Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Live in W district. So mess in Elementary schools is universal... Hope that at least High Schools will be fine.

There's that assumption again -- if it's bad in schools in Bethesda and Potomac, then it must be worse everywhere else. I think it's a mistaken assumption.

Olney/Sherwood
loving it! (former private)

Call us insular, but I can't say I'm unhappy with the community support!

certainly beats the destruction caused by the consortia

- a teacher

Anonymous wrote:My kids have been in public and private schools all over this country. We move every 3 years. We have five kids. The oldest is 26 and the youngest is 16. MOCO is the only place we've ever lived that the schools were so bad we felt we had to leave. We pulled our kids out and homeschooled the remainder of year. We bought a house in Fairfax the day our lease was up. I am NOT the homeschool type, but there was no way my kids were staying in MOCO schools. I felt that strongly about it.

Thankfully, it's very easy to homeschool in Maryland and our homeschool coordinator (from MOCO) told me she sent her kids to private school. We love Faifax County. The difference is incredible.

All you have to do is to breathe in MD in order to homeschool. Are you proud of that?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 2nd grade daughter's math homework consisted of counting to 100 by 5's and 10's. She learned this in daycare. Assignment also asked for explaining, in writing, why grouping numbers helps us count. Ridiculous.

Don't know what cluster you are in, but my DD in 1st grade now, learned how to do this either in K or 1st (can't remember which). We are in the RM cluster. The "explain your answer" is typical of Common Core based math, and from what I have read, SOL in VA, as well.

My DS is in K in RM cluster and they are doing it now. Good basis for multiplication later on, I actually like a concept of explaining "how" math works vs just memorizing, that is how I was tought (non US)

Anonymous wrote:Fairfax has a big AAP program, but the folks on that board complain that the program has been dumbed down and is not for the "truly gifted" only the "bright."

I really don't think the school systems in this area can win.

That's the thing: no system can please everyone. If people think one system is superior than the other, then no one can change their minds. It's like trying to convince someone that your favorite color is better than their's.

Fairfax has a big AAP program, but the folks on that board complain that the program has been dumbed down and is not for the "truly gifted" only the "bright."

I really don't think the school systems in this area can win.

Anonymous wrote:

Live in W district. So mess in Elementary schools is universal... Hope that at least High Schools will be fine.

There's that assumption again -- if it's bad in schools in Bethesda and Potomac, then it must be worse everywhere else. I think it's a mistaken assumption.

RM cluster elementary school. I don't like how non transparent MCPS is, how they cover up and lie about mistakes (think the sex offender scandal.) I have also had really bad interactions with the principal at my school. Some years my child has had really good teachers, some years my child has had really bad teachers. All and all I think it is about the teachers. I do agree with previous posters that MCPS is a propaganda machine.

Before you job in and say GO PRIVATE OR MOVE, realize this is not always an option for everyone for a variety of reasons. (cost of private, inability to move)

"I would like more info from the person who posted that Fairfax is better. I'm curious why they think that."

not pp but Fairfax has not done away with differentiation - in fact they seem to have a very large program that includes formalized ways of providing enrichment to kids that aren't in their Gifted/Talented program (which is itself many times larger than the MoCo HGC program). that is why we are considering Fairfax at least. We are "not unhappy" in terms of - is our particular MoCo school worse than other MoCo schools. But i think in general Fairfax seems to be doing a better job at this point.

Anonymous wrote:Not happy!
Have 3 kids in MCPS. Oldest pre 2.0 - was happy no complains.
Current 5th grader was homeschooled from 3rd grade due to messy 2.0.

2.0 - terrible math.
Too much stress on writing in math and other subjects. Most kids, specially boys are not ready for writing detailed essays in 3 or 4th grade.
Program is oriented on girls who pays attention, do not like math, and enjoy repetitive tasks. However, even girls hate this.

The only reason still in MOCO, since 2 kids out of 3 in Magnet. Otherwise, was strongly considering moving to VA. They at least do not have 2.0 and Common core.

Live in W district. So mess in Elementary schools is universal... Hope that at least High Schools will be fine.

VA has SOL standards, which are *very* similar to common core standards. Someone once posted a link comparing CC to SOL standards, and they were pretty much the same. If you read some of the VA school forums, you'll see that many parents complain about SOLs as well.

Anonymous wrote:My 2nd grade daughter's math homework consisted of counting to 100 by 5's and 10's. She learned this in daycare. Assignment also asked for explaining, in writing, why grouping numbers helps us count. Ridiculous.

Don't know what cluster you are in, but my DD in 1st grade now, learned how to do this either in K or 1st (can't remember which). We are in the RM cluster. The "explain your answer" is typical of Common Core based math, and from what I have read, SOL in VA, as well.

Being able to say 5, 10, 15 is really different than knowing that it is the same as mulitplying (5x1) (5x2) (5x3) which is what I assume the goal was in 2nd grade. Not at all ridiculous to me.

My 2nd grade daughter's math homework consisted of counting to 100 by 5's and 10's. She learned this in daycare. Assignment also asked for explaining, in writing, why grouping numbers helps us count. Ridiculous.

Anonymous wrote:My kids have been in public and private schools all over this country. We move every 3 years. We have five kids. The oldest is 26 and the youngest is 16. MOCO is the only place we've ever lived that the schools were so bad we felt we had to leave. We pulled our kids out and homeschooled the remainder of year. We bought a house in Fairfax the day our lease was up. I am NOT the homeschool type, but there was no way my kids were staying in MOCO schools. I felt that strongly about it.

Thankfully, it's very easy to homeschool in Maryland and our homeschool coordinator (from MOCO) told me she sent her kids to private school. We love Faifax County. The difference is incredible.

This is truly shocking to me. Where did you live? Which school systems were better, and why? Were they smaller and less diverse?

Not happy!
Have 3 kids in MCPS. Oldest pre 2.0 - was happy no complains.
Current 5th grader was homeschooled from 3rd grade due to messy 2.0.

2.0 - terrible math.
Too much stress on writing in math and other subjects. Most kids, specially boys are not ready for writing detailed essays in 3 or 4th grade.
Program is oriented on girls who pays attention, do not like math, and enjoy repetitive tasks. However, even girls hate this.

The only reason still in MOCO, since 2 kids out of 3 in Magnet. Otherwise, was strongly considering moving to VA. They at least do not have 2.0 and Common core.

Live in W district. So mess in Elementary schools is universal... Hope that at least High Schools will be fine.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you aren't happy, where are you? Useless without that info.

I'm not sure who you are addressing. If you are addressing 10:25 - I would like more info from the person who posted that Fairfax is better. I'm curious why they think that.

Sorry - everyone claiming unhappiness with MCPS. What cluster/schools?

I am in Northwest cluster - but our particular problem has to do with large class sizes and SN students. Not sure it applies to everyone. Our kid really needs smaller class sizes and we aren't sure whether to go private (and be BROKE) or move further out. To hear that MCPS may increase class sizes due to budget is just completely freaking us out.