Anonymous wrote:16:31 Our kids K year there was no switching. Maybe that's the reason for the difference. Can't believe they're even switching already. Let them get used to the classroom their in first and the school! Can't this wait till Oct?

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At our kids school if they aren't competitive about schoolwork, they're competitive about sports or dance.

16:31 Our kids K year there was no switching. Maybe that's the reason for the difference. Can't believe they're even switching already. Let them get used to the classroom their in first and the school! Can't this wait till Oct?

The AAP discussion on these boards is going the way of SAHM Vs Working moms or whatever. One or the other and never the twain shall meet. We have an AAP kid in a center where the conversation is not on 'less interesting things". It works for her and it works for us. In every center there are tiger moms (and dads, of course) but the same applies to GenEd as well. When our child was in GenEd in grade 2, there were a couple of barracuda moms who were perpetually complaining about "too much schoolwork, too much homework" all the time. That did not work for us as our child was actually demanding more work (yes, it happens). So somehow the impression that AAP is full of tiger moms and no strong PTAs is an extreme view of how things are. Just as the impression that all GenEd non-center schools have a country club atmosphere with everyone at utter peace with everything. As these boards will tell you, there are mean and bitter people everywhere and they will show their colors wherever they are.

Terra Center, Cardinal Forest, Ravensworth, Orange Hunt, etc. All great schools!

Anonymous wrote:Wow OP. I've never heard of what you're going through. The most I've heard is that the parents do this. Very strange to see children do this especially the first year. If your child is K, give it a little bit more time. It's only been a couple of weeks.

I actually have heard this and experienced it. Here is the thing - kids are observant. At any school they are noticing who is in which reading or math group, who goes to the reading specialist, etc. It is human nature to take note of one's environment and "place" yourself within the levels that you see. At AAP center schools, especially, kids are very aware of who is in which class. I do not hear mean or degrading comments but I do hear a lot of comments about who "is smartest" and even a few who "works harder".

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow OP. I've never heard of what you're going through. The most I've heard is that the parents do this. Very strange to see children do this especially the first year. If your child is K, give it a little bit more time. It's only been a couple of weeks.

I didn't read the OP as saying her kid was still in K but only that they'd been at a center school since K.

DC is currently a 4th grader and has been at this school since K. Just looking for an environment where the focus of conversation is on other, more interesting things.

Wakefield Forest is one of the strongest elementary schools in the Woodson pyramid and has Local Level IV

Anonymous wrote:Wow OP. I've never heard of what you're going through. The most I've heard is that the parents do this. Very strange to see children do this especially the first year. If your child is K, give it a little bit more time. It's only been a couple of weeks.

I didn't read the OP as saying her kid was still in K but only that they'd been at a center school since K.

Wow OP. I've never heard of what you're going through. The most I've heard is that the parents do this. Very strange to see children do this especially the first year. If your child is K, give it a little bit more time. It's only been a couple of weeks.

Union Mill Elementary. Great, great neighborhood - PTA standing room only.

The problem with a very small school is that there often aren't enough volunteers for things. Vienna I think might be an exception, but many small schools just can't do as much for their school as a center school.

We were very happy with Pine Spring ES.

Olde Creek. Two or three classes per grade; strong parental involvement; not a center.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hunt Valley or Orange Hunt.

Great neighborhoods, great people with smart kids that seemingly could care less about AAP.

Wow, the anti-AAP attitude on DCUM is finally becoming, "I want to avoid any chance of my child being in a school with an AAP center even if my child is in general ed." Without regard for the quality of the general ed in that school, or the overall "community feel." Yes, center schools are also community schools with community involvement.

Seriously, OP, look at any school as a whole. AAP students are just kids, and in four years when my child has been in an AAP center I haven't seen the kind of elitism or crazed intensity that DCUM posters constantly claim exists in the kids and the parents. I just never saw it, and I spent a lot of time in the school every week working directly with kids and teachers.

Don't make assumptions about an entire school just because it has a center or Level IV classes, and don't dismiss a school outright for just that reason. You might be denying your child a very good general ed program just because it is under the same roof as a center.

OP here: Why would you think a Gen Ed program in a non-center might be inferior to GE within a center? And I haven't jumped to any conclusions or made any assumptions here. My child has been at a center school since kindergarten and while you may not have experienced any of the above (crazed intensity, etc.), I certainly have. The children are constantly comparing who is in which class and it's not healthy at all. So thanks for your advice, but I'll keep searching for a more wholesome environment for my child.