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[quote=Anonymous]BASIS is still accepting applications for fifth grade.

In choosing schools, for me high school sports and the environment it creates was a big issue.  So I would also like to add that for non jock kids, BASIS is ideal.  I recently read a thread on the Deal cheer leading squad (don't remember where, sorry, maybe someone else can help) where folks were arguing over the issue of skimpy uniforms for 7th grade girls and just realized again how blessed we are to be in BASIS.

I have a couple of kids, including a very big boy who looks like perfect football material but is not athletic at all.  I am very happy about the prospect of him being educated at a school where, while after school sports are available to blow off steam, PE becomes an elective before middle school starts, and the only BMOC possibly this year are the kids who won the science bowl in the DC region or something akin to that.

As for my girl who is already there, I well remember the uncomfortable feelings I had as a girl in 7th and 8th grade changing in the locker room when I was not even nearing puberty and some girls were definitely already in it.  Wondering if I would get teased if I started wearing what we used to call a "training bra" instead of a camisol/undershirt.  Watching girls reapply makeup that I did not and did not want to wear.  And the jocks were in PE as well - you could not escape them.  Not that they were mean to me.  I was just invisible.

While I admired the gymnastics involved in the cheer leading both in middle and high school, the overtly sexualized nature of it appalled my parents and I could not imagine dressing that way (I came from a deeply religious family).  And both the football team and the cheer leading squads created a pecking order/ popular crowd that I had no chance at being a part of.  And the kids on the It's Academic team, even the year they did really well, were also still invisible.

I LOVE watching the kids come up every grading period and get applause for honors, the 90's club, and top 5%.  And most improved.  While it may not be as loud as a pep rally (they only do one grade at each ceremony), there are a lot of parents who come each time and the parents and the students really enthusiastically and loudly honor them.  They are not restrained and verging on rowdy.  I love it.  I hope my son ends up being able to walk up on that stage, at least off and on.  THAT is the kind of applause and cheering I want him to hear, for accomplishments that required as much work as spending hours and hours on a football field, risking life and limb, but doing something that we really want and is obviously respected by others at the school.

If he were really talented at a sport (potential scholarship material) I would have to think really hard about BASIS and depriving him of those opportunities.  Fortunately my kids are as clumsy as I am.  The cool kids at BASIS are actually the smart ones, and while there are mostly no grades for class participation, there is no incentive for a girl to hide her intelligence.  And they come up on stage really smiling and proud just like the boys.

For us, BASIS has solved a few problems/concerns that moving to Montgomery County would not have.  And I knew that the problems were on the horizon, and I worried about it for many years. My husband did not have the same experiences I did in high school, and was not anxious about many of the things that I was.  He does not have a sister, has always been very secure about who he is, and just did not care.

Thank you to everyone who brought BASIS to DC.

Some of us really wanted and needed this type of environment for our children, and I am delighted at how happy my daughter is.  We could not afford a private school that would provide it (and there are not many where the sport issues do not exist).

We did not have to argue about whether our child is gifted and talented and belonged in a separate program (a school within a school), which I have heard is a real struggle in the neighboring states that have those programs. And we will not have to argue again for our younger child.

Our child even ended up in the right math class for her!  (I am kind of joking, but I think they did a pretty good job of placing people, and I have seen no signs of competitive parents which is what I would expect at a place like TJ.)

Finally, I am so glad that last year I did not have to become a nervous wreck wondering whether my child would get in to fifth grade (I heard somewhere that for fifth at Latin there are 900 applications for 100 spots, and the charter school scene for younger kids (which we skipped) sounds even worse).  And we are extremely glad that we are now guaranteed sibling preference.

As I said at the start, BASIS is still accepting applications for fifth grade.  I encourage any parent with whom this post resonates to apply and have their child attend the STARS program if that is still possible.[/quote]

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