Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry your DC did not get admitted to the CES. Though the CES has some pluses, there really isn't any magic about it the way some people on here make it out to seem. Many of these kids aren't Einstein. The CES curriculum isn't anything that is so astounding that you can't replicate. Some people on here say "but the students are getting the enrichment at school and mine will be bored to tears" and they don't want to spend additional time at home supplementing. Firstly, a child gets as much out of a program as he wants just like anywhere else he goes. Having had a kid at the CES, I can tell you that if I spent 30 minutes with a targeted enrichment once a day for 5 days a week, I can give my non-CES child everything she needs, and she doesn't have to spend extra time on the bus ride. Continue to expose her to complicated books. If there is a local math team, join it! We will continue to have discussions on various topics as a family, do fun math games, read magazines. Sign up for some Shakespeare acting classes! If you want to do even more than the CES, do science experiments. At our CES, there is plenty of homework and research kids have to do at school so plenty of enrichment is done "outside". Why can't you also give your child similar research projects outside of school? There is no magic! People say their children "find their kinds" at he CES. Honestly, I am not sure if that is a good or bad thing, and sure they talk a little bit about more geeky stuff once in awhile, but seriously most of the things they chat about is nonsense and immature. If anything, I find just as much pleasure eavesdropping on conversations of the non-CES kids have! People on these boards are so polarizing -- it is either kids at the CES are crammed with work and have no life and no sense of extracurricular activities, OR my bright child who wasn't accepted to a CES is doom to a life where no college will want him. There are so many downsides to a CES too, and most CES parents won't admit to it because in some ways they have to justify all the reasons why they pull their kids out for 2 years. At the same time, please don't rush to also paint a broad stroke of these CES kids as being crammed and having no personality. Reality is there is plenty middle grounds and I am not sure why people aren't considering that. FWIW during DC's year, two of the CES kids got into the middle school magnet. The other two who got into Takoma/Eastern where NON-CES kids at the same school!

Many CES parents do afterschool enrichment as well -- all the activities that you talked about. The kids got enrichment both in school and outside school.
True, there is no magic with CES.
There is no magic with middle school magnet.
There is no magic with high school magnet.
There is no magic with Ivy colleges.
What's your point, then?

Anonymous wrote:Sorry your DC did not get admitted to the CES. Though the CES has some pluses, there really isn't any magic about it the way some people on here make it out to seem. Many of these kids aren't Einstein. The CES curriculum isn't anything that is so astounding that you can't replicate. Some people on here say "but the students are getting the enrichment at school and mine will be bored to tears" and they don't want to spend additional time at home supplementing. Firstly, a child gets as much out of a program as he wants just like anywhere else he goes. Having had a kid at the CES, I can tell you that if I spent 30 minutes with a targeted enrichment once a day for 5 days a week, I can give my non-CES child everything she needs, and she doesn't have to spend extra time on the bus ride. Continue to expose her to complicated books. If there is a local math team, join it! We will continue to have discussions on various topics as a family, do fun math games, read magazines. Sign up for some Shakespeare acting classes! If you want to do even more than the CES, do science experiments. At our CES, there is plenty of homework and research kids have to do at school so plenty of enrichment is done "outside". Why can't you also give your child similar research projects outside of school? There is no magic! People say their children "find their kinds" at he CES. Honestly, I am not sure if that is a good or bad thing, and sure they talk a little bit about more geeky stuff once in awhile, but seriously most of the things they chat about is nonsense and immature. If anything, I find just as much pleasure eavesdropping on conversations of the non-CES kids have! People on these boards are so polarizing -- it is either kids at the CES are crammed with work and have no life and no sense of extracurricular activities, OR my bright child who wasn't accepted to a CES is doom to a life where no college will want him. There are so many downsides to a CES too, and most CES parents won't admit to it because in some ways they have to justify all the reasons why they pull their kids out for 2 years. At the same time, please don't rush to also paint a broad stroke of these CES kids as being crammed and having no personality. Reality is there is plenty middle grounds and I am not sure why people aren't considering that. FWIW during DC's year, two of the CES kids got into the middle school magnet. The other two who got into Takoma/Eastern where NON-CES kids at the same school!

Anonymous wrote:Sorry your DC did not get admitted to the CES. Though the CES has some pluses, there really isn't any magic about it the way some people on here make it out to seem. Many of these kids aren't Einstein. The CES curriculum isn't anything that is so astounding that you can't replicate. Some people on here say "but the students are getting the enrichment at school and mine will be bored to tears" and they don't want to spend additional time at home supplementing. Firstly, a child gets as much out of a program as he wants just like anywhere else he goes. Having had a kid at the CES, I can tell you that if I spent 30 minutes with a targeted enrichment once a day for 5 days a week, I can give my non-CES child everything she needs, and she doesn't have to spend extra time on the bus ride. Continue to expose her to complicated books. If there is a local math team, join it! We will continue to have discussions on various topics as a family, do fun math games, read magazines. Sign up for some Shakespeare acting classes! If you want to do even more than the CES, do science experiments. At our CES, there is plenty of homework and research kids have to do at school so plenty of enrichment is done "outside". Why can't you also give your child similar research projects outside of school? There is no magic! People say their children "find their kinds" at he CES. Honestly, I am not sure if that is a good or bad thing, and sure they talk a little bit about more geeky stuff once in awhile, but seriously most of the things they chat about is nonsense and immature. If anything, I find just as much pleasure eavesdropping on conversations of the non-CES kids have! People on these boards are so polarizing -- it is either kids at the CES are crammed with work and have no life and no sense of extracurricular activities, OR my bright child who wasn't accepted to a CES is doom to a life where no college will want him. There are so many downsides to a CES too, and most CES parents won't admit to it because in some ways they have to justify all the reasons why they pull their kids out for 2 years. At the same time, please don't rush to also paint a broad stroke of these CES kids as being crammed and having no personality. Reality is there is plenty middle grounds and I am not sure why people aren't considering that. FWIW during DC's year, two of the CES kids got into the middle school magnet. The other two who got into Takoma/Eastern where NON-CES kids at the same school!

Anonymous wrote:OP tried gaming the system. Now he/she regretted that he/she did not do enough. What a joke!

Anonymous wrote:OP if you're already fretting about your child's college prospects when he is in 3rd grade, you need a psychiatric intervention. Your child will do just fine in a regular classroom. And if he doesn't I'm sure you can just bribe a fencing coach or find some other way to ensure his giftedness finds an appropriate educational reward.

Seriously, get over the CES nonsense. Very few children are so off-the-charts brilliant that they are going to be profoundly disserved by being in a classroom amongst a wide range of their peers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The whole process stinks. Last year 2 kids from our home school got in, and 3 more 99%ers (that I know of) were waitlisted. One who didn't get in originally had a mother who was able to pull strings to get her child in. MCPS does a huge disservice to bright kids who are ready to be challenged but for whatever reason are locked out of the CES.

Don't be that person. Spreading rumors because you're jealous is really ugly. Kids don't get into the CES under the new system because parents pull strings.

Um, I know one who did, a 4th grader this year, and I am not the PP.

Anonymous wrote:OP if you're already fretting about your child's college prospects when he is in 3rd grade, you need a psychiatric intervention. Your child will do just fine in a regular classroom. And if he doesn't I'm sure you can just bribe a fencing coach or find some other way to ensure his giftedness finds an appropriate educational reward.

Seriously, get over the CES nonsense. Very few children are so off-the-charts brilliant that they are going to be profoundly disserved by being in a classroom amongst a wide range of their peers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The whole process stinks. Last year 2 kids from our home school got in, and 3 more 99%ers (that I know of) were waitlisted. One who didn't get in originally had a mother who was able to pull strings to get her child in. MCPS does a huge disservice to bright kids who are ready to be challenged but for whatever reason are locked out of the CES.

Don't be that person. Spreading rumors because you're jealous is really ugly. Kids don't get into the CES under the new system because parents pull strings.

Anonymous wrote:The whole process stinks. Last year 2 kids from our home school got in, and 3 more 99%ers (that I know of) were waitlisted. One who didn't get in originally had a mother who was able to pull strings to get her child in. MCPS does a huge disservice to bright kids who are ready to be challenged but for whatever reason are locked out of the CES.