Transitioning to public school

[irvinehomeowner]

So... now that we've finally decided to try out IUSD... what should we be looking out for.

I think the one big difference for my kids is going to be the snack/lunch/bell thing.

They are used to how their old school provides a morning snack, lunch and afternoon snack in the classroom (which they serve to themselves), whereas in public schools, a morning snack is optional (they can eat or play), lunch is a central area shared by all kids and they either have to bring their own or line up to get their food, and there is no afternoon snack (unless you are in the CDC program).

What other things should we be preparing them for?

 

[abcd1234]

What grade will they be in?  I transitoned my daughter to 2nd grade from a Montessori.  She did have several months of adjustment.  It was definitely more structured for her.  She had to get used to more testing.  But after the 1st semester, she was ok.  Of course meeting new friends was also an adjustment.  We had to repeat the whole process when we bought a house (so she was in Montessori for 1st, public for 2nd, and another public for 3rd).  I am very relieved we bought and she's at the same school for 4th. 

Do they at least know some of the kids that will be at the school (neighbors, kids from neighborhood pool, etc)?

 

[irvinehomeowner]

They may know one or two kids.

I'm more worried about the 3rd grader than the 1st grader.

 

[kayochan]

We transitioned our child from a Montessori (k and 1st) to a public school (2nd).  The biggest surprise for me was the fact that parents were responsible for teaching certain things.  We got math review notes and books to go over with our child at home as supplementary learning.  I was just used to the private school that did all the teaching.  Also, many kids are in Kumon, etc. whereas the private school did the teaching as well as any tutoring as necessary (I guess that is why you pay the big $). 

Anyways, other than that the transition was easy.  At that young age, kids make friends easily and the teachers were organized and gave a lot of structure to the academic day.  Our child made friends through his class, CDC as well as boy scouts.  The boy scouts is for the specific elementary school your child goes to and is for the same grade children.  They meet like twice a month and do all kinds of fun activities so this may be good for your 3rd grader (boy scouts or girl scouts dep on your child's gender).

 

[irvinehomeowner]

The biggest surprise for me was the fact that parents were responsible for teaching certain things.  We got math review notes and books to go over with our child at home as supplementary learning.  I was just used to the private school that did all the teaching.

I find this interesting.

Where my kids were, I found on several occasions that my kid didn't understand the homework and the material had not been covered in class. During the parents/teacher conference when I asked about that, the answer was either 1) I give homework material that is advanced and if the child doesn't understand, they should skip it or 2) Go ahead and try to teach them.

For #1, if you know they didn't go over it... why did you give it to them?

For #2, my problem is that what if I'm teaching them the wrong way (it was something with subtraction and borrowing) and the answer was, "There is no wrong way."  I would rather they give me reference materials so I know what methods they are using to teach them in class and I can reinforce them.

I guess I'll be able to compare this year since my youngest will be getting homework for the first time and I can compare that to how it was with my older one in the non-public school.

Also, many kids are in Kumon, etc. whereas the private school did the teaching as well as any tutoring as necessary (I guess that is why you pay the big $). 

I always wondered about Kumon. Is that so they can keep up or get ahead? I don't know about other parents, but I can't imagine putting my kids in something extracurricular that is academic... I would rather have them in sports, music, art or dance... am I a Bohemian?

 

[usctrojancpa]

am I a Bohemian?

I don't think so, sounds like you want your kids to have good balance in their lives. 

***START RANT***

Honestly, I feel sorry for those kids that have to endure their parents shoving nothing but education down their throats from the time they are born.  Don't the parents understand that will just turn their kids into socially inept adults brainiac robots?  Look, I get the whole thing about education being #1 because that's what my parents stressed (imagine bringing a report home wtih all As and one B and your parents complaining about that one B, well that's what I went through).  I mean, come on...kids deserve to be kids and have some fun.  Sure my parents had the microscope on me when it came to my education but they also encouraged me to do other things like play sports and have fun with friends.  Honestly, those all education all the time parents are no better than those parents that try to re-live their sports youth through their kids by pushing them too hard in sports.  Happiness and life is all about BALANCE!  For me, common sense/street smarts/social skills > book smarts.

***END RANT***

 

[kayochan]

My son's class last year was mostly asian (Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Indian, etc), and has like maybe one or two caucasian.  The kumon I visited (the one in Barranca and the one off of Yale) had mostly the same mix of kids (i.e. asian).  It seems that people put their kids in Kumon to supplement school.  Kids learn multiplication in 3rd grade and they don't spend very much time in class.  In fact the teacher said that they don't have the time so that we are primarily responsible for teaching our kids multiplication.  (When I was in elementary, we learned it all at school).  The other stuff we are responsible for is review (at least last year and the year before, they didn't really spend enough time on new concepts - so review was necessary unless your child was in Kumon and already a grade ahead on the material).

I know of a boy that transfered to Newport Beach (Lincoln Elementary) during the middle of the school year.  He was behind in Math (was not fast enough or had not memorized addition, subtraction and multiplication).  The mom was a single working mom and did not have the time at home to review/teach the math.  I guess at Lincolin, they put him in an after school class (3 to 1 teacher/student ratio) and taught him all that.  I guess he scored very well on his CST and also is much more confident according to his mom.

So I don't know, maybe it depends on the teacher, school, and parental expectations of what the school is going to do.

 

[kayochan]

By the way, despite the fact that there is an expectation for supplemental teaching (either by the parent or tutoring), I still like the elementary school.  It is well run, the teachers so far have been very organized and ready for feedback/good response time, the kids are well behaved and parents are nice.  I know our son enjoys his school and I am happy if he is happy

 

[irvinehomeowner]

Does Kumon exist because of the competitive nature of IUSD schools? Are there Kumons in other cities?

It seems like the kids in Kumon already know how to do math and they are there to be ahead of the curve... I would think that everything a kid needs to know about school they learn IN school and that homework is just an application of that knowledge. I found some guidelines on homework on one of the IUSD sites:

The following time chart suggests a minimum amount of time children should spend on homework, daily, Monday-Thursday:

Kindergarten
10-15 minutes
Grades 1-3
15-30 minutes
Grades 4-6
40-60 minutes

Now if these kids are in Kumon AND have to do homework... it seems more than just supplemental.

I don't remember spending more than half an hour on homework until I was in high school... and even then... it was usually on the bus or between classes. Times have changed.

 

[irvinehomeowner]

Yes, there are Kumons and similar in other places.  Hard as it is to believe, there are parents in cities not called Irvine that also take an interest in their child's education. 

I guess what I'm trying to find out is if Kumon is really for tutoring or helping kids keep up rather than helping them get ahead.

For what it is worth, we have tried both Kumon and another corporate tutor program, and were disappointed.  We sought out and found a private tutor (one on one) that we have been much happier with than those tutor in a box corporate programs.  Just to give you an idea, the private tutor costs us $30 per hour --- we send our child once per week.  They then assign about 2 hours of work to be completed in the next week.

Did you do it out of necessity or just something like ballet or sports where you were giving them another activity?

I just find it strange because neither I nor any people I know had to do something like Kumon when we were kids. I thought schools were better at education nowadays than when we were younger... so I find this proliferation of tutoring businesses interesting.

Back in high school... I used to tutor math... but it was part of the school mentoring program where peers helped other peers out (I remember it only because the person I tutored was emo before emo was even a term... or maybe she was goth?).

 

[kayochan]

The Kumon off of Yale in Northwood seems to be for keeping up and the Kumon off of Barranca in Woodbridge seems to be more about getting ahead.  They stress a goal (and give out a gold star) to kids to get to level G in Math by 5th grade (they call it G by 5).  Level G is algebra.  (I think kids usually learn Algebra in middle school?)

 

[irvinehomeowner]

Algebra by grade 5?

Wow... from what I recall... it was high school when you learned algebra....

9th Algebra
10th Geometry
11th Trigonometry
12th PreCalculus or Calculus (depending on what you plan to major in college)

I know middle school had PreAlgebra and gifted students started Algebra... but that's the exception. For anyone with kids in middles school... is Algebra now the norm?

 

[rkp]

Algebra by grade 5?

Wow... from what I recall... it was high school when you learned algebra....

9th Algebra
10th Geometry
11th Trigonometry
12th PreCalculus or Calculus (depending on what you plan to major in college)

I know middle school had PreAlgebra and gifted students started Algebra... but that's the exception. For anyone with kids in middles school... is Algebra now the norm?

I graduated HS in 97 and was part of LAUSD.  I did geometry over the summer after 8th grade but the norm was 9th/geometry, 10th/trig, 11th/calc A/B, 12th calc C and free semester

kumon was around when i was in elementary school.  i went to a gifted magnet and all the korean kids did kumon

 

[panda]

Patstar... man.. you and IHO are stressing me out with all this Kumon and Korean stuff.. Glad to know that I don't have to worry about this stuff for another 5 years for my little pandas.

I graduated HS in 97 and was part of LAUSD.  I did geometry over the summer after 8th grade but the norm was 9th/geometry, 10th/trig, 11th/calc A/B, 12th calc C and free semester

kumon was around when i was in elementary school.  i went to a gifted magnet and all the korean kids did kumon

Were you in LA or the Valley?  We are in a big time Korean area now (Porter Ranch), and yeah --- all the Korean kids still do Kumon or private tutoring.  We got referred to our private tutor (who is a Korean teacher) by the Korean mom's in our neighborhood.  They are no joke about this stuff.  I'm actually kind of scared of our tutor, because she always scolds me about not pushing the daugther hard enough.  So I have my wife drop her off and pick her up.

 

[kayochan]

Algebra by grade 5?

Wow... from what I recall... it was high school when you learned algebra....

9th Algebra
10th Geometry
11th Trigonometry
12th PreCalculus or Calculus (depending on what you plan to major in college)

I know middle school had PreAlgebra and gifted students started Algebra... but that's the exception. For anyone with kids in middles school... is Algebra now the norm?

I graduated HS in 97 and was part of LAUSD.  I did geometry over the summer after 8th grade but the norm was 9th/geometry, 10th/trig, 11th/calc A/B, 12th calc C and free semester

kumon was around when i was in elementary school.  i went to a gifted magnet and all the korean kids did kumon

In public schools, the push is for all 9th graders to be in Geometry and some even go into Algebra II.
So starting out with Geometry in 9th grade and ending with Calculus A/B or C sounds right.

But I think that as long as you are in either Calc. A/B or C in 12th grade, you are ok in college because isn't the norm to start the first year of college math with Calculus AB?

 

[irvinehomeowner]

Algebra by grade 5?

Wow... from what I recall... it was high school when you learned algebra....

9th Algebra
10th Geometry
11th Trigonometry
12th PreCalculus or Calculus (depending on what you plan to major in college)

I know middle school had PreAlgebra and gifted students started Algebra... but that's the exception. For anyone with kids in middles school... is Algebra now the norm?

dude - you're behind.  geometry is the "norm" for 8th grade.  also, a lot of parents have their kids skip pre-algebra and just go straight to algebra to cut a year out.

I must be.

The only reason I remember that so well is my middle school went to 9th and for some reason when I transferred into 10th, they made me take Algebra again. By the time they realized I was just repeating they couldn't adjust so I took geometry in the summer before 11th, so I could get on track with Trig and then AP Calc as a senior.

I actually hate math.

@panda: Oh... I'm with you... if I can help it... I'm not going to bend to the pressure... if their classmates are doing better because of Kumon... let 'em... it will even out eventually.

 

[rkp]

I graduated HS in 97 and was part of LAUSD.  I did geometry over the summer after 8th grade but the norm was 9th/geometry, 10th/trig, 11th/calc A/B, 12th calc C and free semester

kumon was around when i was in elementary school.  i went to a gifted magnet and all the korean kids did kumon

Were you in LA or the Valley?  We are in a big time Korean area now (Porter Ranch), and yeah --- all the Korean kids still do Kumon or private tutoring.  We got referred to our private tutor (who is a Korean teacher) by the Korean mom's in our neighborhood.  They are no joke about this stuff.  I'm actually kind of scared of our tutor, because she always scolds me about not pushing the daugther hard enough.  So I have my wife drop her off and pick her up.

I grew up in WLA but went to HS in the valley (yes it sucked catching the bus at 6am every day).  I remember roll call and Lees and Kims would be the longest of the list.  I had a lot of Korean friends and they were raised the same way people talk about Chinese in Irvine.  Music classes, tutors, kumon, rarely sports...

Btw, Porter Ranch feels a lot like OC.  I have friends who live in Sorrento and their community feels like a South OC community.  Except many more races!

 

[purpletulip]

Does anyone have a good tutor to recommend?  There was a pretty good one who gave lessons at the libraries, but she just relocated to Arizona.

 

[irvinehomeowner]

Man... no mello roos there either? Just keep rubbing that salt in.  :'(

 

[usctrojancpa]

I grew up in WLA but went to HS in the valley (yes it sucked catching the bus at 6am every day).  I remember roll call and Lees and Kims would be the longest of the list.  I had a lot of Korean friends and they were raised the same way people talk about Chinese in Irvine.  Music classes, tutors, kumon, rarely sports...

Btw, Porter Ranch feels a lot like OC.  I have friends who live in Sorrento and their community feels like a South OC community.  Except many more races!

Nice.  You must have gone to Granada Hills HS?  That's my wife's school....she grew up out here.  We live in 'The Heights'...just up the street from Sorrento.  Actually looked at a lot of places in Sorrento before settling on ours.  I trust your friend is well aware of the new K-8 school opening next fall almost walking distance from Sorrento.  Well, except for the uphill part it would be walking distance.  Funny thing is, when we moved out here (after 5 years in Irvine) it was primarily to be near extended family, and to avoid paying mello roos.  But the unintended result is that we like it out here -- a lot.

How much is the HOA out there?