Magnet School

[fourhills]

I have been homeschooling my two boys (six and eight) for two years now. I feel that they are not being challenged enough in science and math. I have thought about entering them both in a magnet school which has a good science and math program. Does anyone have any experiences with magnet schools in Florida? They are essentially a public school with more programs for science and math. I have already purchased my curriculum for next year but I think I want to try the magnet school. I would love some opinions and advice on magnet schools.

Thanks in advance

 

Kathy

[amy g.]

I went to magnet schools in Houston. One nice thing is that anyone who was a behavior problem or didn't keep their grades up, got kicked out. That meant that the kids who really wanted to learn could do so.

 

I have no idea if they still work that way today.

[Veritaserum]

I attended a magnet school in California from 4th - 12th grades. My school had a performing arts program (no sports, just drama/visual arts/music/dance). There were good things (the programs I participated in) and bad things (it was an hour away, so I spent 2 hours on a bus every school day).

 

Where I was, the magnet school programs were designed to help racially integrate the city. The magnet schools were always placed in a minority neighborhood, in a poorer part of the city. Crime rates around the school were much higher than the community in which I lived. We were pretty safe on campus, but outside was a little scary. My brother got mugged once while he was running around the field in PE. The school went into lock down once when cops were chasing a drug dealer and he ran onto campus. I'd caution you to investigate the surrounding neighborhood. :)

 

Academics at my school were so-so, on par with other public schools I would think. If you can, you might want to talk to parents of children attending this school to get a better understanding of what it's like.

[Ellie]

You'll want to carefully investigate the other subjects, because math and science do not trump English and history. Also, you'll want to visit classrooms and lunchroom and playground to see how the other children behave and what kind of adult supervision is going on.

[Ellie]

I attended a magnet school in California from 4th - 12th grades. My school had a performing arts program (no sports, just drama/visual arts/music/dance).

There was a magnet school like that in San Diego. :001_smile:

[AuntPol]

I just pulled my children from a magnet school in NC. Here's my opinion of wake county magnets:

 

Magnet portion was pretty good.

Rest of the curriculum horrid

Teachers okay -some better than others and how good the program was depended on if you got a good teacher or a bad teacher.

 

 

Then there is the reason the school is a magnet. Here in Wake County, magnets schools are schools in low income areas that need an influx of middle class students to raise the test scores. So 30% of our students were magnet and 70% were just assigned there. If the school was 100% magnet students, we may have stayed. Unfortunately, the 70% that didn't care if they were there or not required the most resources, the most time, and kept the magnet program from really flourishing.

[Veritaserum]

There was a magnet school like that in San Diego. :001_smile:

 

Yep. That was my school. :)

 

So 30% of our students were magnet and 70% were just assigned there. If the school was 100% magnet students, we may have stayed. Unfortunately, the 70% that didn't care if they were there or not required the most resources, the most time, and kept the magnet program from really flourishing.

 

I'm not sure what the percentages were at my school, but some of the students were there simply because it was their local school and not because they wanted to participate in the program. Many of them didn't care and, well, it showed.

[Amy in KS]

You might look and see if there are any university style homeschool programs near you. They basically work like a university. You enroll in the classes you want (in your case math and science), the kids attend lab together and have a list of reading and homework to be completed at home.

[Mommyof4ks]

I attended a magnet school in California from 4th - 12th grades. My school had a performing arts program (no sports, just drama/visual arts/music/dance). There were good things (the programs I participated in) and bad things (it was an hour away, so I spent 2 hours on a bus every school day).

 

Where I was, the magnet school programs were designed to help racially integrate the city. The magnet schools were always placed in a minority neighborhood, in a poorer part of the city. Crime rates around the school were much higher than the community in which I lived. We were pretty safe on campus, but outside was a little scary. My brother got mugged once while he was running around the field in PE. The school went into lock down once when cops were chasing a drug dealer and he ran onto campus. I'd caution you to investigate the surrounding neighborhood. :)

 

Academics at my school were so-so, on par with other public schools I would think. If you can, you might want to talk to parents of children attending this school to get a better understanding of what it's like.

 

This was the kind of magnet program that I attended for high school also. The only kids that got to stay were those who wanted to learn, otherwise they showed you the door. We never left the campus, because the neighborhood was very dangerous.

 

I agree, ask others who attend there to see if it is a good environment. Expect LOTS of projects and homework. We had summer projects each summer, the evenings were full of reading and other assignments, and many weekends were full of work. My family did not get to take many trips during those 4 years, and when we did go somewhere I usually had to take work with me. It was great prep for college, but I don't really know if I would want my kids dealing with that kind of stress.