[SirenSong71]

Originally Posted by Lindsey_Mcfarren

I have found it unusual to find a Floridian born and bred. I ran across an elderly woman who had lived here all her life. She spoke of her Grandmother living here on an island to this day that does not have a bridge out to it. Fascinating stories of the early days of Florida, the days before AC had been invented.

When I find one, I always ask lots of questions. I have a neighbor who grew up here. She has amazing stories growing up, chasing hurricanes up and down the coast in order to catch the higher waves for surfing.

CHASING hurricanes?? Wow...brave girl! I would think the majority of people in Fla are not native to it, too. It must be cool though to actually meet a native.

[SirenSong71]

Originally Posted by Ladywithafan

There's weird crimes in every state, ours just really stand out because for some reason the heat just seems to intensfy things here. Of course, the internet provides us with so much information we are WAY TOO informed about everything today then we were 20 years ago; I feel these things have been ongoing but we just have fast information to the weirdness than ever before.

The key is responsible parenting.

I agree 100% The internet makes us a little too informed....there is a thing as too much information. There are many things I've seen online that I really REALLY did not need to know.

[mosaicmom]

I lived in Florida, Cape Coral for 3 years and my daughter graduated from a public school there. There were fights every day, and the ethnic diversity is very high.
My daughter got straight A's in high school and she is not an A student by far. She is now in college in NY, and it was a huge shock for her.
So, my experience is that Florida schools are way behind the standard.
Thanks

[mrs1885]

I was born on Marco Island, right off Naples. I had the most amazing childhood. unfortunately the island was 'discovered' and ruined. It's lined with condos and has gotten much larger than I like.

So I moved off the island to raise my kids. It wasn't too bad at first, but in the late 90's / early 00's a ton of people moved over from Miami, and with them came drugs and gang violence.

If you have the money to live in very upscale gated communities in North Naples, you'd probably be ok. We didn't and lived in the middle class neighborhoods. On top of the crime we had to deal with, the schools were horrid. Our son was deemed 'learning disabled' and they recommended we take him out of school and get his GED.

We did and regretted it. He does lean differently than most kids, but he's by no means disabled. We moved to rural TN and put him in school here. They got him through 4 years of high school in a single year and he walked with his graduating class.

Again, there are a bajillion schools in Naples. If you are in the very high income gated communities the schools are better. Sad, but true. The teachers there seem to care more than they do in the middle class schools. And it's not all their fault. They are packed in like sardines there. My kids had 30 - 40 kids in each class there. Just no way you can effectively teach that many kids. Now they have between 8 and 12 in a class.

Naples is a gorgeous place to live if you can afford it. Otherwise, not so great.

[mrs1885]

Originally Posted by SirenSong71

CHASING hurricanes?? Wow...brave girl! I would think the majority of people in Fla are not native to it, too. It must be cool though to actually meet a native.

LOL!! Growing up on an island off the coast of Florida is a different life! We had hurricane parties every time one got close. The island I grew up on didn't have a bridge while my grandmother was young either. All the kids were put on boats to paddle over to the next island to go to school. As horrible as it sounds to some, those are the days I miss the most. That's the way I prefer to think of Florida.

[EternalNomad]

do not raise your children in florida.

i agree wholeheartedly with everyone who said that 4 seasons are better for kids. i kept trying to find apple picking and hayrides in the fall, to no avail.
i tried to find a decent christmas tree farm. Finally i found ONE...then several hurricanes blew through and the entire crop was ruined.

i wanted my kids to be able to build a snowman in the winter, swim in the summer. i wanted them to be able to go through a corn maze in the fall.

people in florida love to tell you how "their school" is one of the top ranked schools! what they neglect to mention is that they are only ranking their school against other florida schools and...when you compare florida to the rest of the nation it just isnt that great. who cares if your school is number 1 in florida? so what if your school did great in the FCAT? no one in the rest of the universe cares about the FCAT. they dont even know what it is.

I have only been to AZ one time. so i cant really say anything about that.
but do yourself and your kids a favor and DONT RAISE YOUR KIDS IN FL.

[compelled to reply]

Originally Posted by EternalNomad

so what if your school did great in the FCAT? no one in the rest of the universe cares about the FCAT. they dont even know what it is.

Does anyone in the universe care about the Iowa Test of Basic Skills? Or the STAR in California? You can thank the No Child Left Behind Act for that one. Although I agree FL schools are mediocre, they still outperform 21 other states. SAT scores have been increasing, high school graduation rates have been going up, and the dropout rate has historically been below the national average.

My local high school is supposed to graduate 94% of it's 2009 class and sends it's top 5% to ivy league schools, and it's not even considered the "best". It does, however, have crumbling facilities, something that needs to be addressed. The elementary and middle schools rank similar to "Good" schools in other states.

Actually, we are up to 14th (best)...
Florida ranks 14th nationwide in education accountabilty - Northwest Florida Daily News (broken link)

[EternalNomad]

you are right, i must concede that no one care about the Iowa test of Basic Skills! you are cracking me up.

that is great that florida has...improved and moved up to #14...i guess it isnt as bad as i thought.

the difference though, is that florida public schools get monetary incentives that are based on FCAT performance.
PA schools do not get monetary incentives for doing well on Iowa tests.

what this amounts to is: florida public schools teach kids how to take an FCAT. that's it! i had a babysitter in junior high. i used to pick her up after school. You would sort of think that she would perhaps have...textbooks? no...only huge folders filled with photocopied sheets of practice FCATS.
that is all they did! practice the FCAT.

so, if you want to have children who are masters of the standardized test...florida is the state for you!

[compelled to reply]

Originally Posted by EternalNomad

you are right, i must concede that no one care about the Iowa test of Basic Skills! you are cracking me up.

that is great that florida has...improved and moved up to #14...i guess it isnt as bad as i thought.

the difference though, is that florida public schools get monetary incentives that are based on FCAT performance.
PA schools do not get monetary incentives for doing well on Iowa tests.

what this amounts to is: florida public schools teach kids how to take an FCAT. that's it! i had a babysitter in junior high. i used to pick her up after school. You would sort of think that she would perhaps have...textbooks? no...only huge folders filled with photocopied sheets of practice FCATS.
that is all they did! practice the FCAT.

so, if you want to have children who are masters of the standardized test...florida is the state for you!

Well that I can't say I disagree with . And from the other thread, check out these pictures (But let's not discuss it becuase I don't want to hijack the thread). Although I did graduate from FL public schools and I came out fine.

City of Weston
Notice the picture of the illuminated street name sign (I have only seen those widespread in CA and AZ).

[CJFlorida]

Originally Posted by EternalNomad

you are right, i must concede that no one care about the Iowa test of Basic Skills! you are cracking me up.

that is great that florida has...improved and moved up to #14...i guess it isnt as bad as i thought.

the difference though, is that florida public schools get monetary incentives that are based on FCAT performance.
PA schools do not get monetary incentives for doing well on Iowa tests.

what this amounts to is: florida public schools teach kids how to take an FCAT. that's it! i had a babysitter in junior high. i used to pick her up after school. You would sort of think that she would perhaps have...textbooks? no...only huge folders filled with photocopied sheets of practice FCATS.
that is all they did! practice the FCAT.

so, if you want to have children who are masters of the standardized test...florida is the state for you!

Actually only 5 states ranked much better than Florida. The schools ranked 6th-14th were pretty close if I was reading that report correctly.

But 14th is still is not good enough. We are working with our local PTA to keep the pressure on.

Our family is hanging in there. My niece graduated from a Florida public school last year and is now in medical school. Her brother graduates this year and has an internship lined up with Microsoft.

My three kids are doing well, we sit down as a family every school night and make sure their schooling is on par with the best curriculum we get from an online service.