Reply to Can someone tell me about the Eastern Magnet?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I've had two kids go through both Sligo and Eastern.  Eastern is hands down a more rigorous middle school experience, and our child that went to Eastern was definitely very humanities-oriented.  I would not recommend Eastern unless your child enjoys writing or is willing to work on writing.  There is a LOT of work. As a PP said, the media component is something that you can't really get anywhere else.  We were there before the pandemic, so our child went through the full Eastern experience with idrip and the NYC trip, and they loved it.

Math at Eastern was really pretty good and a lot of the humanities magnet kids also took the advanced math levels, some even going to Blair to take Algebra II.

Sligo currently has the AIM (advanced investigations in math) and HIGH (Humanities in Global History(?)) classes, which try to incorporate some of the projects that are in Eastern's magnet program, but it's not the same as being with the Eastern cohort.  Our other child did great at Sligo and is now in a HS magnet program.  So even if you decide to stay in your home school, you're not necessarily ruining your chances of getting into an application-only program in HS.[/quote]

Thanks everyone, and particularly this poster. The direct comparison is helpful.  I hadn't really realized that the magnet would take up the electives.  My kid really isn't humanities oriented.  He's a bright kid, and he'll work hard on whatever assigned, but it sounds like time on reading and writing would replace classes he's more interested in like art or computer science or Spanish, and that the increased homework might prevent him from continuing things he does by choice.

People mention diversity as having pros and cons, but I think the communities served by Sligo and Eastern are pretty similar.  Have you found that to be true?  Transportation is less of an issue for us than it is for more distant families. [/quote]

Sligo/EMS parent here.  In terms of diversity, yes, Sligo and Eastern are pretty similar.  The magnet classes don't take up all the electives.  You do get one elective.  DC took Spanish as their elective in 7th and 8th, and also did after school band, so they still got 2 electives, but it was a longer day 3 days a week.  In addition to being humanities oriented, successful kids at Eastern should enjoy working in groups and have a lot of attention to detail.  Group work producing movie trailers, films, and documentaries can really wear down introverts or others who don't collaborate well with others.  There is a lot of group work, and with it can come the stress of being able to get others to carry their weight, cooperate, compromise, etc.  I saw our child really grow in this area, but it was stressful for them.[/quote]

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