I'm not sure that I regret it but choosing a bilingual school is much more of a commitment than I realized. Yes kids are "sponges" but by second grade keeping them reading on or above grade level in two languages is a lot of work. we have hired a reading tutor who comes twice a week ($60/hour) and send them to a spanish language camp for part of the summer. You have to be really committed or just not really care that much how well your kid speaks/reads the language.

What? We bailed on a so-so immersion charter for our seriously good in-boundary DCPS by purchasing a fixer-upper and rehabbing it. No shortage of middle-class parents or "student networks" in our new neighborhood. We keep language instruction going at home - one of us is a native speaker and we host an au pair in our larger new place. We don't seem to have lost much of anything but some dough on a pricey property.

Immersion parent here. Is my kid fluent,? NO. But above all language immersion schools/HRCS offer a middle class parent/student network that you don't find in DCPS. So you decide.

DC and a couple of friends who went to immersion through 8th and are now in high school were talking in the car as I was driving them home from SAT prep class the other day. They all laughed about how much harder having learned all their math in Spanish made high school math. I think they were kidding, but take that for what it's worth...

Note that parents of all three kids speak Spanish at home...

Hey what has turned you off to MacFarland? Or is it a greener pastures kind of argument?

It really depends on how good the school is overall. I was upset we got shut out of all of choices for three years in a row. Kid is at IB dcps immersion. Not perfect but it’s been unbelievable as far as what she is learning and engagement from teachers and admins. She speaks a ton of spa ish ((we don’t speak it at home). Small classes, full time aids. The school has some expected bumps with a title 1 high poverty student body. We still don’t want the to McFarland so will continue to play lottery but honesty, academically I think Bruce Monroe is flying under the radar in DC.

Anonymous wrote:Regrets about enrolling at YY for PreK. Mandarin program less than serious without native speakers or admins who speak good Mandarin. Weak ELA instruction worst of all. Not thrilled with how DCI is shaping up for advanced ELA learner, though we're a couple years off (no honors classes). Obnoxious boosters/parent association leaders who defend admins and the whole set up tooth and nail. No real ties to local ethnic Chinese community has never struck me as a good idea. You're a bitch, a naysayer and a troll if you raise your voice. Looking at privates.

Very bad idea unless cultural and language studies aren't serious. Hint.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Regrets about enrolling at YY for PreK. Mandarin program less than serious without native speakers or admins who speak good Mandarin. Weak ELA instruction worst of all. Not thrilled with how DCI is shaping up for advanced ELA learner, though we're a couple years off (no honors classes). Obnoxious boosters/parent association leaders who defend admins and the whole set up tooth and nail. No real ties to local ethnic Chinese community has never struck me as a good idea. You're a bitch, a naysayer and a troll if you raise your voice. Looking at privates.

They're in charge at every school.

Probably yes, both immersion schools we've enrolled at have been bogged down by a pack.

These parents normally can't speak the target language to save their lives, and don't supplement much yet cling to the goofy belief that their kids are fluent.

The person I know who says it was a waste of time (regret is too harsh a word) never had intention of continuing immersion. They always had their eyes set on private school for the upper grades. The child left for private in 4th and is now a junior and doesn’t really speak the language very well.

Anonymous wrote:My kid is in a private immersion school that goes through high school (was in DCPS prior). Most families with kids at the school are native speakers or fluent. In talking to a middle school family, it seems that the few American families who don't speak the language fluently tend to pull their kids out around middle school, as it's hard to keep up once kids have to write in-depth essays, etc. in the target language, and parents can't really help.

PP. That said, I don't know if they necessarily regret it. The middle school family I spoke seemed fine with sending three kids through until middle school, and then opting for non-immersion schools that were a good fit for each child after that.

My kid is in a private immersion school that goes through high school (was in DCPS prior). Most families with kids at the school are native speakers or fluent. In talking to a middle school family, it seems that the few American families who don't speak the language fluently tend to pull their kids out around middle school, as it's hard to keep up once kids have to write in-depth essays, etc. in the target language, and parents can't really help.

Anonymous wrote:Regrets about enrolling at YY for PreK. Mandarin program less than serious without native speakers or admins who speak good Mandarin. Weak ELA instruction worst of all. Not thrilled with how DCI is shaping up for advanced ELA learner, though we're a couple years off (no honors classes). Obnoxious boosters/parent association leaders who defend admins and the whole set up tooth and nail. No real ties to local ethnic Chinese community has never struck me as a good idea. You're a bitch, a naysayer and a troll if you raise your voice. Looking at privates.

They're in charge at every school.

Our kids are in immersion in FCPS in a language we do not speak, and it has been an excellent experience. No regrets. They are with a great bunch of kids and are learning a lot. No sign that learning the other language has detracted from other subjects.

Anonymous wrote:The families I know who have regretted it (and in one case pulled the kid), the regret really settled in during upper elementary grades where shit gets real in terms of having to learn actual content in Spanish. Or non-Spanish speakers have to attempt to help a kid do 4th/5th grade math in Spanish.

I also wouldn't bother in a school district where they don't have an option to continue past 5th grade.

DS does math in Spanish (3rd), and while we mix Spanish and English at home, doing math in Spanish is not that hard. If you have a decent Romance-heavy English vocabulary and can read a multiplication, division, or fraction equation, you're seriously 90% of the way there in deciphering your kids' homework. I am sympathetic to anyone who has a hard time, but I think most people really can figure out what words like dividir and fraccion y resultado mean.

Regrets about enrolling at YY for PreK. Mandarin program less than serious without native speakers or admins who speak good Mandarin. Weak ELA instruction worst of all. Not thrilled with how DCI is shaping up for advanced ELA learner, though we're a couple years off (no honors classes). Obnoxious boosters/parent association leaders who defend admins and the whole set up tooth and nail. No real ties to local ethnic Chinese community has never struck me as a good idea. You're a bitch, a naysayer and a troll if you raise your voice. Looking at privates.