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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The pot of gold is having a child who is confident, knowledgeable, a good writer, socially competent, intellectually curious, and who can get into the program that he/she wants to pursue in college (whatever that is).

After that, it's 100% on them -- but I hope that being around other motivated, creative kids in ES/MS/HS cements that mindset and those habits in my kids' minds.[/quote]
Nicely put.  I'm glad someone mentioned writing, too.  My favorite parts of the AAP curriculum so far have been the increased opportunities for my child to organize and present answers and ideas in writing.      
[/quote]

I'm the PP quoted at the top -- [b]we have definitely seen a difference in how the process of writing has been taught and then enforced in non-AAP vs. AAP schools.  Sadly, my 4th grader (AAP) has received better writing instruction than my 6th grader (non AAP).  I am very seriously considering putting 6th grader into a summer writing "camp" with Fairfax Collegiate this summer to make up for the lack of grammar/structure or to hire a tutor for DC for the summer.  This is a child who scored in the 99th percentile for verbal ability on the CogAT, but[/b] didn't make the pool back in 2nd grade.  We didn't push it -- we didn't know.  It might just be this particular ES school (the non-AAP one), but the standards have been pretty lackluster and we are now seeing that DC is falling behind the 4th grader (who is in AAP).[/quote]

Wow.  My 9th and 11th graders are extraordinary writers and they just came up the old Gen Ed route.  Their AAP sibling on the other hand struggled in writing and ultimately took a summer class.

If your child doesn't write well, I don't see it being a gen ed v. aap thing. It's been our experience that writing is really emphasized throughout the FCPS curriculum. More likely it could be your child's teachers or a hang up he's developed (btw, "enforce" is a word that should never go with writing unless the goal is to write badly -- writing requires practice, but isn't like drilling in math problems. )  I think you're right that a different voice -- ie. a summer class, is probably not a bad idea.  [/quote]

By "enforce" I mean that the teacher corrects mistakes or telling the child that they have to correct mistakes and turn the work back in.... thereby "enforcing" the rules of grammar or the process of writing a paragraph or essay.  My 4th grader will tell you exactly what the formula is for writing a paragraph (opening idea in first sentence, three sentences supporting that idea and one sentence to wrap it up) -- and my 6th grader has apparently never heard of such a process/formula.  Same goes to writing a 5 paragraph essay.  Fourth grader has been taught the PROCESS of writing.  Sixth grader has always just been encouraged to write in her journal at school with little structure required --they say they don't want to stifle the child's creativity, so they don't want to worry about spelling or grammar.  I've helped edit writing products for the 4th grade AAP and the 6th grade (nonAAP).  The 4th graders were as good or better than the 6th graders (not just my child) b/c they were following a formula.  The 6th graders should have been using an outline but they were just throwing info all over the place without relating or connecting ideas.  And don't get me started on how my 6th grader didn't know it was an actual grammar rule that you can't start a sentence with a number (i.e. "7").

I could say the same things about math --- non AAP school is all "correct your own work" -- which means DC just floats through the fact that her answers aren't the same as what the teacher puts on board for the correct answers.  AAP kid's homework is corrected by the teacher and sent back with a grade.... if too many are wrong, DC is required to correct and turn it back in.... that's "enforcement" in my mind.  It's the difference b/t "whatever you feel like doing" and "this counts so get with the program."  [/quote]

Sorry that's been your experience.  My Gen Ed kids have always had teachers correct their grammar/spelling and they don't seem to make that many mistakes.  i think it's probably because they both read so much.

As for math, I do think the strength of the teachers can vary by school, not whether AAP or Gen Ed.  [/quote]

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