Moving from Chicago to Cary/Morrisville- Snakes, Schools and Subdivisions

[goldenage1]

Originally Posted by City-mom

3.I don't understand the concept of 'year around' school. The schools with year around calendar have several tracks that lasts the entire year. So there is no vacation for kids?

Of course there are vacations, but they are spread out as 9 weeks in school and 3 weeks out of school. There are 4 tracks with rolling "track out" times. Here's a chart of the "track out" times which partially explains it. http://www.wcpss.net/parents/calenda...ut_2012-13.pdf

[TinkaMcKirk]

Originally Posted by poppydog

City-mom, the Triangle is an area with a lot of very well-educated parents and there definitely are a lot of offerings for kids who are interested in math and science. You might be interested in checking out Carolina Parent | Triangle Family Events, Kids Activities, Camps, Schools, Parenting Advice, Blogs and Resources in Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, Cary and Triangle, NC | CarolinaParent.com the local parenting mag. They list educational summer camps, etc.

If you're really concerned about math in schools you might want to check out Chapel Hill Carrboro Schools. As I imagine you know most of the states have adopted the Common Core Standards. In CHCCS they offer two tracks of math at the middle school level because the standard Common Core math recommendations were behind what was offered in math in CHCCS for advanced students and they didn't want to mess up the trajectory for advanced math courses in high school so the CHCCS middle schools offer Common Core Math 6 and also Common Core Compacted Math 6 which adds 7th grade math in, likewise for Common Core Compacted Math 7 & 8. CHCCS has been offering Algebra in middle school for years and few kids take it in high school. You can download the course booklets for the middle schools and high schools and see what you think. You can get there through the CHCCS website. I would think that most of the Wake County middle and high schools have their course booklets online, too.

Yes there are bugs, spiders, and snakes, but just don't go poking in brush piles and keep your eyes open and you should be okay.

Wake County also offers at least two tracks of math at the middle school level. When entering 6th grade, you are placed into either Math 6 or Math 6+ (which is what is described above as Compacted Math 6). Some middle schools also offer Math 7 for 6th graders who place into it. I have a rising 6th grader and all of the middle schools I've spoken with or toured have addressed the fact that they will have a Math 7 available for 6th graders who need it. Those middle schools were Davis Dr. MS, East Cary MS, Martin MS and Moore Sq. (the last two are magnets).

I've lived all over the country and have never seen a student and parent population as advanced and interested in math and science as I have here (Morrisville/NW Cary). My children go to Morrisville Elementary, and I'm always intimidated at the yearly science fair when the parents judging all have their PhDs in various scientific fields of study. I tend to think I'm somewhat intelligent until I start talking to the other parents in my children's classes.

You can find the WCPSS information about the Core Curriculum here

As for year round school - yes there are different tracks. There are 4 tracks and at all times (except twice a year during winter vacation and July 4th week), 3 of the tracks are in school and 1 is out. My children are in year round school right now and we love it. Basically, you're in school for a quarter and then you have a 3 week break. Then back again for a quarter and back out for a 3 week break. Each track is different, so the times of the breaks are different. For instance, we're on Track 1. We start the school year around the 2nd week of July, go to school for 9 weeks and then have our first break in September for about 3 weeks. Then we go back to school and have our 2nd break at the beginning of December. We also have 2 weeks at the end of December (along with all of WCPSS), so we wind up having 5 weeks off in December. Back to school in January for 9 weeks and then out for 3 weeks in March. Back to school and then out at the beginning of June (end of our school year). We have June off and then all year round students have the week of July 4th off (that's the end of the school year for all year round schools). So Track 1 tends to have around a 4-5 week break at the beginning of the summer. Then the new school year starts again after that July 4th week.

It sounds complicated, but it's really not. It works great for some people and not for others. It all depends on your family and what types of vacation schedules you like to have.