Posts by feralgardener33

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on Luciana. I've heard plenty of rumors about how brutal her curriculum is—apparently, the workload is intense enough to give anyone anxiety🙂. A good number of kids from her elementary school end up enrolling there.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy A53 via Reddit

stormymarlin22 said:The high school right near West High is actually also a top-tier prep school.

All three of them—West, East, and Luciana's place—have pretty solid reputations. I guess they all take the high-achievers, and they all have entrance exams.

Thanks. I'm aware they all have entrance exams, which honestly works for me. If she passes, great. If not, there are other good schools to choose from.
It seems like their math foundation is strong, so we'll see how it goes. Luciana lives right in our neighborhood, so that might be her first pick unless she decides on this specific English immersion program.

Sent from my SM-A536B using Reddit

Carl Bishop2 said:I was wondering, how many points does the entrance exam usually count for at a top-tier High School, for example?

I can't speak for Stuyvesant, but I know it's worth 10 points over at Benjamin Franklin High.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy A53 using Reddit

Thanks for clearing that up. MIT isn't really on the table for her, so I didn't bother digging too deep into the specifics there. She’s not interested in language studies either, which pretty much leaves us with option X. It’s a STEM track taught in English, though I know only certain subjects are actually handled that way. Does anyone here have experience with X? What’s the reputation like? I honestly don't know the first thing about high schools in New York City.
Columbus is out, too. We're looking at Luciana or maybe some other STEM-focused high school that's conveniently located on the West Side.

Got it, thanks for the heads-up.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy A53 on Reddit

stormymarlin22 said:I don't think MIOC offers an English track, as far as I know. They have an IB program, but that’s not quite the same thing as a math and science academy.

Fair enough, thanks! MIT isn't really on the table for her anyway, though I was under the impression they had some English-language options. I haven't been able to track down a decent STEM academy that also offers a full English curriculum.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy A53 using Reddit

Great, thanks for getting back to me!

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy A53 on Reddit

Hi there,
Quick question: besides the Harvard Kennedy School, are there any other high schools in the area with a STEM track that offers a curriculum entirely in English?
Thanks!

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy A53 using Reddit

Susan James said:But that’s actually why it doesn't work that way.
The decision is made during the enrollment period back in June, where you have to officially opt-in or opt-out of those elective subjects.
(Even if families have known each other since preschool and know that a certain group of five kids won't be taking religion, they can't be sure if everyone will end up in the exact same classroom. People just don't want to take that risk.)

I didn't quite follow your logic on why it isn't handled that way. Of course, during registration, we were asked if our child should take religion, and we made our choice right then. But at the first PTA meeting, one mom felt the need to loudly reiterate to the teacher that she didn't want her kid in that class. That triggered a chain reaction where others started speaking up too. Maybe seeing how many kids weren't participating caused some parents—who were originally planning to sign them up just so their kid wouldn't be stuck in the hallway—to change their minds. Who knows. Either way, the outcome was actually great.

hiddenscout44 said:Facts. Like they say in Django Unchained: the house slave is the biggest racist...
so these people who act all crazy are always the first ones to throw stones just to hide how hypocritical they really are. Just think about it—imagine how different things would look if everyone like that actually spoke up and said they didn't want their kids in those classes, especially when it messes up their whole schedule. They’d solve the whole religious ed problem in a heartbeat...

I'm with you on this one. Luckily, my kid's class turned out exactly that way. During that very first morning we were all gathered, parents were stepping up one by one, making it crystal clear they didn't want their kids participating in religious ed. In the end, only about five or six out of twenty-three kids ended up in the class, and everything worked out perfectly. If people acted like that everywhere, the problem would be solved overnight.

Richard Perez3 said:My 8-year-old isn't even going.
To say I was shocked would be an understatement.
They’re heading to the local library with their teacher instead—doing stuff like drawing, meeting new people, chatting, reading, all that jazz.
Honestly? I’m more than happy with how this is playing out so far.

It's the exact same situation here, except only 6 out of 23 kids in the class aren't going. I'm also beyond satisfied. Their religion class falls during 2nd and 4th periods—right in the middle of the school day—but they'll be hanging out with the teacher in the library instead.

Linda Garcia41 said:This is great news. Thanks for getting back to me. I have my surgery coming up in a month, so hopefully, everything goes just as smoothly for me.😉)
If you don't mind me asking, where did you have the procedure done?

I had my surgery at Mount Sinai, and my doctor was Michael Ries. Honestly, I can't say enough good things about him—he’s truly exceptional.

Linda Garcia41 said:Hi there,
I'm looking for anyone who's had this surgery to share their recovery experiences. Specifically, I'm wondering how long the dizziness lasted, or if anyone even dealt with it at all.
Best,

I had my procedure about two and a half months ago. To be honest, I didn't deal with any dizziness or nausea whatsoever. There wasn't even any pain, which was a relief. I'm incredibly happy with the results; my hearing is almost back to where it should be. It's a massive improvement. I can hear quite clearly now.

Adam Evans62 said:The post you quoted wasn't even about you. I was talking to summernight... I already gave you my answer in a different thread.

I just happen to agree with everything Summer wrote, so I quoted your reply to her because that’s what I wanted to comment on.
Ultimately, it feels like everything hinges on the teacher. Some are great, some aren't (and since I don't really know what kind of teacher you are, it's hard to say), so depending on that, how much help I need to step in will vary. Of course, the kid plays a role too.
The kind of support Tanita mentioned is fine by me, but anything beyond that is overkill. That's all I was trying to get across.

Adam Evans62 said:Okay, you seriously need a reality check.
Do you live in a bubble where nobody actually has school-aged kids? Because what you're saying is wild.
You really think your kid is just going to walk into first grade and handle everything solo without any help? Good grief.😵Don't take this personally since we're strangers, but I genuinely can't believe someone is this out of touch with how things work.
Anyway, good luck with the start of the school year. Hope it goes well. And please, for the love of God, check back in a few months and tell us how your kid is supposedly managing every single assignment entirely by themselves.😉

Now you've gone and twisted half of what I said, but whatever, it doesn't matter. You don't know me, you don't know my kid, and you don't know how I parent, so you're forgiven. 😁 Look, I'm not attacking you, nor am I saying teachers are to blame. I jumped into this debate (even though I don't have kids in school yet and have zero clue what the day-to-day looks like) simply because all I hear from the parents around me is constant complaining about their kids' schooling. It made me think everyone was probably exaggerating (though, really, can everyone be exaggerating at once?). I'm holding onto hope that they *are* exaggerating and it won't actually turn out that bad.
As a parent, I make sure we go to the theater, museums, and field trips; we're regulars at the local library and all that. I'd like to actually have the time for those things once school starts. It's not that I don't want to help my child—which is what you keep insisting—but I do feel like they should be able to handle most things on their own (with just a little guidance). Based on the teacher posts here, it sounds like it's either unrealistic or not even worth expecting an average student to master the material independently. (Maybe I'm being subjective since I was one of those straight-A students who thought everything was easy—it's a philosophy, I guess: learn the stuff, get the A).
And no, I don't think my kid is some genius, nor do I think they're always right. I'm not one of *those* parents.

Karen Richardson3 said:To be totally honest, looking at the elementary kids I know right now, they aren't struggling like this; it feels like the only place where people are constantly complaining about how impossible the curriculum has become is on internet forums.

I really hope you're right. I don't have any kids in school yet, so I wouldn't know. My sincere hope is that when she eventually starts, I won't be stuck doing her homework for her.
But listening to the moms in my circle, it's a different story. Almost every parent I talk to complains about the endless hours spent helping with homework, leaving them with zero free time.
And that thing about the required reading wasn't just me making stuff up; one mom mentioned her kid was assigned a hundred-page book that had to be finished in a single week.

A hundred-page reading assignment for a first grader?! And parents are just expected to do the heavy lifting for them?!
Then you have people claiming kids today don't have it as hard as we did, arguing that they're "less burdened" because parts of the curriculum get cut every year (if that's the case, what on earth were we dealing with back then?)
Let me be clear: during my first four years of elementary school, I didn't do a single thing at home. Nothing. Zero. All my homework and studying happened strictly within the school walls since I was in an after-school program. Do you teachers actually grasp how little time a parent truly has with their child once school starts? If a kid is expected to spend every waking hour on academics, all other activities just fall by the wayside. It’s not right.
And what you just wrote honestly shocked me. Are you suggesting that only the "super intelligent" types—those with some supposedly advanced way of thinking—deserve straight A's? That they just got lucky at birth or happen to have highly educated parents, while everyone else is predestined to struggle with C's and B's regardless of how much effort or heart they put into their work? That's just awful.

Susan James said:Look, even yin&yang went through school back then without any formal grades,🤷

A parent's responsibility is to stay involved in their child's education and check in regularly with the teachers, but it shouldn't be about tutoring them at home.
It really just comes down to how much a parent wants to be motivated and proactive.

I definitely didn't have grades back in my fourth grade.
Similarly, I find it completely unacceptable that I’m expected to sit down with my child every single night to grind through schoolwork they were supposed to learn in class (maybe explain a concept here or there if they're stuck, sure, but sitting there daily to teach them? No. And yet, I keep hearing that this is becoming the norm, which frankly baffles me).
The reality is, by the time we get home from work and school, it’s already past 5:00 PM. By the time we grab dinner, it’s 6:00 or even later. There are so many other things I actually want to do with my kid—especially on the weekends. If a child is in school until late in the afternoon, I expect them to handle their school business while they're actually there. It’s not that I don’t want to be involved with my child (which seems to be the implication floating around here), quite the opposite: I just want our time together to be spent differently.

[QUOTE
If you take away grades, none of them—especially those kids in 2nd, 3rd, or 4th grade—would even pick up a book, let alone actually learn anything. Let's be real here. What’s the point of school then? You can't honestly expect them to care about a multiplication table when it's snowing outside and they'd much rather be dreaming about something else.😁
Maybe starting 1st graders at 9 or 10 AM would make more sense, but scrapping grades entirely? Not so much.😉

Forgive me for jumping into this, but I have to say, this argument is nonsense. I don't know how old the rest of you parents are, but I was born in '79, and I didn't have numerical grades during my first four years of Elementary School (does anyone else even remember that?). We just had descriptive progress reports instead—I actually still have those folders tucked away from those early years. Sure, we had tests and assessments, but there were no letter grades. And obviously, we still learned. Back then, I went to after-school programs for those first four years, and I distinctly remember never having to study at home; everything was handled at school. Once I hit 5th grade, my grades were excellent. I had developed good study habits, and my parents didn't have to sit me or my brother down to tutor us.
So, in my opinion, the idea that kids won't learn without grades is Absolute nonsense.

Test