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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The kids don't really "start taking physics, chemistry and biology in 6th grade."  BASIS just claims they do. What they take is the regular middle school science kids get at good suburban middle schools around the country on a campus without the facilities for hands-on science learning, like a greenhouse or space to fly kites, test DIY rockets or drones or a real robotics lab. They also take what amounts to the same science over and over for years until they're bored silly with it. The curriculum is narrow primarily because electives are so weak, largely a function of the hopeless facilities, and because BASIS won't let kids study languages before 8th grade (much too little, too late here in the 21st century). A lot of these posts aren't in fact sour grapes. They're simply brutally factual. You don't really know what you're in for at BASIS, because you don't know what kind of admins or teachers your kids will get, or what sort of element (middle school cohorts) they'll land in either. There are decent admins and awful ones, there are well-behaved cohorts and rowdy ones. There are woefully inexperienced and overwhelmed teachers who quit mid-year and experienced teachers who don't.  [/quote]

I agree with this 100%. The "biology, chemistry and physics in 6th grade!" is a marketing schtick by BASIS.  It's a couple times a week for each class, and they're not doing anything advanced.  It's a shallow dive, the way a normal 6th grade science class would touch on these various topics.   Then they do the same thing again in 7th.  For example, the 6th and 7th grade physics comps covered almost identical material. [/quote]

BASIS doesn't have the money to do anything serious with science. They can't afford the well-trained science teachers, science fairs and excursions, good STEM labs.  They prep the kids for tests en route to science APs, maybe support a halfway decent high school STEM internship around the National Mall or two, that's about it.  Their approach isn't bad, it's OK, but far from great.[/quote]

Oh, they've got the money... they just need to keep paying that debt financing tho![/quote]

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