Cleveland vs. Cincinnati

Hashem_Yaazor

Tue, Dec 16 2014, 7:33 pm

I wonder if she will post back on her, I guess I'll wait. But her kids are very, very bright and perhaps they wanted more motivation. I am curious how it is in their new place. My kids aren't super young for school -- I have a 4th grader, and I'm coming from a different school system so I didn't really have expectations for schools to be all that academically to begin with. I have to say that I haven't seen it to be bad now that my kids are there for a few months already. I have bright kids, but not super motivated ones that want more work. My oldest is doing great gliding through his strengths, building up his self-confidence. My second I did skip based on his previous schooling. My third is doing fine despite placing at a higher grade level; she is in a tracked reading group, and thinks of schoolwork as fun activities. My younger ones are in the preschool, and I never pay attention to curriculum in those grades.

For kodesh, my boys were way ahead in their old more cheder-like school, but my daughter wasn't in her typical bais yaakov...the education I think is broader than in the cheder (more subjects) so less time focusing on just chumash or just chumash + mishnayos....there is more focus on navi and halacha as well.

For chol, they are using the Common Core standards. They also have some internet supplemental activities which may or may not be up your alley.

The school is constantly trying to progress. They started a new program this year to have kids research facts on their own time for some incentive.
They are researching the feasibility of expanding the Montessori program past the preschool age...

Hashkafically, the school does still have coed classes in some grades, depending on the amount of students in a class. There is no uniform, either.

Hashem_Yaazor

Tue, Dec 16 2014, 9:11 pm

You can definitely PM me.

I will say it's a growing community and with that comes lots of growing pains. Not everyone sees the changes that are worked on as positive. There are no alternatives in schools for a frum kid, unless you want to homeschool, and there aren't even alternatives within a grade usually. (That being said, I have found the teachers here to be much more flexible and easy to work with.)

Since it's a smaller community, there is also a smaller pool of friends for your children, but the younger grades are bigger, if that matters. You will have to be more tolerant of various hashkafos.

Shopping is not as easy as in bigger communities with dedicated kosher stores, and selection of kosher items is also less and usually more expensive.

Many streets in the frum community do not have sidewalks or streetlights which can be a safety issue.

The times here are a little funny -- sunrise is quite late, it's still pitch black at 7 AM. Shkiyah is later than the east coast, as it's the end of the time zone, and 30-45 minutes later I think.

No all day walk-in Jewish stores like seforim, tzniusdik clothing, etc and expect to pay a higher price tag on the frum clothing than you would in bargain stores in NY if you're used to that.

Fewer options for minyanim, you can't always just catch a later whatever...

No yeshiva for boys when they graduate. There has been talk on and off about starting one for many, many years. I'll believe it when I see it, but I don't think it can feasibly happen. And if it does, no guarantees on what type it would be.

This is a personal thing, but to me it seems like the school is kind of still in a certain mentality though the parent body has changed, and it's taking time to catch up with those interests -- e.g. they started teaching gemara in 5th grade to be on par with other schools, but it hasn't trickled down to starting mishnayos in third...

amother

Tue, Dec 30 2014, 1:03 pm

Hashem_Yaazor wrote:

Here I am! My kids are definitely more motivated than others', so HY might be right that what didn't work for us might be perfectly fine for others. And we have since learned that there is no perfect place, and that includes our new location.

amother

Tue, Dec 30 2014, 2:20 pm

We live in Cleveland. Having several school options was important to us. You never know what your kids will need down the road. Also having Telshe for the boys (at least for 9th so they can get used to dorm life while still being close by) is a big advantage.

I think you could be happy in either place, being happy isn't so much about the amenities of a community but rather is based on how much effort you put into building friendships and contributing to the community.