<p>The joy of Blair is the block scheduling. It is a LOT easier to manage homework when you have two nights to do it (for most courses). Freshman year is also a BIG transition there. For many kids, this is the first time that they may not be the smartest kid in the class. With an average 2220 SAT score in the program, it is a high-flying place and can be insanely competitive. If her HW is taking that long to do, she should pursue help at lunch. There are teachers and juniors/seniors who can help her grasp the material. One can also choose to do well without getting sucked into the competition. </p>
<p>Parents would be well served to help their child find a balance between work and play and NOT feed into the rat race mentality. </p>
<p>Blair basically runs through all four years of science/math/CS/engineering in roughly the first two years of the program. Several âcoreâ magnet courses are taught at above AP level and are done in one semester. Junior and senior year are opportunities to take post-AP courses or pursue other subject areas. </p>
<p>If itâs any consolation, we found the workload of the magnet IB program to be much more intense and conducive to burnout.</p>
<p>ECs til 8pm? She clearly has ECs that are not school-related. Time to prioritize. Even my football playing IB student was home by 6:30, and he got 7-8 hrs of sleep most of the time. </p>
<p>SomeOldGuy, no fighting for class rank in MoCo. They eliminated ranking in the 1990s.</p>
<p>MoCo no longer reports it, but if you think the colleges arenât backing into it at least at the decile level from the available data youâre probably kidding yourself. The profile report your high school sends to all the colleges breaks down the grade distribution across MoCoâs weighted scale, so the adcoms can figure out âtop 10%,â âtop 20%â pretty fast. </p>
<p>In case anyone is choking on his or her dinner while reading that Montgomery Blair has a 2220 average SAT score, rest assured that the school newspaper reported that the average score was 1725 last year. [Silver</a> Chips Online : MCPS sets record high SAT scores](<a href=âhttp://silverchips.mbhs.edu/story/11760]Silverâ>http://silverchips.mbhs.edu/story/11760) </p>
<p>Perhaps CountingDown is confusing the school with Thomas Jefferson, which has had an average SAT score as high as 2233 for the senior class.</p>
<p>The magnet program at Blair is one of 3 programs that share a building, and some classes. I would assume that the 2220 is for just the magnet, whereas the 1725 is building wide.</p>
<p>TJ is a whole school magnet with no other kids in the building.</p>
<p>I donât know the school nor the area, but 4 hours of HW can be pretty standard at uber competitive schools. Try to keep the facebook off during HW, and the texting if possible. (Keep the computer and cell phone in different location, do the computer work last, and can take cell phone and computer breaks every hour).</p>
<p>If the EC is taking from 3 pm to 8 pm, then Iâd either reduce the EC, or find ways to study during the downtime of the EC.</p>
<p>Unfortunately the 4 hours of homework is pretty typical for most magnet, G&T and any rigorous private or public. I know of middle-schools that routinely assign 3+. And of course many of them will tell you on the tour: 2-3 hours a night. But even if every academic class only assigned work of 35 minutes it would still add up 3.5 hours (your basic 4 + language). Every teacher thinks their homework is the most vital. Add in facebook, IM, phone calls, etc. and your D is easily over 4. </p>
<p>The biggest problem is not that teenagers need 8+ hours a night (no argument from me) itâs that schools start too early. The average teenagerâs body clock/circadian rhythm undergoes a radical shift and they naturally fall asleep later in the 24 hour period. your D finds it easier to stay up till midnight. The last thing schools should be doing is starting classes before 9amâmore like10-11am. How many of your kids are on a bus before 7am? How many of you have kids who used to pop out of bed at the crack of dawn as a 4 year old? How many of them are now sleeping until 1pm on a Saturday (or would like to)? Schools start early as a convenience for after school activities like sports & work. Schools that have shifted to later start times have seen SAT rise substantially. </p>
<p>But until schools get the message, this is what weâre stuck with. Your freshman daughter needs to start her homework earlier or get rid of an EC or two. Cut down on distractions by using programs like âself-controlâ for the computer (you type in websites to be blocked for a certain amount of time). Give your daughter a timer and have her build in breaks every 40 minutes so she can spend 5 minutes relaxing. </p>
<p>I doubt youâll be able to get the school to change things upâŠthere are many people who feel their child is not getting an education if theyâre not studying at LEAST 4 hours a night</p>
<p>It is true many of MCâs magnet kids end up at UMD-CP as happymom pointed out (post 18) but itâs not necessary because these kids couldnât get into some big name schools. MC is generally considered as an upper middle class county and most of us have income levels that would not allow for any type of FA. So, if you have more than one child, you really have to consider other cheaper options and given many of these kids get merit aids @ UMD, itâs not hard to see why so many of them opted for UMD for undergrad work. </p>
<p>As for HW, my kids (IB magnet) spend no more than 2-4 hours each night on HW which is considered not too bad. Then they have to study which takes another few hours. Typical day for a 10 grader - 2:10 school done, 2:30-4:30 library, 5:00 come home, 5:00-7:00 dinner/relax, 7:00 start working⊠usually done by 1:00 to 1:30 am. Gets up at 6 and get going again. Like I said before, itâs not for everyone. Itâs crazy, I know.</p>
<p>Iâm guessing your kids with these crazy schedules will find college much easier! People around here think my kid is nuts for having taken 10 AP classes in HS, but her routine is nothing like the one you outlined, eastcoast. I often have to defend her choices to those who think she pushes too hard, but she has time for sports and socializing. Surely these kids could get merit aid at UMD without such an intense schedule. My D likes to be challenged, but I donât see the point of such a stressful course load. The lack of sleep on a regular basis doesnât sound healthy.</p>
<p>coase â CuriousJane is correct â Blairâs magnet is 400 students (100 per grade) within a school of ~2600. As I stated above, the average SAT <em>in Blairâs magnet program</em> is 2220. TJ is a full school program with ~1600 students. Both programs have selective entry processes to be admitted. When my kids applied to the programs, about 1 in 7 were accepted. </p>
<p>And yes, in theory, it is possible to figure out some semblance of ranking by GPA â but colleges know about these programs and account for that accordingly. The school reports that go out to colleges show % of TOTAL students with a GPA within various ranges â it does not break out GPA percentile ranges for magnet students. A 3.5 UW earned by a student who doesnât take honors classes has the same % ranking on that school report as a full diploma IB student who also takes AP exams. We didnât lose much sleep over it. </p>
<p>Neither of my kids were in the top 10% at their high schools, but they both were accepted at top ten schools. </p>
<p>My IB student took more tests than needed, but he was trying to endure credit/placement in case his IB scores werenât what he hoped, so there were several exams where he took both the AP and IB version. In retrospect, he loved the IB program for the social sciences and history, but the price he paid was heavy â and as I mentioned upthread, he got a good nightâs sleep. We thought he worked a LOT harder than Blair students.</p>
<p>mamabear, a decent number of the kids in these programs get $$ from UMD, and we know lots of folks who turned down HPYSM acceptances for the UMD free ride. A pretty common strategy is to apply to tippy-top schools and UMD, knowing that UMD, esp. for STEM kids, is a terrific option. Among S1âs friends who went to UMD with $$, a whole lot of them are now at HPYSM for grad school.</p>
<p>Definitely agree with the approach CountingDown mentioned regarding undergrad programs. I know many MoCo students who attend top schools (HPYSM, UVA, Duke, W&M) for undergrad but receive little to no financial support. I also know many high performing students who attend somewhat lower ranked (but still fantastic) schools with great merit aid packages/scholarships and will graduate debt free. This is the approach weâve taken with my kids.</p>
<p>I also have seen great college acceptances from students who are NOT in magnet, IB, APEX, or other G&T programs. Get good grades, take a challenging courseload including AP and honors in the areas of interest to the student, score well on SAT/ACT, and students will get into most schools on their list and get good scholarships. No need to burn out 14-18 yr olds with 4 hours of HW/night. </p>
<p>The really top-top schools (Harvard, Stanford) are likely to reject top students regardless of their HS program since all their applicants have similar stats anyway.</p>
<p>MCâs magnet kids often end up at UMD-CP because they get huge merit scholarships there. My daughter (who went to the RM IB magnet) knew students from both RM and Blair who turned down big name schools to accept full rides at UMD-CP.</p>
<p>Blair magnet students may have an additional incentive to attend UMD-CP because they may have done their required research projects under the direction of UMD-CP faculty. It may seem natural to some to enroll at UMD-CP and continue to be a part of the research group that they have already worked with.</p>
<p>Re SAT scores: It may be hard to figure these out for the magnet programs because the programs are embedded within larger schools. But if you want to get an idea of the caliber of the kidsâ test scores, you can look at the National Merit results. There are about 100 kids in each of the two major magnet programs â the Blair math-science magnet and the RM IB magnet. Last year, 37 Blair students and 26 RM students were National Merit Semifinalists. The chances are very good that all but one or two of these students were in the magnet programs.</p>
<p>Try to imagine what itâs like to be in a class where one-third of your classmates are or will be National Merit Semifinalists and youâll get an idea of what itâs like to be in one of these programs. After a high school experience like this, college is almost a vacation.</p>
<p>The problem is MY D refused to cut down her EC. One thing I can do is to cut down her social media. Itâs ridiculous to have hundreds emails from FB daily. She read each one of it; not sure how many she replied. Now, I just give her access for âlegitimateâ use, such as study group. Never thought about this. I use opendns so that I can control even Iâm not at home.</p>
<p>You and your daughter might also want to consider the possibility that Blair may not be the right place for her. A student who has a serious commitment to a time-consuming extra-curricular activity might be better off transferring to her home high school, and thereâs nothing wrong with that. The magnets are great places for the right student, but they can be hell on earth for the wrong one.</p>
<p>I donât know if this is your oldest child (I am guessing she is), but this is a common problem when kids reach HS age. Usually, excessive games with boys and social media with girls. For us, one of the most important things boys learned as they went thru the magnet program is how to manage their time and how to prioritize their work. These are intangible benefits that kids will need to do well in college. Controlling too much of what she can/canât do and when she can/canât do, you are not giving her opportunity to learn time management skills. If you D is capable of doing the work, if she is doing well at school and happy with her friends at school, if she is not showing any signs of burnout, I wouldnât worry too much. At some point soon, she will find out she just doesnât have enough hours in a day to do she wants to do.</p>
<p>I live in a neighboring county, with similarly high achieving students, and similar parents. I have two in college now, with one still in high school. </p>
<p>All three of mine COULD have survived a magnet program like Blairâs, but only one of them would have thrived in that program. It was clear from years prior to high school which one of the three would have thrived. He is extremely bright, self driven, and able to juggle a LOT on his own, without pushing or intervention from us. He graduated in the top 5% of his class, with many APs under his belt, a 4.0 unweighted GPA. He was a three sport athlete and an all state musician, with a very active social life.</p>
<p>My other two are also very bright, but would have had to cut out many other things that are important parts of their lives in order to do well in a program like Blairâs. They took/take fewer AP classes, but maintain/ed high GPAâs and were/are able to continue to play sports and be heavily onvolved in music. For those two kids, Blairâs magnet program would have been misery for them. They would have burned out, or been forced to drop ECs that they love.</p>
<p>To the OP, which of those kids is your kid? And why is your child in the Blair Magnet program? Is it the best place for her in terms of her whole life, and not just academics?</p>
<p>If your child is earning As, I think they are surviving just fine. The truth is most teens donât value sleep as much as we do-- so your daughter is willing to give up sleep in order to maintain her ec and socialize. I would set limits and watch. Some kids are very social and theyâre not going to change their personalities because of a school-- but she needs to reign it in moving forward.</p>
I would hate for anybody to think that this is typical for the IB magnet in Montgomery County. This wasnât the case for my children, who both went there, nor for many, if not most, of their friends. Indeed, most were involved in ECs that would make this much schoolwork impossible. It certainly wasnât necessary to âstudyâ for several hours a day after completing homework.</p>
<p>Marian, Blair had a magnet insert that went with the school report that had SAT and Subject test averages for the kids in the program (at least in the time frame Iâm familiar with). The IB program never did.</p>
<p>IIRC, in S2âs year, over 90% of the magnet IB kids were NMSFs or commended. </p>
<p>The other advantage to UMCP (besides the merit $$) is that they are very generous with credit/placement. We knew folks who took grad courses starting freshman year. The STEM profs were also very open to working with high school students.</p>
<p>S2 would have done fine at whichever HS he chose (IB, Blair, Poolesville humanities or our local HS). He tends to need the motivation of other students to get his engine going. He is also a broad-spectrum kid in terms of his interests and abilities, so felt IB would be a good fit. </p>
<p>For S1, he knew where he had to be and he was absolutely correct in that assessment. He needed a program that was fast and that ran very deep. Blair played to those strengths â but also enabled him to avoid some subjects that he was less engaged in. (This bit his tail in college.) The only time he ever spent four hours on HW in HS was if he had a problem set due the next day and heâd spent the past week procrastinating on getting around to it. </p>
<p>All that said, it is important as a parent to help students learn to manage their time and organization skills. It is hard to shut off the internet when so many assignments assume one has unlimited access. These kids are so used to multitasking that they can get sucked into the social networking stuff and get caught in the illusion that they are actually doing work. Some kids thrive on competition. Others want to be the big fish in the pond. Both are valid.</p>
<p>As parents, we have to walk a fine line in terms of helping kids accomplish their goals, keeping oneâs own parental ego in check and making sure your kid doesnât burn out. S2 started getting stress migraines halfway through senior year. Every doctor who saw him said theyâd seen kids from these programs in their practices. In retrospect, we should have at least discussed a gap year, because we are now dealing with emotional burnout. Itâs not that the difficulty of college work is so high, but that the tank is empty.</p>
<p>Agree with Hunt â neither of my kids was up into the wee hours doing HW or studying. The kids who were up til all hours were spending a LOT of time online.</p>
<p>My kids were down for the count by 10-11 pm. The bus came too early to stay up any later!</p>
<p>I find your comments about the amount of work hours @ RM/IB interesting. All three of my kids (two boys graduated RM/IB) and third one (D, 10th grader) is currently in the program. Looking back last 10 years with IB, I honestly donât remember too many nights kids went to bed before midnight on school nights. The days when my D has ECs, instead of going to library, she does ECs but afternoon/evening schedules are pretty set. Other ECs (i.e., volunteer work), she does on the weekend. But, with all three kids, the weekday pattern really hasnât changed. Your kids were able to go to bed by 10-11 without their grade suffering?? Good grades, ECs, and enough sleep in IB program?</p>