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Forum -> Parenting our children -> School age children
Send your child to a school with only 8 kids in the class?
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amother


 

Post Sun, Aug 24 2014, 10:08 am
Hi
Were looking to move to another city and we found out that its excellent chinuch but only 8 kids in my daughters class.
Would you do it? I'm just scared if she doesn't like a kid it could be hard to have friends
Anyone's children did that? What was your experience?
anon because ive asked people around
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Tablepoetry




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Aug 24 2014, 10:11 am
I'd be ecstatic. Much better than 30-40 kids per class (a reality in many schools here).
Less than 8 is getting to be too few though.
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mummiedearest




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Aug 24 2014, 10:13 am
I would jump at it. kids in smaller classes are likely to get more attention from the teacher, and there are fewer kids for a bully-type to try to gain power over. actually, I suspect bullying would be much less of an issue in a smaller class, as long as the teacher is competent. if your dd can't find one person to like, the school is probably not the best place for her, but she's likely to make friends. I wouldn't keep her from the school due to simple social concerns.
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Tablepoetry




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Aug 24 2014, 10:13 am
Oh, and a few years back, two of my kids did go to a school with tiny classes. They managed to find friends no less than in the large classes.
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amother


 

Post Sun, Aug 24 2014, 10:46 am
I know. I'm just a little nervous. That means she won't have too many friends.
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Ruchel




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Aug 24 2014, 10:48 am
Anyway how many close friends can one have? many kids have one, two by year.
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Scrabble123




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Aug 24 2014, 10:49 am
amother wrote:
I know. I'm just a little nervous. That means she won't have too many friends.


First of all, how many friends does she need to have? What's wrong with a few good ones, and a few more acquaintances? She can also befriend girls in older grades! 8 girls per class sounds wonderful!
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SRS




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Aug 24 2014, 11:54 am
8 kids in one class, but what about other classes? I would hope a small school has more crossover so that the kids find their group. Well, I've never understood this class thing. Growing up I played with kids in what is now called parallel classes because the recess crowd was self-assigned by interest. Some kids played soccer, others liked to jump rope, and some liked to trade baseball cards.
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amother


 

Post Sun, Aug 24 2014, 12:25 pm
SRS wrote:
8 kids in one class, but what about other classes? I would hope a small school has more crossover so that the kids find their group. Well, I've never understood this class thing. Growing up I played with kids in what is now called parallel classes because the recess crowd was self-assigned by interest. Some kids played soccer, others liked to jump rope, and some liked to trade baseball cards.


There is only one grade per age. Other classes have more around 15 kids. Just this age is less
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amother


 

Post Sun, Aug 24 2014, 12:34 pm
Where I live it's like this. A social child will be friends with everyone and in other grades too. If your child is reserved, they'll end up with a few very close friends. But no, your child is not going to have 30 kids their exact age to choose from. And honestly, it doesn't matter. The kids end up being more inclusive and down to earth in these schools and that, my fellow mama, is the best thing you can do for your child.

St Louis is where I am in case that's the city you're looking at.
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Ruchel




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Aug 24 2014, 12:54 pm
SRS wrote:
8 kids in one class, but what about other classes? I would hope a small school has more crossover so that the kids find their group. Well, I've never understood this class thing. Growing up I played with kids in what is now called parallel classes because the recess crowd was self-assigned by interest. Some kids played soccer, others liked to jump rope, and some liked to trade baseball cards.


You can befriend other ages but often you see them at best at recess. You still spend most of your day in class.
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Scrabble123




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Aug 24 2014, 1:01 pm
Ruchel wrote:
You can befriend other ages but often you see them at best at recess. You still spend most of your day in class.


Listening to the teacher and doing work.
Most social opportunities are at recess and lunch IME.
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Ruchel




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Aug 24 2014, 1:13 pm
Depending on age, place at lunch may be mandatorily by class though.
Recess, depending on school culture, kids mix or not.
In class are the kids you see daily, you may ask to sit near to and work with etc and in many schools, kids will def chat Wink
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SRS




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Aug 24 2014, 1:15 pm
Ruchel wrote:
You can befriend other ages but often you see them at best at recess. You still spend most of your day in class.


My friends have great friends who are in their school and who are in the neighborhood and go to other schools. We've encouraged and pushed the kids to make friends since they are too in a smaller school. There are advantages of going to smaller schools but if you are in a smaller school you can't expect the school to fill in for all social needs. That said, you really can't expect that in a larger school either. I've had friends with kids in classes of 20-30 and their child does not have a friend because it is an area where the kid needs extra assistance.
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Ruchel




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Aug 24 2014, 1:29 pm
Really depends... sometimes my bff was in my class, or another class, or a neighbour... dd on the other hand is ok never seeing friends outside of school (and I guess camp). Kids invited each other more in my times (bubbe ruchel mode on) and we spent also more time outside
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amother


 

Post Sun, Aug 24 2014, 5:05 pm
I went to a hebrew day school with eight in the class
I had freinds from a grade below me .
the school was so small that one of the teachers was a students mom
se was a horror and still teaches till today
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pink flower




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Aug 24 2014, 5:35 pm
I would definitely go for it, more attention from the teacher and in my opinion the class being so small would rather feel/be family style, even an argument here or there, it would smooth out quicker than it would in a class with more pupils. Hatzlooche!
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shanie5




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Aug 24 2014, 5:45 pm
One of my sons had only 3 boys in his class. He was friends with them, with those in the older grades and younger grades.

All my children had smallish classes and all had friends. Both in their grades and in other grades too. Never a problem.
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seeker




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Aug 24 2014, 8:24 pm
I'd do it. I grew up in that kind of place and it was fine. You end up learning a lot of important skills regarding getting along with the people you're with, and you don't have a lot of the issues you might have in a bigger class like getting lost between cliques or whatever happens there. You end up kind of like a family; you might not like all the kids but you bond and build great memories together, it's very different than in a bigger school where friendships are coming and going all the time.

However regarding the comment above about not having bullying problems, note that can happen anywhere and it might even be worse in a smaller class because it's not like you can just choose a different group of friends if one clique isn't being nice to you. I doubt it happens all the time, but you want to keep your eyes open just in case, don't assume everything will be fine. No need to be paranoid but if your kid comes home sad or complaining, don't brush it off, it isn't as easy to avoid as in a bigger school where you might be justified in advising a kid to ignore the mean guys.
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MiracleMama




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Aug 24 2014, 9:28 pm
My kids are in a school where they sometimes have had classes with as low as 4 other kids. Granted, my kids are still very young (2nd grade and lower) but they seem very fulfilled with their small circle of friends. And academically they are all achieving well above average with all the amazing personal attention they get from their teachers. Having the opportunity to send your child to a school with excellent student/ teacher ratio is a real blessing.
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