My Vanguard & Magnet School Advice

As the mother of two kids who are in Vanguard and Magnet schools, I am often asked questions by soon to be and new parents. They want to know how they can send their kids to good schools inside the loop (or close to it) without having to pay for private school or having to move to the suburbs. Here are links to some of my top blogs with advice on how to navigate the Houston Independent School District Vanguard and Magnet system. 

The Kids and I, Seth is in 8th grade at Hamilton in Vanguard and Miranda is a junior at DeBakey H.S.

If you have a child starting Kindergarten the Fall of 2018 you've missed the application deadline- it was in December. You'll have to check with HISD if they have a second phase application for Kindergarten. I'm not sure about that.

If you have a child starting Kindergarten the Fall of 2019 the application is due in December of 2018. Start drilling him or her on their alphabet, sounds, colors, shapes, now because they will have to take the Vanguard test January or February of 2019. That's only one year away! My best advice on this. Buy those workbooks at Walgreens and CVS in the book/magazine area. They were great for teaching the kids the basics and inexpensive.

My personal experience

http://shoegirlcorner.blogspot.com/2011/03/controversy-about-magnet-schools-in.html

Elementary School

http://shoegirlcorner.blogspot.com/2005/11/im-back-in-school.html

The Vanguard Test when they are 4 years old (for Kinder)

http://shoegirlcorner.blogspot.com/2006/01/i-forget-im-mama-now.html

Middle School

http://shoegirlcorner.blogspot.com/2012/04/update-on-vanguard-middle-school.html

Second Phase Application

http://shoegirlcorner.blogspot.com/2015/07/the-quest-for-hamilton-vanguard.html

High School Application
http://shoegirlcorner.blogspot.com/2014/12/vanguard-and-magnet-school-applications.html

The Kinkaid EMSI program- a well kept secret. 

http://shoegirlcorner.blogspot.com/2015/05/update-on-schools-and-kinkaid-emsi.html

Not everything is always rosy. If you aren't lucky enough to have a child attending a Vanguard or Magnet school, things can be tough. Or if your child has a special education challenge. Here is my experience when Miranda went on to middle school and Seth had to leave a really good elementary school to go to our neighborhood school because his sibling transfer wasn't renewed, before he was in Vanguard.

http://shoegirlcorner.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-disproportionate-schools-part-i.html

http://shoegirlcorner.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-disproportionate-funds-for-school.html

Note: I added one more at 3:30 p.m. about high schools.