Slipper Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 My DD10 is headed to Middle School here next year if we don't keep her home. She was home today with a head cold and we were out with DD7 to do some grocery shopping. We ran into an acquaintance and were chatting about homeschooling and education in general. Our acquaintance runs a very good pre-school program and is a really great lady. (And by 'very good program', I mean that it fits the needs of our community and prepares kids for school in regards to learning to tie their shoes and not hit other kids). She told me that her only middle-schooler now goes to private school after a few months trying the public school. As she put it, "At the middle school, the good kids go bad and the bad kids go criminal." It's a bit scary and sad. :( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 Not surprised. We loved our elementary - but I never met a single person who had something positive to say about our Middle school. I don't have anything positive to say either; that's when we pulled them out because it was so bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roadrunner Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 We are also hearing things including bullying and "tea" in middle school. Add to that the fact that majority of middle school kids here are A students, and the picture isn't looking very good. We live in a so called "very good" school district with jaw dropping facilities, but right now the plan is to bring kids home after elementary school until 9th grade. It must be age and not school district since everybody is complaining about behavioral issues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matryoshka Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 My 5th grader has been annoying the bajeebies out of me lately, and I often find myself daydreaming about sending her off next year, but I really do think middle school is the low point of group schooling, probably the three years best to avoid, and while in my fantasy she'd shape up if she headed off, I think the reality is probably that her attitude would only get worse... sigh... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nscribe Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 Middle school is so ripe with transitions, child to teen, hormones, the works. Sometimes I can't help but wonder why anyone who ever spent time around that age group thought putting lots of them together in a somewhat confined space for many hours a day would ever be prudent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blessedchaos Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 Well, this hasn't been our experience. I'm sure that there are plenty of bad things that go on at ds's middle school, but honestly middle school has been much better for him academically and he has grown so much in maturity that I'm amazed. He is in 7th grade now and he and I had a very strained relationship when we homeschooled; we always butted heads. Now we are really, truly close. He is in all advanced classes and his friends are the kids in his classes, so that helps a lot, I think. They are all fairly serious students from nice families. I ask him quite a bit about the bad stuff and other than the inevitable rampant swearing among the kids, he hasn't seen any of the really bad stuff (drugs, drinking, smoking, tEa). I volunteer and sub at his school and I do see that there are a number of kids who have just "checked out", so to speak. But there are many kids who really are motivated to learn, are polite and respectful, and try hard. I was terrified before he started, but I must say it has been a pleasant surprise for us so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roadrunner Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 Well, this hasn't been our experience. I'm sure that there are plenty of bad things that go on at ds's middle school, but honestly middle school has been much better for him academically and he has grown so much in maturity that I'm amazed. He is in 7th grade now and he and I had a very strained relationship when we homeschooled; we always butted heads. Now we are really, truly close. He is in all advanced classes and his friends are the kids in his classes, so that helps a lot, I think. They are all fairly serious students from nice families. I ask him quite a bit about the bad stuff and other than the inevitable rampant swearing among the kids, he hasn't seen any of the really bad stuff (drugs, drinking, smoking, tEa). I volunteer and sub at his school and I do see that there are a number of kids who have just "checked out", so to speak. But there are many kids who really are motivated to learn, are polite and respectful, and try hard. I was terrified before he started, but I must say it has been a pleasant surprise for us so far. That's really encouraging to hear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Berta Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 What is "tea"? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roadrunner Posted February 18, 2012 Share Posted February 18, 2012 What is "tea"? Can anybody help me ou here?:lol: It's a wtm code word for physical "love". :blush: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperDad Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 Not surprised. We loved our elementary - but I never met a single person who had something positive to say about our Middle school. :iagree: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dansamy Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 All of our middle schools here are like that. Private is marginally better than public. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TranquilMind Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 My DD10 is headed to Middle School here next year if we don't keep her home. She was home today with a head cold and we were out with DD7 to do some grocery shopping. We ran into an acquaintance and were chatting about homeschooling and education in general. Our acquaintance runs a very good pre-school program and is a really great lady. (And by 'very good program', I mean that it fits the needs of our community and prepares kids for school in regards to learning to tie their shoes and not hit other kids). She told me that her only middle-schooler now goes to private school after a few months trying the public school. As she put it, "At the middle school, the good kids go bad and the bad kids go criminal." It's a bit scary and sad. :( I think reading this thread just opened my eyes to something. My daughter was homeschooled until high school but went to high school one year younger than most kids. She was academically ready and has excelled, but as far as emotionally, she was still a middle schooler! Maybe this is why we have had some of the issues we have had. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edelweiss Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 My former next door neighbor is a middle school teacher. The stories she told me were shocking. And this school is a "great" school in a wonderful community. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wapiti Posted February 23, 2012 Share Posted February 23, 2012 We are also hearing things including bullying and "tea" in middle school. Add to that the fact that majority of middle school kids here are A students, and the picture isn't looking very good. We live in a so called "very good" school district with jaw dropping facilities, but right now the plan is to bring kids home after elementary school until 9th grade. It must be age and not school district since everybody is complaining about behavioral issues. We have a similar situation here - academically "excellent" middle school in one of the "best" districts in the state, with recent major drug busts, etc. Our oldest will be attending a private school (knock on wood - if that doesn't work out, we will be hs-ing for middle). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 I think middle school is where a lot of kids get "lost". If I had to pick one age range to homeschool, it would be middle school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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