Anonymous wrote:How long does it normally take for your kids to do homework/project/presentation and readings due to placed in CES program? Daily basis of weekly basis?

The answers to this will be all over the map. It depends on the teacher, the project of the moment, and the individual kid.

The few late nights my DD had were of her own making—she procrastinated and didn’t focus enough in their work time during class, or on the previous evenings she’d had to work on a project. But after the second one, she started to realize the importance of time management and planning ahead.

Some kids do better with that sort of thing from the start, but it was a really good lesson for mine.

How long does it normally take for your kids to do homework/project/presentation and readings due to placed in CES program? Daily basis of weekly basis?

I think it depends on the program. Mostly that means the teacher. My kids 4th grade CES teacher piled on the busy work with ridiculously convoluted projects. She took all the joy out of learning. The next year was a breeze - still challenging, but without the stress and 20 page assignments.

Anonymous wrote:A lot of families, including ours, had to pick between CES and sports. We wanted DS to be happy, which meant switching back to home school to have time to do after school activities

It’s definitely kid-dependent. Mine was utterly miserable with the tedium of the standard classes, and thrived in the CES environment. No amount of after-school activities ever made up for the endless repetition and flip-charts that made the school day an endless slog for her.

She generally didn’t even mind the homework, because there weren’t a lot a worksheets and repetitive examples. It was reading and analyzing, creating presentations, and allowed a lot more scope for creativity and independent thought.

The CES wasn’t perfect—nothing will be—but for my kid, it was a game-changer. And she still managed to do after-school activities a couple of days a week, with the understanding that homework came first.

A lot of families, including ours, had to pick between CES and sports. We wanted DS to be happy, which meant switching back to home school to have time to do after school activities

My child is in CES now. It’s a lot of work, but it’s the kind of work probably most kids should be doing. I’m delighted with the program. I wish my older child had gotten into it. Before accepting an invitation, you want to make sure that your kid can embrace the idea that they are working harder than some other 4th graders, but it’s worth it. There are a bunch in-depth projects throughout the year. Also, I’ve lost count of all the books they have read. They analyze the books in small “bites” in their writing journals. It would be terrible for a weak reader, but in general this would be good for any kid with an analytical, hardworking tendency.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lots of work and homework. That's kind of the point.

Like a few sheets of homework daily?

It's like papers and presentations. It's like a reading/writing bootcamp. Mind you, this did this a couple of years ago, but I think that's still the spirit of the program. I remember when the kids were all singing that Britney song: "Wanna do CES? You gotta work, b!+¢h!" -- they sing "witch" tho hahaha

Anonymous wrote:Lots of work and homework. That's kind of the point.

Like a few sheets of homework daily?

Lots of work and homework. That's kind of the point.

Depends on teacher / school. My child went through the local CES at Rachel Carson with little homework.

We have CES at our home school and my son had several friends go through - my experience is that it depends on the teacher and the time of year, but that CES is project-intensive (whereas regular MCPS curriculum is not at all), so there is significantly more “home” work in terms of a higher reading load and many projects that require at-home time.

My rising 4th grader gets placed at local CES program, the same school he is at. I know it depends on teachers and school, but may I ask how much workload extra he will get or he should expect at 4th grade in CES program? Extra reading? Extra writing? Extra group project? Due to his sport schedule and etc, he is home quite late almost every weekdays. He wonders if he should not sign up for next year aftercare program, so that he gave extra time to work on homework or group project at home if needed. Any advice is helpful?