Ace Academy: Revisited

the contrast in these two photos! HA!
the above taken just before we went for open house...
below... Sydney at open house. Pumped full of steroids.

How do I say this?

On paper, Ace Academy sounds like the perfect fit for Sydney. The programs and curriculum is right up her alley, and each student goes at their own pace.

Buuuuuuuttt.... after really doing the in-person thing, the tour and actually meeting the "population" at Ace (population = children...students. But at Ace, its "the population"), we realize that this just may not be a good full time environment for Sydney. While outside on the playground, a group of 10 year olds came out for a daily dose of sunlight... and one girl did not want to play because she was just about to finish her book. What was she reading? "The King of Torts" by John Grisham.

I confirmed her age.
She was 10.

Not even *I* will read a book with 1200 pages.
Unless it's the Bible.

But I've been working on that book since I was 10 and I'm still not done.

I think the summer camp would be really great for Sydney. She will still get the exposure to the academics we're so interested in and know she'd love. But having her at a school without extracurricular activities or sports (other than yoga, chess and "free time language studies"), makes us a bit sad. She is SUCH an active and social kid, and from what we saw, the majority of the"population" there were very introverted.

She tried talking to some friends but they would look down and walk away fast, or wave from afar, and Sydney thought she may have been dropped off on another planet.

So we're home. And thinking Primrose is better suited for our "nerdy", yet social nugget. Primrose is more structured, yet nurtures & highlights those natural talents. There is also more 'team' building at Primrose, whereas Ace really focused individually on each student; not really making them work together on anything. We are all for being smart, or standing out academically. But we know that Sydney is a natural leader, and dont want to throw her in a ring where she wont really get that opportunity to shine. At the same time, however, she needs that team-work atmosphere so she knows, yes, you can lead, but its not all about you.

I'm really glad we re-visited the gifted program!