Parents of middle school & high schoolers ..... Pl read

[DONNIEANDDONNA417]

I had to move out of Georgia all together. Although my son was in good elementary school, I started to worry when he was entering six grade. The middle schools in Atlanta were very, VERY crowded. My other 2 kids had bad experiences in middle and high school. They attended school in Cobb county. The teachers were piling homework on them and when they needed my help I could barely understand it myself.

Why cant teachers that stick to the basics...adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing. I mean that is what we use in everyday life, right?

Please don't let me discourage you I just know what its like when you want your child in a good school.

[residinghere2007]

My middle schooler goes to a charter school so one would have to get on a wait list (I think it is 3-4 years long now). But I LOVE my son's school. I have a 5 year old who is a Sept birthday so didn't get to go to kindergarten this year so is in pre-k but she will go to my son's school next year because they have a policy where siblings automatically get in.

I have heard of the "packets." I do think for math practice they are useful but should include a review in class and actual teaching of the skills inside of the packets.

Our school has extremely low class sizes so I am very satisfied. The teachers and administrators love my son. The vice principal was his teacher for 3 consecutive years until she was promoted to the vice principal position. He has had a great educational experience since he started going to his current school and I am anticipating the same for my daughter and am excited about her going there next year.

I also have a knack for "helping" with homework, especially math and writing myself so that portion is not troubling for me - doing packets and such, especially since my son usually is taught the skills, he might just get frustrated at his work. I also am more of a hands off parent in regards to homework in general since I see homework as something for the kid to complete. My son will ask me to help explain a math concept in particular as I can break it down more easily for him using my "old school" way of doing math versus the "new math" methods they teach now, which can be confusing IMO. My kid is simple minded like me about math, tell him a simple way and he'll get it immediately so I do offer one or two explanations for him on stuff he is stuck on, more recently it was exponents and radicals (which I love to figure out).

But I agree with other posters that teacher quality can vary. The thing I love most about my son's school (we are in APS in a city of Atlanta charter) is that they "block" where the teacher teaches the same group of kids for 2-3 years. I felt they really did get to "know" my kid and it has been very beneficial for him. He is in 6th grade this year and so has new teachers this year (he had the same ones from 3-5) and they have all been very good so far, especially his math teacher who is much tougher on him than his previous math teacher.

We will more than likely move from GA period when my son is in 8th grade. I don't like the selection of high schools in Atlanta, don't like living in suburbs in Atlanta due to the sprawl, and don't have the money to afford a good private school without at least a 90% scholarship, which could probably happen but I feel that it is a long shot and I don't want to stress my kid out about school. So we are planning on moving back to my hometown where there are regular high schools with good teachers and school choice, where you can move wherever you want and have you kid go to whatever school you want more easily than you can here.

[AnsleyPark]

Originally Posted by flyonpa

I would Rank them as:
1st Lambert
2nd South / West (tie)
3rd FCHS / North (tie)

Educational Leadership / 2014-15 Redistricting

Agreed.

[Mattie]

Originally Posted by DONNIEANDDONNA417

I had to move out of Georgia all together. Although my son was in good elementary school, I started to worry when he was entering six grade. The middle schools in Atlanta were very, VERY crowded. My other 2 kids had bad experiences in middle and high school. They attended school in Cobb county. The teachers were piling homework on them and when they needed my help I could barely understand it myself.

Why cant teachers that stick to the basics...adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing. I mean that is what we use in everyday life, right?

Please don't let me discourage you I just know what its like when you want your child in a good school.

I don't understand this post. Parents who want high achieving children expect they will be taught far beyond the "basics". I admit, my own three reached levels of homework past my capabilities to help, but not past their capabilities.

Give me a school with opportunity to push the boundaries. We chose our area of North Fulton (Milton), based on the dual enrollment program with GA Tech.

[nanhi]

Mattie I have heard about the dual enrollment program. Are your kids into that program yet? I would be so much thankful if you can explain me this concept of dual enrollment in detail. Thanks a lot