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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]our dc loves it and doesn't want to leave. the community of kids/classmates and families is wonderful.  it's very rigorous and the demands  build as kids get ready to transition to high school (for example, in 8th grade a 10 page research paper in history with thesis, formal biblio, cites etc). it seems like a lot of work to me, but apparently it prepares them well for high school. no tutor for our dc and don't hear much about them. our dc loves sports, arts and social, and so for him, life will stay balanced because he likes and needs  the mix. but that also means he won't be the highest academic achiever in the class which is ok with him. my sense  is that if your child is a perfectionist and really needs perfect scores on everything, that could make for some unhappiness because it will be a big grind (ie there are kids who will study over 10 hours for a history test--in 8th grade). these kids are so talented, but also really nice and interesting and supportive. [/quote]

I’m not trying to be snarky, I promise. I am genuinely curious. Has homework and expectations changed significantly since we were coming of age (I was in MS and HS in the 90s). I went to a normal public school.  10 page research papers with bibliography, citations, etc. were PAR FOR THE COURSE. My eighth grade year, we had to stage a full debate, complete with a fully-cited argument submission (around 15 pages). I absolutely want my child to have fun in life—life is long, childhood is short—but this doesn’t strike me as unusually rigorous, or even rigorous. Have things changed? Is there more information I need to know? We are considering applying next year but had worried about the “pressure cooker” element. The tutoring for every child I’ve heard and sounds awful. But the workload? If this is it, then I’m stressing about nothing. [/quote]

Past poster here with kid in MS at SFS. I think this is a really good point.

I attended an independent school in another part of the country in the late '80s/ early '90s. I remember a lot of writing and project work back then - definitely, we were doing 10+ page research papers if not by MS, at least by HS. But this kind of thing does seem to be noteworthy now.  I think the biggest comparison is against public schools, where this much writing is not done as much, because of the number of kids in the classes. It takes a lot of time and effort on a teacher's part to grade essays and research papers.

What I find appealing in this area about SFS MS is that there is a strong and consistent emphasis on developing writing skills in history, English and even science, to a certain degree. The kids write a LOT. There is this one large research paper but many other shorter papers/ essays as homework and in class given throughout the year, in multiple subjects.[/quote]

Thank you for your reply. I love the emphasis on writing, and perhaps I was lucky that I got so much in a public MS in the 90s, or perhaps things really have changed, as a relative matter, between public and private.  That is a shame.  I was writing chemistry lab reports in seventh, history reports, book reports, weekly essays—can’t remember a time I wasn’t writing! Maybe I’m biased, but given what I do for a living, I’m glad I had all that “training.”  By implication, it seems that SFS teachers are very good about providing feedback on the writing? Looking back, I owe a debt of gratitude to those tireless teachers who commented on every single essay. Wow. [/quote]

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