<p>I know my issue is not college related but my wife and I will need to decide whether to send our son to the IB middle school or the regular middle school. My wife went to a presentation on the IB school last year and we have spoken with many parents whose children have gone to IB. Opinions vary greatly.</p>
<p>From what we can understand, the work load is much heavier and there are significant group projects given to the kids. The principal mentioned that most kids are unable to do the homework and play sports.</p>
<p>Brief background: My son is starting fifth grade but we have worked with his elementary school to allow him to work independently for math. He uses an online program, EPGY, and is now starting Intermediate Algebra. He also plays travel soccer and plays tennis very well. His reading/writing skills are ok and need to improve but he has always made A’s in every subject (obviously this is not too hard as he is now only in 5th grade). He took an Intro to Python programming course this summer and liked it a lot.</p>
<p>School obviously comes before sports but I do not want him to be burdened with busy work and I am not crazy about a lot of group projects. I have been following this website for a few weeks and have seen IB mentioned and was wondering if parents/students felt it is worthwhile?</p>
<p>IB/honors/AP usually begin in high school.
Is placement into IB in your district contingent on entering in 6th grade?
What does your son want to do?
Personally I think sports are important, espcially in middle school.
Neither of my kids did honors in middle school & they both were accepted to all the colleges to which they applied.</p>
<p>As I understand if he is going to get an IB diploma he must begin in 6th grade. It is not possible to start later. He can drop out of the program at anytime and go to the regular grade if we choose.</p>
<p>I don’t know about better, but my daughter’s IB diploma earned her an entire year of college credit, wiping out all the core requirements before she even got there. Whether your family would find that better is up to you. My personal thought is that IB is better for the kids whose personalities, goals and learning styles are suited to it but that is not every kid and in some ways it is like the SAT versus the ACT. Different but equal.</p>
<p>My friend’s D did the full IB diploma (started IB in 6th grade). The high school years were stressful for the student and the parents. Marching and symphonic band were the only extracurriculars she was able to fit in her schedule. She never had time for a part-time job. She did get a tuition free scholarship to a small state u. in a neighboring state. It was the only merit money she was offered.</p>
<p>It looks like your middle school is offering the pre-IB middle years programme. In many school districts it is not necessary to do that before the high school level IB programme. Heck, lots of districts don’t even offer middle years at all.</p>
<p>You and your wife need to move up the food chain a bit, and find out why your district is locking students out of the regular IB simply for missing the middle school version.</p>
<p>At our school the IB programme (LOLZ) is 2 years junior/senior HS with a handful of pre-IB (read, honors and AP) thrown in for good measure. DD2 is in it, despite graduating thousands of kids a year (ok, not thousands) the IB percentage is miniscule.</p>
<p>Some school systems may want the kids to do the MYP before going into the full HS program. </p>
<p>My younger S did full IB at a competitive admit program. They also covered AP in the same courses. In some ways we are still dealing with the fallout from that in terms of burnout. He would do it again, as he loved the social science courses and teachers; I would be a lot more hesitant. The workload was brutal and prompted ongoing difficult decisions about ECs, life balance, etc.</p>
<p>He also had 11 AP exams, many taken as a hedge to ensure credit/placement in case the IB scores weren’t high enough.</p>
<p>What is the alternative curriculum choice if he does not do the IB curriculum?</p>
<p>Most of the comments on this forum indicate that IB courses are a lot of work, but IB HL scores are not necessarily any better for credit and placement in college than AP scores (see college web sites’ IB and AP credit charts).</p>
<p>IB curricula are supposed to be designed for “well rounded” students, although IB schools can have some different emphasis (e.g. one IB school may have HL offerings only in math and science, while another may have HL offerings only in humanities and social studies). If the student is super-advanced in one subject but on-level in others, then you would need to check whether the IB program has flexibility for such a student.</p>
<p>My son did full IB and still had time for a girlfriend and friends. Had he continued travel ice hockey, he might have had to cut back on some self-study AP work, but injuries made that decision for him; it would have been possible to do IB, social life, and a time-intensive sport but it would have been a challenge. </p>
<p>I’m not sure that, in retrospect, my son would not have opted out of an IB diploma (i.e. taking many IB and AP courses, but not the full IB courseload). He feels, rightly or wrongly, that at his school the humanities are emphasized in IB over math and science. YMMV.</p>
<p>Our district’s IB is grade 7 through 12 with a strong emphasis on academics. We have several close friends in the program. The quantity of work makes it hard to be involved in a time-consuming sport which is what kept my kids out of it (along with the steady stream of 10+ page papers).</p>
<p>On the plus side is that the graduates are way more prepared for the college level workload that those in the regular HS. They build strong friendships through their shared workload and small classes. Combined with about a year’s worth of college credits, it pulls a lot of stress away from those college years. </p>
<p>The IB school here has a reputation as one of the top high schools in the nation. Seniors and juniors are heavily recruited by colleges.</p>
<p>So much depends on your child’s personality. If you think he would be happy with limited extra curricular activities, then it may be great. If you have a kid that enjoys sports and wants to try lots of different extra curricular activities, then maybe it will seem limiting and frustrating. I’m surprised that you have to choose the IB path already in middle school, in 6th grade. Why is that?</p>
<p>The IB MYP programme (grades 6-10) is worthwhile. The aim is is to create a globally minded well rounded self motivated student. That said, it, like the DP programme may not be best for a student who is highly accelerated or has a very strong interest in one subject such as math or science. If a student appreciates the well rounded approach and can do the IB DP somewhere where it is the only choice such as at the United World Colleges, the DP is at its best. However, if a student is trying to combine the IB program with traditional American programs and activities, I think it would be overwhelming and would not allow much sleep.</p>
<p>IMO it depends entirely on the student. D earned her IB diploma and supplemented with AP courses and earned 42 credit hours. She also developed her critical thinking, writing, and presentation skills. </p>
<p>S has opted for IB certificate because he struggles with the writing and presenting.</p>
<p>I agree that if you have a kid with one sided interests (esp. in math and science) they will be less happy with IB. My older son wanted to take more math than IB offers, and more science and would not have been a happy camper doing the TOK paper. Younger son would have found it a pretty good fit for his interests. Taking APs and honors courses in your areas of strength and interest is a lot more flexible.</p>
While it is a bit unusual, my son decided to do his “Extended Essay” on a math subject. The paper was probably the highlight of the IB experience for him; he and his mentor worked on it for a few months.</p>
<p>It depends on the student, but it also depends on the specific IB program.</p>
<p>My S got an IB diploma, had a great experience both socially and academically, and would do it again. It was challenging, but not overwhelming. Many of the students participated in sports, some of them at a very high level. </p>
<p>But his school has been offering the program for more than 20 years and they have most of the kinks out by now. It also helps that it is a magnet program with a well defined group of students who are all doing the IB diploma as it gives the school more flexibility in meeting the IB requirements in the context of an American high school. </p>
<p>My area only offers IB in high school, so I don’t have any experience with the middle school version. </p>
<p>In any case, though, although there are common requirements schools must meet, the way they do it can be very different, so you really need to get information from people with experience in the specific program.</p>