<p>Olymom: I agree with your post. Some IB programs are really outstanding, and--as stated before--emphasize critical thinking, indepth writing and research skills, etc., and really go much deeper and broader than many AP courses. The breadth of course offerings and teacher training should be in place, but I also agree that the IB program/dipoloma requires mature, motivated, and focused students. Absolutely. My daughter's class bonded well and supported each other, too (not competitive or cut-throat), which was an added bonus.</p>
<p>JHS: what I meant by "rigid" is stuff like this: the IB program description has a full page defining what can and can't count for "Artistic" credit as part of the CAS requirement. They make judgements on that page about whether scrapbooking, sewing clothes from a pattern, practicing a musical instrument and working at Habitat for Humanity can "count" towards your required "Artistic" hours. [Their answer is yes for 10 hrs max, no, yes for 10 hrs max and yes for unlimited hours.] These kinds of generic judgements seem awfully silly to me. They are rigid but not rigorous, if you know what I mean. And I find all the verbiage about required service hours so that the kids all become wise, tolerant cultural ambassadors (yes, I am paraphrasing here) almost painfully naive. And Athletic activities only count if you planned them ahead, or kept a journal of your feelings about them, or something like that. </p>
<p>I don't know about the more academic aspects of IB -- I don't fully understand the requirements, or the courses being offered to satisfy them, or how they mesh with material my child has already studied. We will figure it out, but the awkward verbiage surrounding it all is a bit of a detractant. Also, all the talk about producing deep thinkers who get the process and don't just focus on knowing disconnected facts -- isn't that what smart kids do a in well-taught classes? Or at least what we hope our smart kids do....</p>
<p>Hearing about the history of IB has helped me make some sense out of it. I can see how it would be a solution to the problem of diplomats who need a common-denominator basic curriculum for their children's education in far-flung corners of the world. BUT really the focus of this thread, and of all your generous replies, has been to bring me up to speed on what IB has looked like to you from your various vantage points, and I thank you all for that.</p>
<p>princedog: was the focus on Mao a local choice, or did everyone in the IB universe have to do that in your particular year? Also, it's very heartening to hear that you find your classes "challenging, engaging, and enlightening". I'm pretty sure that's what most parents want for their children! </p>
<p>Olymom: I wish she could visit, but she's too busy with finals, SAT II's, end-of-year concerts and stuff to even consider it.</p>
<p>Jack: One of the nicest things I hear about IB is that it seems to motivate the kids to form a supportive group. Although, I recall my son's AP Calculus (and also his post-AP Multivariable Calc class) working that way as well. </p>
<p>I'm still a bit confused by reports of classes being taught simultaneously (but with different curricula?) for AP and IB programs. ???</p>
<p>Thanks again for your comments.</p>
<p>Because they explore a theme in depth (like Mao), sometimes the kids get stuck in areas not of interest. The year #3 son took it, he found the literature in the IB English class to be almost completely feminist or female point of view. From classics to modern all cultures explored, almost all were female coming of age or discovery novels. He got really tired of it. Maybe they rotate themes or something, but it was not apparent to him. I don't know if that was a local choice but my understading is that the tests are pretty uniform so the books would be selected from an approved list. </p>
<p>Memake: In our district, if you are an IB school then it is IB classes unless there is no IB comparable course and then they use AP. There are a number of AP classes still given because IB does not cover the topic area. They do not run the same class in both formats.</p>
<p>While Florida schools often start the school year in early August, my oldest D has spent 4-8 weeks away at selective programs, and only once did she miss the first week of school. The Florida legislature just passed a law this year that does not allow public schools to start before two weeks before labor day. So a start this year of Aug 20 seems late to us. It has been nice in years past to be done before Memorial day in May. </p>
<p>If you PM me, I can also provide local info for my part of Florida.</p>
<p>Sunnyflorida, that explains why the dates changed. My good friend in Florida is a wonder, a true sister, but she is not the person to ask about what's going on in the world, she had no clue why the start date changed ;).</p>
<p>Yup--they legislated the change. Our school distrist has been on a "college" school year, whereby they start early and end the first semester before Christmas break. Then kids come back from break and start the second semester. Some Florida districts started later in August, some almost to Labor Day. They would come back from Christmas break and still have the end of the semester to complete, along with exams. There was no consistant start date. Apparently there was heavy lobbying by Disney, Universal, Sea World, and other large tourist associated businesses to start closer to Labor Day, so that students could remain in the summer work force longer. There were also parents in certain areas who complained that start dates were getting earlier and earlier, and felt that kids were loosing out on summer by starting early August. I know one county had orientations in late July to prepare for an Aug 2 start. I think the winning arguments had to do with the cost of power/electricity to cool the schools during the heat of Aug compared to the heat of early June, and the fact the the hurricane seasons were more active recently, with more days missed from school that had to be made up later with early August start dates. </p>
<p>Seeing that we lost 2 days of school to hurricane Wilma in OCTOBER 2005, I think we will need a few hurricane days in the schedule, almost like snow days!</p>
<p>Sorry to briefly hijack this thread! I live in hurricane country, too, and there has been talk here about pushing start date back to after Labor Day, because of hurricanes. I'm sure that the cost of elect is lower in May, that's why the start date here is close to mid-august</p>
<p>
[quote]
JHS: what I meant by "rigid" is stuff like this: the IB program description has a full page defining what can and can't count for "Artistic" credit as part of the CAS requirement. They make judgements on that page about whether scrapbooking, sewing clothes from a pattern, practicing a musical instrument and working at Habitat for Humanity can "count" towards your required "Artistic" hours. [Their answer is yes for 10 hrs max, no, yes for 10 hrs max and yes for unlimited hours.] These kinds of generic judgements seem awfully silly to me. They are rigid but not rigorous, if you know what I mean. And I find all the verbiage about required service hours so that the kids all become wise, tolerant cultural ambassadors (yes, I am paraphrasing here) almost painfully naive. And Athletic activities only count if you planned them ahead, or kept a journal of your feelings about them, or something like that.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I don't really read through all the lists they put out but honestly they'll count anything that's basically creativity as long as it isn't a) an IB class (because you can't use it to fulfill two requirements) or b) only supervised by your parents. The problem with them counting scrapbooking or something is that people will come in and say, oh yeah, I scrapbooked for ten hours, look my mom signed the page. However, one kid can usually get credit for something supervised by a parent other than their own for a group of kids, as long as it's reasonable. They honestly will count anything reasonable for CAS. The big thing is it can't be religiously affiliated, many people do activities through their church. Some of it can count but most won't get approved. They're pretty reasonable with CAS hours unless your coordinator is just mean. The person who approves this is not some random IBO officer or anything, it's the school's IB Coordinator, someone who closely collaborates with the diploma candidates at the school. Fulfilling the CAS requirements will NOT be a problem (getting the sheets signed at appropriate times may be another story :)) if you're reasonably involved. If not, good time to start :) I think my "creativity" was from gymnastics and a class I took at Governor's school. They'll only count 30 hours at once for one activity so if you take a photography class at school you'll get 30 hours from that. The 10 hours rule is mainly I believe, so people don't "double dip" with their hours for things that are also service. </p>
<p>
[quote]
I don't know about the more academic aspects of IB -- I don't fully understand the requirements, or the courses being offered to satisfy them, or how they mesh with material my child has already studied. We will figure it out, but the awkward verbiage surrounding it all is a bit of a detractant. Also, all the talk about producing deep thinkers who get the process and don't just focus on knowing disconnected facts -- isn't that what smart kids do a in well-taught classes? Or at least what we hope our smart kids do....
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I imagine so, I wouldn't really know. The focus is more thematic, correct. If she is just going into junior year she should be in a fine position to join either AP or IB classes next year. The implications for all this would be much worse if you were moving next year, after she had completed the first year in one of these programs - that gets messy. So you're probably in good shape in that respect. </p>
<p>
[quote]
Hearing about the history of IB has helped me make some sense out of it. I can see how it would be a solution to the problem of diplomats who need a common-denominator basic curriculum for their children's education in far-flung corners of the world. BUT really the focus of this thread, and of all your generous replies, has been to bring me up to speed on what IB has looked like to you from your various vantage points, and I thank you all for that.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>They say that's what the point is, fair enough, but I mean, I'm at a random public school and I don't know any children of diplomats. We do have a large international population, which factored into the decisions to switch over ten years ago, as it really suited the school's strengths much more while minimizing weaknesses. But most people aren't really moving around. The majority of American IB programs are probably largely comprised of "normal" American kids. Mine is. Some of the private international schools in DC are another story but that doesn't sound like the case with the school you're moving to. I see the IBO's design as largely a counter movement away from the standardization of education - it's much more individual, in terms of how can students can even answer a question, what they can choose to focus their studies on (internal assessments are focused individual research projects that factor into the exam grade), and what the school can choose to do. In this way, it is actually much LESS rigid than AP. But I have to stress, honestly a good program of either should be fine. </p>
<p>
[quote]
princedog: was the focus on Mao a local choice, or did everyone in the IB universe have to do that in your particular year? Also, it's very heartening to hear that you find your classes "challenging, engaging, and enlightening". I'm pretty sure that's what most parents want for their children!
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Nothing is universal in IB :) Without going into too much detail, the history offerings are divided into - I believe it's six - regions. We do what's called "History of the Americas" for our main focus, because state standards mandate we do US/VA history in 11th grade. The bulk of this material is therefore learned in the junior year. This year our class mainly focuses on the Cold War and the rise of single party states. IB has several "papers" per exam - paper 1 is a document based analysis, and there are several choices based on what your school studied - our choice (probably our whole county's choice) is China during Mao's rule. Paper 2 is writing two essays on questions from different topics - there are six topics and we prepare for three, including rise of single party states, where the Mao material can obviously be used again. Paper 3 is three essays about the History of the Americas material. The school your daughter would potentially attend next year would likely do History of the Americas at least one year since many American schools require it for state standards, but their focus the other year would probably be different. This is what our history team chose based on their expertise and the resources available to our particular school. </p>
<p>
[quote]
I'm still a bit confused by reports of classes being taught simultaneously (but with different curricula?) for AP and IB programs. ???
[/quote]
</p>
<p>This happens, but is fairly rare. When people talk about AP/IB schools, they usually mean schools that have both programs but mainly seperate classes.</p>
<p>I may have confused things on the AP/IB front by referring to my son's Latin class. His school only has one Latin teacher, who is also a native French speaker and teacher, so four upper-level Latin classes are taught in a one-room schoolhouse atmosphere -- Latin 3, Latin 3H, Latin 4 AP (Virgil), and Latin IB SL. There are 3-5 kids in each "class". I think that is pretty unusual, although it's not as hard as it might seem because there is substantial (maybe 40%) overlap between what the AP and IB programs cover.</p>
<p>memake- the place you're describing sounds a lot like the winter park area. If that's the case, pm me.</p>
<p>My daughter is a senior in a Florida IB program. She would say the greatest advantage to the program is the sense of community she felt with the other students and the staff. Her high school is large and the IB program and band gave her a real sense of connectedness that many kids miss in a large high school. Don't worry about not being able to visit at this time of year. IB exams have started so you would not get a true sense of the program</p>
<p>It may be an inaccurate assumption, but if your H has a job offer in Florida, you might consider postponing your move until the end of junior year. We were in the same position several years ago and planned on this option, but then I took another job instead. I have moved and changed jobs several times and have always gone ahead - often by many months - waiting for the school year to end and/or the house to be sold. This option actually worked out really well. Starting a new job is stressful and requires a lot of extra effort. It has been easier to start a new job and then move several months later. The extra costs have not been bad. I have been able to find short term, inexpensive places to live. Discount air fares have gotten so low that it is very reasonable to visit over long weekends.</p>
<p>Not only is junior year extremely important, but I doubt you can come close to duplicating your D's opportunities in Florida. A move at the start of senior year should be much easier. During the Fall your D will be preparing for auditions, submitting applications and then going on auditions. By the time auditions are over senior slump starts and the school year is effectively finished. This may not sound like a real pleasant prospect, but the sacrifice could be well worth it.</p>
<p>I can't imagine moving a kid at the start of 12th grade, although I know one kid who did that. It was hard enough moving a kid into 11th grade. Edad is certainly right that 12th grade probably "matters" less, but I don't think it feels like that to the kids. Plus, you would essentially have to get the old school to complete its part of the college applications while the child was in 11th grade, which will rub everyone the wrong way.</p>
<p>The friend of my son's who was on the conservatory audition circuit (in addition to applying to colleges) was auditioning well into March.</p>
<p>Document everything. Get multiple sealed copies of the transcript just in case. See whether favorite teachers and coaches and EC mentors would take a stab at writing recommendations while your child is still fresh in their minds (and whether it would be all right with them if you could give the letters to your child's Florida recommenders when the time comes, to be incorporated in what they write).
It can be very difficult otherwise to work across time and distance.</p>