International Baccalaureate program (1 Viewer)

[MindCrime]

Anyone with experience with the IB program? In the past two weeks, both of my sons have been asked to apply to magnet schools in their district for next year. My youngest is in 5th grade, and can apply to the “MYP” (middle years program), and my oldest is in 8th grade and invited to apply for the high school program. I’ve been doing a ton of reading online, but could use some parental advice if anyone has experience. 

(Sorry- let me get this out of the way: TLDR “Look at me, my kids are smart!” My theory- the wife picked the right mailman to sleep with.    )

anyway- here’s my concerns:

youngest son- very smart. Chess club, Mathletes, Honor society(not sure when this became an elementary school thing, but it is), Soccer. Has a tough time making friends since his interests seem to be different than many of his normal classmates, seems to do better making friends in the geeky activity clubs. I don’t want to isolate him in with just other geeks, but it may do his self esteem some good being surrounded by other kids like him.

older son- been in top sections throughout middle school (Honors algebra in 7th grade, etc.) Passionate about baseball, can’t wait to play high school ball. Somewhat reserved and shy, but only till he gets to know people, not a ton of friends but much more outgoing and sociable than his younger brother.

Can a kid be in the IB program and still have time to be a kid? Sports? Is it worth it?

tia

 

[snore]

Both my kids were in the program and active in sports and with friends. And they weren't straight A students either but did pretty well. It can be a lot of work but they both enjoyed and had no regrets.

When my youngest gets home later tonight I can ask him for a little more info. 

 

[Phil Elliott]

I believe they were started to provide a consistent (and advanced?) curriculum internationally. If you were in IB in Japan and moved to US, the IB programs are basically equivalent (my understanding). Only one or two high schools in Austin had the IB program until about 10 years ago and now there are several. Parents that have relocated to other countries seek them out. For schools that provided bonus points to the gpa for advanced/honors classes, you may get extra extra points for IB program so it helped with college acceptance and class rank.  Besides advanced/honors classes and IB classes, many districts have some type of "gifted" program that students test to get into, and may require teachers recommendations. Throw in AP classes and  there are a lot of options if you decide IB isn't the right program. 

 

[The_Man]

My son (now a college freshman) did IB. It was good - particularly the emphasis on writing. My son didn't always love it while he was doing it, but it was never a complete work overload. My sense is that it still doesn't do as much to get you into college as a bunch of APs do - U.S. colleges just don't seem to respect it quite as much - but it actually does a lot more for you to succeed once you get to college than the AP. Halfway through his first semester at Brown, my kid has said on a couple of occasions how well-prepared he is to handle college-level writing assignments because what he learned through the IB. It's hard to convince a teen boy that  he should something hard academically for the next four years because it will benefit him when he finally gets to college, but that's been our experience.