Reply to How can kids be successful in average MCPS schools?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Read this -
https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/716481.page

I could give an answer but it will be a 6 hours TED - talk.

Short answer.

- I became an expert in MCPS, curriculum and learning resources from the best in US and also from some Asian and European countries.  For all grades.

- I used textbooks, quizlet, Khan Academy, Great Courses, and E D Hirsch's books and core knowledge foundation.  I sat and worked with my kids for 1- 2 hours each day.

- I created lesson plans for all the subjects and made sure that it was  interesting and enriched. The enrichment was with documentaries, research, reading books/comics, projects, fieldtrips etc. I did it from K-8th grade.  My kids were flying on their own throughout  HS, college, internships , job searches etc, because they knew how to do it since K-8.

- I went beyond MCPS and US education and my kids studied a lot of other subjects that are not taught here.  Geography, poetry and elocution, astronomy, permaculture and ecology, sociology, anthropology, history of indigenous people, economics, personal finance and investing, debate and public speaking, essay and  precis writing, math, world history in chronological order, art history...

- I educated myself in the ins and outs of the college process, timelines etc.  I guided my kids like a private tutor and a private counselor.

But most importantly, I wanted them to learn what their brain was capable of learning and also I wanted them to learn how to learn and enjoy learning.  I knew that the more varied subjects that they learned and the more I could reinforce the learning from various learning tools - they would start seeing the patterns and connections across subjects.

Yes, my kids were high achievers but that happened organically - just because they were so accelerated and enriched. My kids were also avid readers because I was reading to them till they were 8 years old, even though they could read since 3 yrs old. [/quote]

DP. [b]You sound like you’re cultivating the curriculum you think your children should have which is fine but it doesn’t exemplify their own natural curiosity.[/b] Two of my kids went through MCPS and ended up at top 10 colleges and are very successful. I didn’t supplement other than when my kid missed a month of school due to medical reasons and that was to hire a math tutor two or three times. 
[color=darkred]How do you come to that conclusion? The additional subjects were put in place based on the interests of my kids and yes, I was cherry picking from what was taught in schools in other countries too. [/color]

Maybe what you did worked for your children but graduates of MCPS can and are still very successful in college without all of that.
[color=darkred]What is very successful? Can you define it?  Are your kids sufficiently resilient and have the training, skills and knowledge to be able to figure out the way forward when jobs start disappearing or when our workplace become global? We are massively behind other countries because our kids do not have foundational knowledge in school. Many HS grads are functionally illiterate. I watch kids not being able to hack it in STEM majors in UMD not because they are stupid but because they were not taught foundational content or skills in K-12.[/color]

[b]As a side note, textbooks aren’t the solution to a good curriculum but average joes on DCUM without any advance training on education pedagogy will try to convince you otherwise.[/b]
[color=darkred][b]Completely disagree.[/b] Do you work for MCPS central office? Textbooks are the minimum floor for public education in the classroom. That is what you can build on. And no, I was not using the MCPS prescribed textbooks because there are none.  I was searching for the best textbooks and comparing and contrasting and using all of that. Which meant that as a parent I put in the work and did not let MCPS rot the brains of my children. After all, what does MCPS or posters like you have to lose by giving shoddy service or misdirecting parents?[/color]
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