Has anyone else been surprised at how good your local PS is?

[Little Nyssa]

Our PS has been great. The teachers are wonderful, smart, caring, professional, well-trained. They have seen my kids as individuals and brought them to the next level-- even though these teachers have very large classes and I don't know how they do it.

DD went from not reading, to reading at a 1st grade level in 2 months, in her K class.

Now one reason I wanted to HS is because I care about several subjects that don't get taught, as far as I knew, in PS. One is grammar. I found out about grammar in 7th grade when we had a one-year, special pilot program of Latin instead of English, in my PS. Never did I hear about grammar again in all my years of PS, and when I mentioned things that I learned, in high school English class, even the teachers had no idea what I was talking about. Fast forward to DS in second grade: he is learning the grammar that I learned in 7th grade!!! We may not even have to continue FLL2 at home.

And, our school has an afterschool enrichment program for Latin!

We may continue HSing only for religion and history-- that's all we may need.

I also just found out that our school system is very willing to work with homeschoolers and you can pick and choose what you want your child to do at home vs school: you can pick only the gifted program, or debate team, or sports, or musicals, or math. I found out that they have many HSers who do this. I had no idea-- I thought it was one or the other. I found this out from the superintendent in charge of curriculum and doublechecked with our principal. Wow! They respect homeschoolers & like to work with them.

As for 'socialization' in PS, there are some kids who have behavior problems, but the teachers are excellent at dealing with this, looking at those kids as individuals, and setting a tone for the class such that the kids with difficulties are learning to behave properly toward their peers. They learn what is acceptable and what is not. DD's K teacher has a special genius for kids who have family issues or and/or are in foster care.

[SweetPea]

You are so fortunate to have a great ps. I'm happy with ours, but without afterschooling my dc wouldn't be were I think they should be.

 

On another note, my DH told me he might be getting transferred to the Pacific Northwest. We won't know for three months, but am going to start researching the area. I believe we would live in the Seattle vicinity. Just needs to be able to get to the airport every other week. Ideas?

[MBM]

I'm very happy with my son's high school. I wasn't expecting to like it, but so far it's been wonderful and has surpassed my expectations.

[cfn10]

So glad for you. It sounds like your PS is outstanding and you can focus on areas you wish to enrich.

 

Edited to add word that was dropped.

[Brindee]

You are so fortunate to have a great ps. I'm happy with ours, but without afterschooling my dc wouldn't be were I think they should be.

 

On another note, my DH told me he might be getting transferred to the Pacific Northwest. We won't know for three months, but am going to start researching the area. I believe we would live in the Seattle vicinity. Just needs to be able to get to the airport every other week. Ideas?

Seattle areas are expensive! Kitsap County is a "bedroom community" of Seattle. If he doesn't work in Seattle daily, that may be a more affordable way to go. We live 15 minutes from the ferry that goes to downtown Seattle, and about 1 hour and 15 minutes from the airport if we drive around. I absolutely LOVE this area!

 

Our school district is supposed to be one of the best in the area. I have never used it, so I can't tell you from experience, but we've had two neighbors that moved to this area because they did research and it showed this ps system as the best! :001_smile:

 

If you have any questions, pm me!

Edited February 14, 2012 by Brindee

[Brindee]

Our PS has been great. The teachers are wonderful, smart, caring, professional, well-trained. They have seen my kids as individuals and brought them to the next level-- even though these teachers have very large classes and I don't know how they do it.

DD went from not reading, to reading at a 1st grade level in 2 months, in her K class.

Now one reason I wanted to HS is because I care about several subjects that don't get taught, as far as I knew, in PS. One is grammar. I found out about grammar in 7th grade when we had a one-year, special pilot program of Latin instead of English, in my PS. Never did I hear about grammar again in all my years of PS, and when I mentioned things that I learned, in high school English class, even the teachers had no idea what I was talking about. Fast forward to DS in second grade: he is learning the grammar that I learned in 7th grade!!! We may not even have to continue FLL2 at home.

And, our school has an afterschool enrichment program for Latin!

We may continue HSing only for religion and history-- that's all we may need.

I also just found out that our school system is very willing to work with homeschoolers and you can pick and choose what you want your child to do at home vs school: you can pick only the gifted program, or debate team, or sports, or musicals, or math. I found out that they have many HSers who do this. I had no idea-- I thought it was one or the other. I found this out from the superintendent in charge of curriculum and doublechecked with our principal. Wow! They respect homeschoolers & like to work with them.

As for 'socialization' in PS, there are some kids who have behavior problems, but the teachers are excellent at dealing with this, looking at those kids as individuals, and setting a tone for the class such that the kids with difficulties are learning to behave properly toward their peers. They learn what is acceptable and what is not. DD's K teacher has a special genius for kids who have family issues or and/or are in foster care.

Wow, you are very fortunate, and I can see why you'd want to take advantage of that!

[BabyBre]

No. Sadly, I can say the contrary about our neighborhood school.

 

Dd's public GT magnet program is surprisingly fantastic, though! Granted, it's our first year, and I've heard there are some issues in the higher grades, but for now...awesome!

[amyco]

Dd is going to public school this year (8th grade), and I have been surprised and impressed with her teachers and classes. Especially in science, where she is excelling--I had no idea she was such a science nut. She's met some great kids, too. There are some bad things like you hear about--foul language in the hallways, tons of complaining from students/students being generally disrespectful of teachers and other students. But all the adults have been helpful, pleasant, and understanding. It's been a good decision, because we had planned to send her to public high school, and she now has her feet wet, has some friends, knows the system, etc. She won a school essay contest (!) sponsored by a local club and the teacher is coming with us to the awards luncheon next week!

[Word Nerd]

For me it's a mixed bag. I've been pleasantly surprised in some ways and disappointed in others. (Actually, that was true when I homeschooled too!) I am pleased enough with our school, teachers, and our school community to have very little patience for generalizations and attempts to paint all schools with the same brush, though.

[Mommyfaithe]

Nope...no surprise. I wish there was one...but it stinks even more than I had thought......

Faithe

[Roadrunner]

I had very high expectations for our PS. Facilities, kids and teachers are wonderful, but the course of study (how and what they teach) has been very disappointing. At this point I would love to have the best of both worlds (homeschool academics and allow them to go part time to school), but it isn't feasible in CA (at least in our area as far as I can tell).

Maybe if I had started out with low expectations, I would feel differently.

[ChristineW]

Our school has been wonderful. I had high expectations and so far the school has lived up to them. His kindy classroom has 17 chicken eggs that they are incubating, and they "candled" them on Friday. DS explained to me what candling was, told me that he say the eye move in his egg. He then told me that there were 17 eggs but only three were boys. "Mom, there are fourteen girl eggs. Its not fair. Why aren't there more boys?"

Edited February 15, 2012 by ChristineW
dropped word

[EmilyK]

Our local public school was wonderful preK to 2. I was so enthralled of the teachers and the parent community. I hope I zipped my lip, but I would think to myself "why do people send their kids to private school when this is free"?

 

For us, it really started to change starting in 3rd grade. Honestly, there were some bumps even before that I ignored wanting it to work out. We've done a variety of things since then and my kids are in 2 different private schools and both having great years.

 

I still don't have enough distance from it to know what the take-aways are (maybe that's why some grandmothers butt in? They finally have it figured out:)). I'm usually an even-keel person and I feel I went from a huge PS supporter to a huge detractor. I do see and remember enough of the good to see why there are so many fans.

 

One of my current beliefs is that it is kid specific -- and that things change over time, so stay on my toes. I liked it better when I felt I had it all figured out. :001_smile:

[Little Nyssa]

Emily, in what way did things change in 3d grade?

[EmilyK]

That's a great question and I'm still figuring out what I think about it all.

 

I think what happened is that it got more academic, and in ways that weren't really a fit for my two (really different) kids.

 

My older son is one of those stereotypically gifted kids. He's still a little professor type, but has happily found his niche in a challenging art-focused middle school. But early elementary was great for him at our local elementary. The teachers that he had (looking back) were clearly gifted-types, with gifted kids at home. Also the focus of school at that point was social interaction, which he really needed help with. And the fact that the teachers and counselor constantly worked on respecting differences, celebrating diversity (it is a very diverse school, by race, class, national origin, income) meant that he was never bullied or teased for being quirky. There was literally zero of that towards any kid. My husband and I were so relieved -- it was our number one worry. K and 1 and even 2 did most of their academic work by grouping or working at your level at a station, and most of the day was spent on something educational but not directly 3Rs -- listening to a read-aloud and then doing related art, a unit study on a topic, etc. Lots of ways for him to learn and enjoy.

 

Then it shifted. The day became more overtly academic and he was bored -- but well-behaved, so just he checked out. Long story, but the school and teachers as a group largely refused to send kids to other rooms for reading or math, unlike the best practices at other schools. One week math grouping was tried but it "looked" bad -- most of the kids with educated parents were in the upper math group -- so it was discontinued. I volunteered tons, got along great with all the teachers, bought materials whenever asked -- but I couldn't get the system to change. The individual teachers were sympathetic but were overwhelmed and couldn't get other teachers to co-operate. His areas of passion (history, geography, science) either weren't covered or were way too basic for him. Most work was group projects and he was always paired with one or two or the kids with severe issues. He was always super kind to them but one time confessed to me late at night that he wished just once he was paired with someone who could help do the project with him. We should have moved him to the local gifted magnet in 3rd or 4th grade but we didn't -- one of my big mistakes -- I think he was pretty depressed by 5th grade.

 

My younger son is a different story. Bright but more focused on music and art than academics; a touch ADD. He also fell through the cracks there. His wonderful teacher (who was my older son's best teacher) took me aside and said he was bright but daydreaming, producing no work, etc. He scored high on the NCLB tests but wasn't writing a thing in class. I think he was bored a bit too, and the lecture and seatwork format that was taking over at that point wasn't a good way for him to be engaged. He has already decided that school wasn't for him -- I think the growing push for early writing was a bad fit for him. He's now at a Waldorf school that's a great fit for him academically. This is the first time I've seen him love the academic side of school.

 

Both my kids started around 2nd or 3rd to disassociate all the educational stuff we do at home (that they mostly love) from the academic side of school. They still loved learning but didn't associate it with school, if that makes any sense. And yet it was too time consuming/exhausting to do formal afterschooling after a big day of school.

 

Sorry this was so long!

[Little Nyssa]

Thanks Emily-- I will be on the lookout for any changes in 3d grade. In our district that is when the GAT program begins, which DS might end up in-- so that may help. I'm glad you were able to find other good environments for them!

[Pamela H in Texas]

I absolutely adore our kindergarten! My daughter is in one class and I have worked in one of the other kinder classes and I just have to say that I'm downright AMAZED by what these women do. I don't know if I'll actually DO it, but my intention is for each of the boys to go to Kindy also though I hope to homeschool otherwise (we afterschool now because state regulations make foster-adopt kids to go school). The individualization is GREAT. The constant stream of learning is masterful. The attitudes, communication, etc are wonderful. Though they do use some blah discipline techniques, they are really good at using the "good stuff" too. I have been extremely pleased, especially as the mother of a fairly advanced child.

 

My intention, at this point, is that both boys also attend kinder even though I plan to homeschool all three kids. It is that good.

[LibraryLover]

I don't like our middle school much. I think they try to do too much with too many children. I see their hearts are in the right place,and I very much appreciate that. The elementary schools are trying, and some are better than others. It's a tough job, but the folks are hard-working and intelligent. The people are good and the facility and faculty are mostly excellent and thoughtful. We live in a very small and stable community. It could be much worse.

 

I think the high school (small) does the best they can. They excell in some areas, and struggle in others. I feel very welcomed when I visit. I know my child is happy and (fairly) challenged. DSs have been accepted to excellent colleges, and the high school has a fair number of kids accepted to Ivies and other top tier colleges each year. It's not the best in the state by any means, but it's solid enough.

Edited March 3, 2012 by LibraryLover

[JenniferLynn]

I've been thrilled with DD5's Kindergarten experience. But I'd planned to after school all along so I am not judging much on just academics. I volunteer in the classroom and have been very impressed with the behavior, attitude toward learning (and differentiation), and what the terrific teacher can accomplish with 26 kids (likely going to 30 for my next 2 kids). It is almost the inverse of the traditional idea of public school with active/involved parents. The PS reinforces what we do at home, supplements subjects that are lower priority for AS, and is nurturing independence, social skills, study skills and love of learning.