Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Getting all A from TPMS is really easy. Almost 30% my DC's class at TPMS, including both magnet and non-magnet students, were straight A students.

The number of “my child gets straight A’s at TPMS” on the rusted out cars along Thayer ave make me question the rigor of the school. Maybe they have a Participation curriculum

This means nothing - Aren't the stickers sent every marking period to all the kids who got straight As that marking period? Do you think any parent is going to rip off the sticker from the previous marking periods?

The key is the number of 8th graders who get the special award for straight As for all three years. May be someone who was there at the award ceremony last year clarify?

For the graduating class of 2017, about 40 students received straight As every marking period.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Getting all A from TPMS is really easy. Almost 30% my DC's class at TPMS, including both magnet and non-magnet students, were straight A students.

The number of “my child gets straight A’s at TPMS” on the rusted out cars along Thayer ave make me question the rigor of the school. Maybe they have a Participation curriculum

This means nothing - Aren't the stickers sent every marking period to all the kids who got straight As that marking period? Do you think any parent is going to rip off the sticker from the previous marking periods?

The key is the number of 8th graders who get the special award for straight As for all three years. May be someone who was there at the award ceremony last year clarify?

Anonymous wrote:Getting all A from TPMS is really easy. Almost 30% my DC's class at TPMS, including both magnet and non-magnet students, were straight A students.

The number of “my child gets straight A’s at TPMS” on the rusted out cars along Thayer ave make me question the rigor of the school. Maybe they have a Participation curriculum

Anonymous wrote:Getting all A from TPMS is really easy. Almost 30% my DC's class at TPMS, including both magnet and non-magnet students, were straight A students.

I think the poster is just saying that getting straight A's at Takoma does not equate to getting straight A's at Blair.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Getting all A from TPMS is really easy. Almost 30% my DC's class at TPMS, including both magnet and non-magnet students, were straight A students.

I had two kids at Takoma (one is still there.) I would not say it is very easy to get straight A quarter after quarter at Takoma.
Both of my kids had some quarters straight As but not all at all.
It also depends weather or not your child is taking foreign language and how good he/she at programming.

+1 (I have one all "A" kid finishing this year and one who had a couple of "B's".) I've seen very strong students get a B or 2 over the three years. 3rd year of language isn't easy and there is a very difficult Computer Science teacher. A lot depends on how diligent and organized your child is as well as the difficulty of the classes. My organized child does about 30 mins-1 hour every day, with a sport practice for 2 hours every day. He's way more organized and focused than our other child was, probably b/c of the sport element to his life.

Anonymous wrote:Getting all A from TPMS is really easy. Almost 30% my DC's class at TPMS, including both magnet and non-magnet students, were straight A students.

I had two kids at Takoma (one is still there.) I would not say it is very easy to get straight A quarter after quarter at Takoma.
Both of my kids had some quarters straight As but not all at all.
It also depends weather or not your child is taking foreign language and how good he/she at programming.

Anonymous wrote:"What is the average homework load?" It really depends on the student and if they want straight As.

If you are coming from TP magnet or even Eastern magnet, you will do less homework as a freshman.

If you are from one of the other schools and took H Alg II in the 8th grade your work load will "double" but still not really be too bad.

If you are from one of the other schools and were in H Geometry in the 8th grade, your work will "triple". In some ways, this is the best group to be in because it gets you ready to be a sophomore.

I think it is safe to say that as a sophomore you will be doing 4 hours of homework every day including weekends, but the hours aren't very intense.

Now some students figure things out as freshmen and learn to study early and often and can get it done in 2 intense hours but they are walking a tight rope.

The tight rope is that part of the magnet cohort idea is that they communicate constantly and help each other build study sheets and do projects. If you are only there for 2 hours you are likely to miss something.

It is also possible to take study hall instead of PE or health or arts. Then make up those requirements either over the summer or as a senior when taking PE and chorus would give you lots of time to finish your Research Project and write college apps.

If you haven't taken H Alg II, make sure you look for the "factoring camp" week of classes offered to help get Functions and Magnet Precalc A students up to speed.

It is usually a couple weeks after 8th grade ends in the summer and there should be information about it at mbhs.edu in April.

Actually, w/ this crop of kids almost no one took Alg II in 8th grade b/c of Curriculum 2.0. The only 8th graders in AlgII would be kids from schools that bumped them up a year earlier on. Our schools (TPES GT pgm, Piney Branch & Pine Crest HGC) wouldn't bump anyone up. So the brightest of the bright were all in what was called "compacted math," & they are now in Magnet Geometry (if at TP magnet) for 8th grade. But, I know they are working on some Trig concepts right now. Not sure how that will affect Blair going forward, but I think they have several tracks, including going into Functions or Pre Calc from Geom. I know that TP magnet Geom covers a lot more than other schools. DD has a friend a year above who got into magnet but chose CAP instead and is really bored in her Alg II class coming out of magnet Geom, saying it was a lot of the stuff they did in Alg I at TP magnet.

Getting all A from TPMS is really easy. Almost 30% my DC's class at TPMS, including both magnet and non-magnet students, were straight A students.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"What is the average homework load?" It really depends on the student and if they want straight As.

If you are coming from TP magnet or even Eastern magnet, you will do less homework as a freshman.

If you are from one of the other schools and took H Alg II in the 8th grade your work load will "double" but still not really be too bad.

If you are from one of the other schools and were in H Geometry in the 8th grade, your work will "triple". In some ways, this is the best group to be in because it gets you ready to be a sophomore.

I think it is safe to say that as a sophomore you will be doing 4 hours of homework every day including weekends, but the hours aren't very intense.

Now some students figure things out as freshmen and learn to study early and often and can get it done in 2 intense hours but they are walking a tight rope.

The tight rope is that part of the magnet cohort idea is that they communicate constantly and help each other build study sheets and do projects. If you are only there for 2 hours you are likely to miss something.

It is also possible to take study hall instead of PE or health or arts. Then make up those requirements either over the summer or as a senior when taking PE and chorus would give you lots of time to finish your Research Project and write college apps.

If you haven't taken H Alg II, make sure you look for the "factoring camp" week of classes offered to help get Functions and Magnet Precalc A students up to speed.

It is usually a couple weeks after 8th grade ends in the summer and there should be information about it at mbhs.edu in April.

Does Takoma cover that much more than the rest of the county? That's a little hard to believe.

Yes the gap is HUGE. I have kids in Takoma and Robert Frost one year apart. My child in Frost with 100% in Math cannot do half from older child binder... Level of knowledge and depth like from two different planets...

Anonymous wrote:Could it be that the poster who is saying 4+ hours of homework per night (including weekends) might have a child on the Blair Magnet waitlist? Maybe not, but it would be a savvy move to try and push those who got into multiple magnet programs away from Blair.

We were told to expect 2+ hours of homework per night for TPMS Magnet and DD gets hers done every night in 30min - 1hr. Or, she will knock 2 days worth out in 1 - 1.5 hours. Plus, she has 20hrs of gymnastics each week (which she consider her sanity check). Straight A's throughout MS.

Point is, every kid is different. Don't let anyone scare you away.

Thanks for this.

Anonymous wrote:Could it be that the poster who is saying 4+ hours of homework per night (including weekends) might have a child on the Blair Magnet waitlist? Maybe not, but it would be a savvy move to try and push those who got into multiple magnet programs away from Blair.

We were told to expect 2+ hours of homework per night for TPMS Magnet and DD gets hers done every night in 30min - 1hr. Or, she will knock 2 days worth out in 1 - 1.5 hours. Plus, she has 20hrs of gymnastics each week (which she consider her sanity check). Straight A's throughout MS.

Point is, every kid is different. Don't let anyone scare you away.

No idea.
My kid spends an average of 2 hours per night but there are often a couple of weeks at a stretch with tons of homework due every night when projects are due.
fwiw all high school kids get more homework than MS kids so every child should expect to be busier.

Could it be that the poster who is saying 4+ hours of homework per night (including weekends) might have a child on the Blair Magnet waitlist? Maybe not, but it would be a savvy move to try and push those who got into multiple magnet programs away from Blair.

We were told to expect 2+ hours of homework per night for TPMS Magnet and DD gets hers done every night in 30min - 1hr. Or, she will knock 2 days worth out in 1 - 1.5 hours. Plus, she has 20hrs of gymnastics each week (which she consider her sanity check). Straight A's throughout MS.

Point is, every kid is different. Don't let anyone scare you away.

"If it's 4 hours in 10th grade, what is it in 11th and 12th?"

Homework in 11th and 12th grade is much more variable as there are many more electives. Some students are taking PE or art requirements or foreign language. Some are taking full AP course load for the other 3 or 4 courses.

Even in 9th and 10th there is a distinct group that intentionally doesn't care about non-magnet classes and takes regular level English and drops foreign language early in order to avoid the "busy" work in subjects they care less about.

There can be a big difference between the workload in a class like "Software Design". Some students will pair up and pick something reasonable, other will take standard level English and History in order to work 10 hours a day (yes, really) on their master piece.

I would say in general that there is less work in 11 and 12. Of course, every year there a couple that try to take a set of courses that no one has ever done before and ends up working 5 or 6 hours per night, despite the teachers' best efforts to talk them out of it.

"Does Takoma cover that much more than the rest of the county? That's a little hard to believe."

First most of TP magnet gets through H Alg II. Well at least they used to, I am not sure about this years 8th grade.

Next, the same cohort effect that drives all the effort for the students from the other schools in 9 and 10 works at the TP magnet in middle school to get them a lead.

I would say that just about all of the TP magnets give that lead back. No matter how advanced or driven you are in 7th grade, as an 11th grader, you are easily capable of twice as much.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child came to Blair from Honors Geo (though could not attend the camp). It was rough! Many kids do end up dropping down back to geometry during the first quarter. It will not be the same geometry your child tool in MS.

Did your child come from Takoma? My child will not be coming from Takoma.

No not from Takoma..there is definitely a gap when you come from other middle schools. It is bigger in programming actually unless your child is a coder on their own.

Anonymous wrote:My child came to Blair from Honors Geo (though could not attend the camp). It was rough! Many kids do end up dropping down back to geometry during the first quarter. It will not be the same geometry your child tool in MS.

Did your child come from Takoma? My child will not be coming from Takoma.