Reply to APS - HB Woodlawn Lottery

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I have a kid at HB and my other kid has now been waitlisted twice. I'm also a very active school volunteer, friendly with Board members and APS senior staff, etc, etc. I find this wait-listing [i]very[/i] surprising! (Or....maybe.....there is no conspiracy.....)[/quote]

Can you talk about HB?  We're on the fence - never thought we'd get in.  My son is going into 9th.  [/quote]

If your kid likes or needs structure and having lots of choices, stay in your neighborhood school. If your kid is self-directed and self-motivated and would, for example, be interested in working with a teacher to create the high school equivalent of a college independent study course, HB would be a good place. Think about how your kid has handled things like science fair in the past--can he manage projects like that on his own? Does he get into it? Or does he dread it? A lot of HB classes at the high school level are more like college--they aren't homework-every-night, test-every-two-weeks, they are more project-based, grade-yourself on how much you think you learned kinds of things. If your kid has a tendency to slack, HB could be a big problem. But if your kid is ambitious and, for example, reads a lot on his own, HB would be great. Also if he gets really into things and could do his own focused study, like film or ecology or some weird subfield in history. The teachers at HB will totally accomodate kids who have intense interest in certain areas. They aren't set up to motivate kids who just want to do an assignment every day.

Also no sports except ultimate. Some kids take the sports bus but it seems to be a pain. Music programs are great. A lot of kids take a class or two at the Career Center in the AM. [/quote]

Thank you so much.  In many ways, I think this could be a good fit.  My son is very self-motivated - he comes home every day from middle school and just does his homework before anything else. He also studies for tests and quizzes without prompting, and when everything was pushed back last week because of the snow/cold, he continued to review until he actually had his exams this week.  He has done exceptionally well in middle school and is a great reader. However, I am not sure he is the type of kid who is so self-directed that he would propose his own independent study or focus for himself.  He does very well, but he also likes direction and guidance about what he is supposed to do.  I am so torn.  [/quote]

They don’t have to do independent study—it’s an option. Just an example of the kind of thing they have at HB to help show what kind of school it is. But they do have things like in third quarter they pick an independent focus for English, a topic or author or genre, which they do with a small group and a teacher (not necessarily the English teacher).

Your kid can always try it and switch back if he feels it’s not for him. [/quote]

We had a kid who graduated from hbw and another kid who never got off the waitlist. Because of all the SOL requirements and Virginia diploma requirements, the academics aren’t that different from the base school, and most kids we knew took standard classes, not self-designed college level courses. In the olden days, I think hbw was freer, but now they take attendance for every class, tick off every homework assignment and offer AP classes like other schools. The main difference was that my kid had the same teachers several times eg in English, math, foreign language, band etc so the teachers do know kids better when it comes to college apps. Scheduling is trickier because HB might offer only one section of a particular class while bigger schools have multiple sections through the day[/quote]

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