I agree that the kid personalities are important. Neither of my kids is super competitive. I think this was a factor in dd's results on the Explore - she was cool as a cucumber that morning, willing to humor her parents for a reward of a pancake breakfast. Academic fearlessness. On the other hand, given unstructured time, she would not choose academics. She is an avid reader, and would generally choose to reread her old favorites. Given the assignment of an independent project, however, I think she would do well. She has many interests, is likely to do well in researching and organizing.
They have never been in a really competitive environment, so It is hard to guess how they would react. Dd is a bit dreamy, it is possible that she would be oblivious. I honestly don't know if a competitive environment would rev her up (or whether I want her to be revved up) or shut her down (which I know I don't want).
I think ds is more likely to energized by a competitive environment in a positive way and really enjoy it. On the other hand, he is less organized and I can see potential value for him in doing independent projects. Learning to follow through on something like that would be a real benefit to him.
To answer Clay's question, the "progressive" (I'm not up on the edu-lingo, but the call themselves this as though it means something to others) school is a K-8 school, much smaller than the rat race middle school. They *do* have a library (I went on a school tour about 5 years ago and saw the books), and specials teachers (art, music, Spanish....), but resources are clearly more limited than the public school (competitive at state and national levels in science and math competitions). They have *two* multiage classrooms at the middle school grade level, so there would be the option of having the twins in different classrooms, which is a likely priority.
Okay, I looked it up - here are qualities of progressive education:
- Emphasis on learning by doing � hands-on projects, experiential learning
- Integrated curriculum focused on thematic units
- Strong emphasis on problem solving and critical thinking
- Group work and development of social skills
- Understanding and action as the goals of learning as opposed to rote knowledge
- Collaborative and cooperative learning projects
- Education for social responsibility and democracy
- Integration of community service and service learning projects into the daily curriculum
- Selection of subject content by looking forward to ask what skills will be needed in future society
- De-emphasis on textbooks in favor of varied learning resources
- Emphasis on life-long learning and social skills
- Assessment by evaluation of child�s projects and productions
It sounds good, but would have to see it in action to be convinced.
Ultimately, we'll probably explore both options and get input from the kids before deciding...
