Spanish.  It's easier to see and use Spanish on a daily basis. [/quote]

I agree with you about not sending kids to an immersion school unless the family is willing to support it.  Maybe not hours a day but getting tutors to help with literacy.  Generally for kids the speaking part comes easily (even for Mandarin and I have kids at YY).  Tones are spot on according to my native Chinese speaker friends but the reading and especially the writing part does not:  For that we have a tutor but I know most families do not supplement at all.[/quote]

At the charter expo, the very nice parent rep. explained that there is supplemental help in the aftercare program. Hearing the price tag on the program in other threads here, I asked her if the aftercare was absolutely necessary. She said "no". I asked her how well the kids fared that couldn't afford or for whatever reason didn't want to attend the aftercare. She said they did fine and the attrition rate was really low. Any official info. on this anywhere? The rep. was very earnest and friendly, but seemed a little uneasy with that part of our discussion. Not that she wasn't being truthful, but I felt a little skeptical. Anyways, I'm higher SES, but I pay for full-time care for my infant, which is VERY pricey. Doing the math, the aftercare IF DS gets in may put us over the edge. Should we bother pursuing (our app. was put in very early for the hopes of a very low waitlist number), knowing we may not be able to supplement with aftercare of a private tutor OR can a kid really thrive with just the school day learning? I don't want my kid at a disadvantage and miserable.[/quote]

Your child will do fine with just the school learning especially in the younger grades, preK and K.  They have a lot of resources to help with Mandarin on the parent portal.  We did not bother getting a tutor until 1st grade, only an occasional Mandarin speaking baby sitter when younger.

The aftercare is just glorified babysitting, high quality babysitting with literacy and homework help if wanted but babysitting nonetheless.  Lots other fun organized activities too like yoga, crafts, gardening, etc

My kids really love school.  No complaints at all.[/quote]

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