Seminar Program in SD school district

[Coronita]

[quote=AN]flu, it’s not so much about GATE program specifically, but rather, looking for programs that would push my kids to their max potential. If my kids turn out to be average, then I’m perfectly fine having them in just regular public school. However, if they’re very smart, I want them to be pushed as far as they’re capable of going. GATE is the only program in public school system that potentially will push the student beyond the regular curriculum.

BTW, after school enrichment programs and advanced program during school are not mutually exclusive.[/quote]

I think if you’re expecting good results from a public education system, especially in the current predicament we are in in CA and in the U.S., you are going to be very disappointed. I don’t think any public school program is going to come close to the attention of either parental involvement OR private enrichment programs/schooling..

I’ll give an example….My kid just went to do an kindergarden “assessment” that they make some of the entering kindergarden kids to prior to entry DMUSD (ocean air elementary strangely isn’t doing it this year)…..Anyway, the assessment consisted of

1)Can your kid count from 1-10?
2)Can your kid say his/her name and spell it?
3)Can your kid say the sounds of the letters?
4)Can your kid cut along a straight line…

Sorry, but I guess having her gone through a Montessori school, this really seems like a low bar to me. And if this is suppose to be one of the better public systems in DMUSD, then oh boy…..

In her Montessori school, most kids are already doing basic addition and subtraction, most can already read to some extent….And most importantly, the kid seems to enjoy doing those. So it’s just interesting to compare and contrast. If it weren’t for the fact that the Montessori school there were more kids her age in K that would be there next year, it probably would have been better for her to stay there. That said, I don’t think you get the learning of soft skills as much as a classroom full of kids….And perhaps the right thing to do, as so many c,d,f students routinely blog about is…Your kid doesn’t need to be academically smart….They just need to figure out how to use/manipulate others……Afterall, is that what successful managers do 🙁 ????

[Scarlett]

Flu, Same here.

My daughter is starting K at Doyle Elementary (Univ. City), which is a decent school (API >900, albeit many English second language) this Fall.

Same Kindergarden assessment. And, she also has been to Montessori till now. IMHO, this is just a test to see that ALL admitted students passed it i.e. are ready for K. So it’s just a bare minimum and it’s the official standard having to fit all sorts of school districts from Del Mar to… I dunno, something bad. Chances are that 99% of the kids of your Del Mar school know much more that and will pass it, but they are not rating them and they will mix them together. Just to weed out those that TRULY aren’t ready. Just my 2 cents.

Now, FWIW, I’ve heard the Kindergarden assesment at Torrey Pines Elem. (La Jolla) was quite rigurous even for a Montessori (my daughter’s best friend went there) – reading, writing, counting to 100, simple additions and all sorts of other skills. Torrey Pines Elem is/was #1 in API scores. Probably they will group the students differently based on their skills/knowledge, where the others don’t really care.

[Scarlett]

Flu, Same here.

My daughter is starting K at Doyle Elementary (Univ. City), which is a decent school (API >900, albeit many English second language) this Fall.

Same Kindergarden assessment. And, she also has been to Montessori till now. IMHO, this is just a test to see that ALL admitted students passed it i.e. are ready for K. So it’s just a bare minimum and it’s the official standard having to fit all sorts of school districts from Del Mar to… I dunno, something bad. Chances are that 99% of the kids of your Del Mar school know much more that and will pass it, but they are not rating them and they will mix them together. Just to weed out those that TRULY aren’t ready. Just my 2 cents.

Now, FWIW, I’ve heard the Kindergarden assesment at Torrey Pines Elem. (La Jolla) was quite rigurous even for a Montessori (my daughter’s best friend went there) – reading, writing, counting to 100, simple additions and all sorts of other skills. Torrey Pines Elem is/was #1 in API scores. Probably they will group the students differently based on their skills/knowledge, where the others don’t really care.

[Scarlett]

Flu, Same here.

My daughter is starting K at Doyle Elementary (Univ. City), which is a decent school (API >900, albeit many English second language) this Fall.

Same Kindergarden assessment. And, she also has been to Montessori till now. IMHO, this is just a test to see that ALL admitted students passed it i.e. are ready for K. So it’s just a bare minimum and it’s the official standard having to fit all sorts of school districts from Del Mar to… I dunno, something bad. Chances are that 99% of the kids of your Del Mar school know much more that and will pass it, but they are not rating them and they will mix them together. Just to weed out those that TRULY aren’t ready. Just my 2 cents.

Now, FWIW, I’ve heard the Kindergarden assesment at Torrey Pines Elem. (La Jolla) was quite rigurous even for a Montessori (my daughter’s best friend went there) – reading, writing, counting to 100, simple additions and all sorts of other skills. Torrey Pines Elem is/was #1 in API scores. Probably they will group the students differently based on their skills/knowledge, where the others don’t really care.

[Scarlett]

Flu, Same here.

My daughter is starting K at Doyle Elementary (Univ. City), which is a decent school (API >900, albeit many English second language) this Fall.

Same Kindergarden assessment. And, she also has been to Montessori till now. IMHO, this is just a test to see that ALL admitted students passed it i.e. are ready for K. So it’s just a bare minimum and it’s the official standard having to fit all sorts of school districts from Del Mar to… I dunno, something bad. Chances are that 99% of the kids of your Del Mar school know much more that and will pass it, but they are not rating them and they will mix them together. Just to weed out those that TRULY aren’t ready. Just my 2 cents.

Now, FWIW, I’ve heard the Kindergarden assesment at Torrey Pines Elem. (La Jolla) was quite rigurous even for a Montessori (my daughter’s best friend went there) – reading, writing, counting to 100, simple additions and all sorts of other skills. Torrey Pines Elem is/was #1 in API scores. Probably they will group the students differently based on their skills/knowledge, where the others don’t really care.

[Scarlett]

Flu, Same here.

My daughter is starting K at Doyle Elementary (Univ. City), which is a decent school (API >900, albeit many English second language) this Fall.

Same Kindergarden assessment. And, she also has been to Montessori till now. IMHO, this is just a test to see that ALL admitted students passed it i.e. are ready for K. So it’s just a bare minimum and it’s the official standard having to fit all sorts of school districts from Del Mar to… I dunno, something bad. Chances are that 99% of the kids of your Del Mar school know much more that and will pass it, but they are not rating them and they will mix them together. Just to weed out those that TRULY aren’t ready. Just my 2 cents.

Now, FWIW, I’ve heard the Kindergarden assesment at Torrey Pines Elem. (La Jolla) was quite rigurous even for a Montessori (my daughter’s best friend went there) – reading, writing, counting to 100, simple additions and all sorts of other skills. Torrey Pines Elem is/was #1 in API scores. Probably they will group the students differently based on their skills/knowledge, where the others don’t really care.

[an]

flu, that’s why I was hoping that the Seminar would be different. I was hoping it will challenge the students a lot more than regular public school curriculum. It’ll be a few years before he enter 3rd grade, so, hopefully, the budget problem will be resolved by then. I’m not looking for school program to replace parental involvement (we’ll be plenty involved), but I was hoping Seminar program can rival private schooling, so I don’t have to shell out the extra $ for private school if I don’t have to.

Your example of kindergarden “assessment” is kinda sad. My kid can do much more than that (except cutting along a straight line) and he’s not even 3 yet. I would expect him to do much much more than that by the time he’s 5. The 5 year olds in his Montessori are doing addition and subtraction by the time they’re 5. This is why I’m putting him in the Montessori from K-2 and hoping that Seminar will replace the Montessori for 3-5, but now, I’m quite skeptical if it can.

[an]

flu, that’s why I was hoping that the Seminar would be different. I was hoping it will challenge the students a lot more than regular public school curriculum. It’ll be a few years before he enter 3rd grade, so, hopefully, the budget problem will be resolved by then. I’m not looking for school program to replace parental involvement (we’ll be plenty involved), but I was hoping Seminar program can rival private schooling, so I don’t have to shell out the extra $ for private school if I don’t have to.

Your example of kindergarden “assessment” is kinda sad. My kid can do much more than that (except cutting along a straight line) and he’s not even 3 yet. I would expect him to do much much more than that by the time he’s 5. The 5 year olds in his Montessori are doing addition and subtraction by the time they’re 5. This is why I’m putting him in the Montessori from K-2 and hoping that Seminar will replace the Montessori for 3-5, but now, I’m quite skeptical if it can.

[an]

flu, that’s why I was hoping that the Seminar would be different. I was hoping it will challenge the students a lot more than regular public school curriculum. It’ll be a few years before he enter 3rd grade, so, hopefully, the budget problem will be resolved by then. I’m not looking for school program to replace parental involvement (we’ll be plenty involved), but I was hoping Seminar program can rival private schooling, so I don’t have to shell out the extra $ for private school if I don’t have to.

Your example of kindergarden “assessment” is kinda sad. My kid can do much more than that (except cutting along a straight line) and he’s not even 3 yet. I would expect him to do much much more than that by the time he’s 5. The 5 year olds in his Montessori are doing addition and subtraction by the time they’re 5. This is why I’m putting him in the Montessori from K-2 and hoping that Seminar will replace the Montessori for 3-5, but now, I’m quite skeptical if it can.

[an]

flu, that’s why I was hoping that the Seminar would be different. I was hoping it will challenge the students a lot more than regular public school curriculum. It’ll be a few years before he enter 3rd grade, so, hopefully, the budget problem will be resolved by then. I’m not looking for school program to replace parental involvement (we’ll be plenty involved), but I was hoping Seminar program can rival private schooling, so I don’t have to shell out the extra $ for private school if I don’t have to.

Your example of kindergarden “assessment” is kinda sad. My kid can do much more than that (except cutting along a straight line) and he’s not even 3 yet. I would expect him to do much much more than that by the time he’s 5. The 5 year olds in his Montessori are doing addition and subtraction by the time they’re 5. This is why I’m putting him in the Montessori from K-2 and hoping that Seminar will replace the Montessori for 3-5, but now, I’m quite skeptical if it can.

[an]

flu, that’s why I was hoping that the Seminar would be different. I was hoping it will challenge the students a lot more than regular public school curriculum. It’ll be a few years before he enter 3rd grade, so, hopefully, the budget problem will be resolved by then. I’m not looking for school program to replace parental involvement (we’ll be plenty involved), but I was hoping Seminar program can rival private schooling, so I don’t have to shell out the extra $ for private school if I don’t have to.

Your example of kindergarden “assessment” is kinda sad. My kid can do much more than that (except cutting along a straight line) and he’s not even 3 yet. I would expect him to do much much more than that by the time he’s 5. The 5 year olds in his Montessori are doing addition and subtraction by the time they’re 5. This is why I’m putting him in the Montessori from K-2 and hoping that Seminar will replace the Montessori for 3-5, but now, I’m quite skeptical if it can.

[Rhett]

I find all of this school stuff frightening and confusing. I grew up in a relatively small town in the midwest, and we had *no* choice. Well, that’s not exactly true – there were 3 grade schools, and sometimes one got shifted from one to the other for special programs (usually Special Ed) or if they got in so much trouble in one school that they thought a change of scenery was good.

I ended up sailing through high school, mostly. The valedictorian and I had nearly identical GPAs, so we pushed each other for 4 years, so that kept me from getting too lazy. Wasn’t challenged, though, and my breadth of coursework was not nearly what it would have been at one of the suburban city schools. I probably wouldn’t have been at the top at my class at such a school, but I would have been so much more prepared for college.

Or not. Got to the state college (renowned for its engineering program), and that went all out the window. Oh, I didn’t get to test out of a few Calc classes or physics classes, after a year or two that didn’t matter. In fact, a lot of those kids burned out a bit, and I ended up pretty near the top of the class in my degree program in college.

So, Flu, it didn’t make a damned bit of difference. And my college achievement didn’t make much of a difference in my career (or lack thereof), either. I don’t live in halcyon world and think that things haven’t changed in 30 years, but I think a lot of this school stuff is overblown.

Edit: and yet I worry about it some of the time!

[Rhett]

I find all of this school stuff frightening and confusing. I grew up in a relatively small town in the midwest, and we had *no* choice. Well, that’s not exactly true – there were 3 grade schools, and sometimes one got shifted from one to the other for special programs (usually Special Ed) or if they got in so much trouble in one school that they thought a change of scenery was good.

I ended up sailing through high school, mostly. The valedictorian and I had nearly identical GPAs, so we pushed each other for 4 years, so that kept me from getting too lazy. Wasn’t challenged, though, and my breadth of coursework was not nearly what it would have been at one of the suburban city schools. I probably wouldn’t have been at the top at my class at such a school, but I would have been so much more prepared for college.

Or not. Got to the state college (renowned for its engineering program), and that went all out the window. Oh, I didn’t get to test out of a few Calc classes or physics classes, after a year or two that didn’t matter. In fact, a lot of those kids burned out a bit, and I ended up pretty near the top of the class in my degree program in college.

So, Flu, it didn’t make a damned bit of difference. And my college achievement didn’t make much of a difference in my career (or lack thereof), either. I don’t live in halcyon world and think that things haven’t changed in 30 years, but I think a lot of this school stuff is overblown.

Edit: and yet I worry about it some of the time!

[Rhett]

I find all of this school stuff frightening and confusing. I grew up in a relatively small town in the midwest, and we had *no* choice. Well, that’s not exactly true – there were 3 grade schools, and sometimes one got shifted from one to the other for special programs (usually Special Ed) or if they got in so much trouble in one school that they thought a change of scenery was good.

I ended up sailing through high school, mostly. The valedictorian and I had nearly identical GPAs, so we pushed each other for 4 years, so that kept me from getting too lazy. Wasn’t challenged, though, and my breadth of coursework was not nearly what it would have been at one of the suburban city schools. I probably wouldn’t have been at the top at my class at such a school, but I would have been so much more prepared for college.

Or not. Got to the state college (renowned for its engineering program), and that went all out the window. Oh, I didn’t get to test out of a few Calc classes or physics classes, after a year or two that didn’t matter. In fact, a lot of those kids burned out a bit, and I ended up pretty near the top of the class in my degree program in college.

So, Flu, it didn’t make a damned bit of difference. And my college achievement didn’t make much of a difference in my career (or lack thereof), either. I don’t live in halcyon world and think that things haven’t changed in 30 years, but I think a lot of this school stuff is overblown.

Edit: and yet I worry about it some of the time!

[Rhett]

I find all of this school stuff frightening and confusing. I grew up in a relatively small town in the midwest, and we had *no* choice. Well, that’s not exactly true – there were 3 grade schools, and sometimes one got shifted from one to the other for special programs (usually Special Ed) or if they got in so much trouble in one school that they thought a change of scenery was good.

I ended up sailing through high school, mostly. The valedictorian and I had nearly identical GPAs, so we pushed each other for 4 years, so that kept me from getting too lazy. Wasn’t challenged, though, and my breadth of coursework was not nearly what it would have been at one of the suburban city schools. I probably wouldn’t have been at the top at my class at such a school, but I would have been so much more prepared for college.

Or not. Got to the state college (renowned for its engineering program), and that went all out the window. Oh, I didn’t get to test out of a few Calc classes or physics classes, after a year or two that didn’t matter. In fact, a lot of those kids burned out a bit, and I ended up pretty near the top of the class in my degree program in college.

So, Flu, it didn’t make a damned bit of difference. And my college achievement didn’t make much of a difference in my career (or lack thereof), either. I don’t live in halcyon world and think that things haven’t changed in 30 years, but I think a lot of this school stuff is overblown.

Edit: and yet I worry about it some of the time!

[Author]

Posts