Anonymous wrote:My early ES kid wants math enrichment. His brain needs challenging and teacher has not given me any tips from parent teacher conferences. He is bright but without supervision, he can spend full day watching youtube every single day. I have to give him things to do. Just like yesterday night, I said no youtube to him while I cooked. He finished reading a magic treehouse book that I bought 2 years ago out of boredom.

He wants me to enrich him with math, and he has asked me a few times. I am still hesitating about it. I would rather he does something else. His math level now is already a few grades ahead according to mcps curriculum, so I don't see the point of enrichment. His passion of math has reduced because I ignore his request of math enrichment, but he spends a bit more time on other things like chess and foreign language now. Did I made a bad decision ignoring his request for math enrichment?

I won't think in terms of mistake. Look at it from your child's perspective. He is going to lose interest in math if he is not finding it challenging.

You are not really accelerating, you are just meeting him at his level and providing enough learning and challenge to keep him interested. I am an immigrant with math background. I loved math while growing up and it was due to math being neither too hard nor too easy. You don't want it too easy for him. It's not about acceleration.

My early ES kid wants math enrichment. His brain needs challenging and teacher has not given me any tips from parent teacher conferences. He is bright but without supervision, he can spend full day watching youtube every single day. I have to give him things to do. Just like yesterday night, I said no youtube to him while I cooked. He finished reading a magic treehouse book that I bought 2 years ago out of boredom.

He wants me to enrich him with math, and he has asked me a few times. I am still hesitating about it. I would rather he does something else. His math level now is already a few grades ahead according to mcps curriculum, so I don't see the point of enrichment. His passion of math has reduced because I ignore his request of math enrichment, but he spends a bit more time on other things like chess and foreign language now. Did I made a bad decision ignoring his request for math enrichment?

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Anonymous wrote:Aaaanndd this thread reveals its true message...typical MOCO parents trying to game the system to get their kids ahead. See you in a few years when the kids are having mental health issues because they've been pushed too hard and equate your love to their GPA.

Or, the kids whose parents didn't enrich them and make sure their needs were met are the ones with mental health issues.

Just because you do nothing academic at home, doesn't mean you need to find ways to justify it.

Its easy to game the MAP test with workbooks and working ahead.

And the reason I would want to do this is...? Why would I want my kid to take calculus (for example) as a HS sophomore? What's the endgame? More prestigious college? More money at first job out of college? I want my kid to love what they are doing, earn enough to support themselves, and be happy. If extra work at home is part of what makes them happy, then hey, great. But otherwise, heck no.

You want your kids to take calculus as a Sophomore so they have opportunities for other math classes, once they master that. It depends on what your child's interests are. If they are going to major in math or computer science, it's important. In another major, not so much.

We supplement to make sure our kids get what they need as the MCPS curriculum and teaching format doesn't necessarily work for all kids, like mine.

I want my kids to have class choice once they get to junior and senior years and let them get all the mandatory stuff over early.

The problem with MCPS, especially in ES, is smart kids are ignored. This means school is not interesting or challenging. You can argue that providing outside enrichment makes it more so, but they need to learn and develop even at a young age to develop their full potential. Ensuring your child's needs are met regardless of what MCPS does is the responsible thing to do for those of us who can't afford private but prioritize education.

Pushy parents stress out kids.

And lazy parents have lazy mediocre kids

I think you mean happy, content parents have happy kids? My “lazy” parenting seems to have not had an adverse impact on my extremely high achieving children so I’m going to continue doing what works.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Aaaanndd this thread reveals its true message...typical MOCO parents trying to game the system to get their kids ahead. See you in a few years when the kids are having mental health issues because they've been pushed too hard and equate your love to their GPA.

Or, the kids whose parents didn't enrich them and make sure their needs were met are the ones with mental health issues.

Just because you do nothing academic at home, doesn't mean you need to find ways to justify it.

Its easy to game the MAP test with workbooks and working ahead.

And the reason I would want to do this is...? Why would I want my kid to take calculus (for example) as a HS sophomore? What's the endgame? More prestigious college? More money at first job out of college? I want my kid to love what they are doing, earn enough to support themselves, and be happy. If extra work at home is part of what makes them happy, then hey, great. But otherwise, heck no.

You want your kids to take calculus as a Sophomore so they have opportunities for other math classes, once they master that. It depends on what your child's interests are. If they are going to major in math or computer science, it's important. In another major, not so much.

We supplement to make sure our kids get what they need as the MCPS curriculum and teaching format doesn't necessarily work for all kids, like mine.

I want my kids to have class choice once they get to junior and senior years and let them get all the mandatory stuff over early.

The problem with MCPS, especially in ES, is smart kids are ignored. This means school is not interesting or challenging. You can argue that providing outside enrichment makes it more so, but they need to learn and develop even at a young age to develop their full potential. Ensuring your child's needs are met regardless of what MCPS does is the responsible thing to do for those of us who can't afford private but prioritize education.

Pushy parents stress out kids.

And lazy parents have lazy mediocre kids

"Those lazy [insert whichever social group(s) on which you look down]! It's their fault for failing to provide for their kids! Why should my hard-earned money be taxed to support them? The notion of common good is for things like national defense that I can't do by myself! Don't give me that pinko tripe about not tilting opportunity toward the circumstances of one's birth!"

Hard-working, low-SES families may not have your time or resources. It's a shame that, on the subject of education, you appear to value one version of the ideal of individual autonomy (I should be able to do what I like with what I have") over another ("All should have equitble access to opportunity based on what we have"), when the latter offers so much more to society, and even to the majority of those with means when considering the matter holistically. Still, it's a prisoner's dilemma for you -- unless everyone sticks together enough to push through that which most benefits society, acting on one's own interests is the natural choice; it's not like the family down the street isn't going to push to get their kid ahead of yours...

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Anonymous wrote:This is OP. Happy to report that my kid with the 271 MAP-M got accepted to the TPMS magnet.

One of my kids was in 5th when the lottery started and had an even higher MAP-M score in addition to straight A's in their CES etc etc. They were in pool for both magnets but selected for neither.

My point is scores are not a guarantee. You would have the exact same odds with a MAP-M that was 25 points lower, even at a low FARMS school, because the score is what gets you into the pool after that, it's just a lottery.

Anyway congratulations, it's a great program. My older child went through it before the lottery.

Yeah, mine too, and with lower scores. (This is OP)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is OP. Happy to report that my kid with the 271 MAP-M got accepted to the TPMS magnet.

One of my kids was in 5th when the lottery started and had an even higher MAP-M score in addition to straight A's in their CES etc etc. They were in pool for both magnets but selected for neither.

My point is scores are not a guarantee. You would have the exact same odds with a MAP-M that was 25 points lower, even at a low FARMS school, because the score is what gets you into the pool after that, it's just a lottery.

Anyway congratulations, it's a great program. My older child went through it before the lottery.

Anonymous wrote:This is OP. Happy to report that my kid with the 271 MAP-M got accepted to the TPMS magnet.

One of my kids was in 5th when the lottery started and had an even higher MAP-M score in addition to straight A's in their CES etc etc. They were in pool for both magnets but selected for neither.

My point is scores are not a guarantee. You would have the exact same odds with a MAP-M that was 25 points lower, even at a low FARMS school, because the score is what gets you into the pool after that, it's just a lottery.