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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I don't understand the "not social" thing. Whenever I visit the school for an event, the kids are very social. [/quote]

It might be different for a girl, but my son felt the program was super social and not intense or terrible in terms of the homework. I don't understand the families who are here saying that. If it's a good fit, it's fun. The teaching is terrific. The peer group is great - they work together during off periods/slow periods in that long day. My son also played a sport and an instrument, but this idea that the homework load is onerous just wasn't his experience. (he did well, too - it's not like he didn't do HW and then got B's or whatever). For the right kid, this program is (chef's kiss) perfect. [/quote]

Did your son play an instrument at Blair. How did it impact their ability to take electives? [/quote]

He was in the band as a freshman, but not after that.. he took lessons after school. What was really neat is that he ended up taking classes like Guitar 1 and Piano 2 randomly- just using them as a space to practice his own instrument (with headphones)! He didn’t need the class, and was able to just use that period as a place to do his practicing for an hour and a half every other day. Occasionally the teacher would walk around and ask him to play a scale or something, but they left him alone for the most part. I really credit Ostrander for making this happen- though my kid did have to go and nicely ask etc. Things like this made Blair feel like a special place. Good luck to OP- and congrats![/quote]

This sounds an atypical arrangement. Won't you worry a little bit about impacting your DS' WGPA by inserting non-honored classes? All kids I know that practices instruments before at a competition level do test-in for an honor or AP level music class or band/orchestra. [/quote]

I had that same thought. Most magnet kids strive to only have one or two non weighted classes for their entire high school experience (typically required PE)[/quote]

He didn’t care about his GPA, I guess- I didn’t think to ask, actually. And he was doing ensemble stuff outside of school with his instrument and wasn’t interested in school band. I wish he’d stuck with jazz band, though.

Anyway- just answering the PP who wanted to know about electives and music. He took all the science electives he was interested in (and there were so many! So cool!) and still had time to do music.

(In his sophomore year of college they were using a book that a Blair teacher had used for the “hard” problems in one of his classes- amazing!)

Anyway, I’m a huge booster. It’s a great program and can be a lot of fun and not stressful. [/quote]

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