DS is currently in 4th at his neighborhood school. He skipped 1st & gets pull out enrichment 1-2 week and monthly field trips. It's been one of those, it's not perfect but he's not unhappy situations, & he has some friends.
We went to a magnet school fair this weekend & learned about the science & tech magnet middle school. It runs 5th-8th, DS's elem goes til after 5th & middle 6-8. He watched the video of kids doing all kinds of science projects & was in awe. He was/is extremely excited & talked about it all weekend. They have several science & tech labs, use palm pilots & ipods for classes, lots of hands on activities, science fair, clubs, planetarium on site, prairie outside in the courtyard with pond, etc. He wants to be a biologist & has loved science since pre-K.
He asked if since kids come into his school mid-year, why couldn't he switch there now? When I reminded him about the grade, he asked if he could show he could do the work, could he go? He is THAT interested & it's great to see him so excited. We also met a family that loves it there & the kid is able to go to the HS for math & then MS the rest of the day. DS was very impressed by this. There should be no question but there are issues.
So he gets off the bus yesterday and says, mom, we have a PPP. lol He says he has a Peer Pressure Pickle because friends were against his choice. I explained that his friends would miss him but that most of his day is spent learning, not socializing so what is more important to him.
We are in a suburban school district, great test scores, good rep, etc. Not much diversity which I do not like. The middle school offers the usual courses with no emphasis on science. Gifted ed is a few seminars & differentiation by the teachers which I don't have a ton of faith in from past experiences.
The negative in some eyes is that the magnet school is deep in the inner city. It's a good 30 min away but they will bus him. I have toured several inner city schools as part of a program and the city schools get a bad rap from the burbs people.
At this magnet, there is one feeder school and the rest are bussed in from all over. There is a lottery to get in but they are trying to increase the diversity in the city. Kids that are not free lunch are accepted first after siblings. (I do feel bad that we could take a spot from a lower SES kid) The test scores are not as high as our school but not horrible. It is 1/2 the size of our local middle school.
DH has gotten PPP from his friends too-"don't send him, it's too rough there". I am not worried about the location & just want him somewhere that will spark his learning again. By HS, he will be able to take AP, dual credit, etc. but until then, his options are this magnet, IB at a nearby school (not sure that meets his interests), or maybe jumping ahead in some middle school courses.
Sorry for the book but can anyone from outside the decision provide some insight?
