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Mad Poster
Original Poster
#1 Old 25th Jun 2012 at 10:34 PM
Default Inge's School Mods (From Simlogical)
This isn't a WCIF or a help thread, so don't worry :-) I use Inge's school mods in my game (find them here if you're interested) and I was wondering if anyone also uses them? If you do, which things do you use and how do you use it? Do you set up entire schools, homeschool some of your sims' children/teens or use the boarding and prep school options?

I use the items to set up entire schools on owned community lots. In Danselle Cove there are two schools. The Primary School is owned and run by Brandi Broke and the Secondary School is owned and run by Pascal Curious. The Primary School also has one other teacher, Audrey (my selfsim's grandma!) and the Secondary School has three; Cassandra Goth, Carlos Contender and Natasha Una.

Every weekday the owner of the lot goes there just before 9am and starts school at 9am. That summons the teachers and pupils to the lot. They are then assigned by class to a classroom for the morning lesson. After the morning lesson secondary school pupils have an hour to chat and/or eat and/or do sports before school ends at 1pm. The primary school pupils eat lunch together and then play in the playground until school ends at 3pm.

This allows my children and teens to meet each other, make friends, find potential partners etc. As I have a community skilling hack it also gives them the chance to gain skills and hobby enthusiasm. As I have "curriculae" for both primary and secondary school which requires pupils to gain skills and interests this means that they can actually do it during school hours!

I have the principals and teachers set to have careers in education so that they are at work during the correct hours each day. I play the schools before the principals go to work, and increase their motives when they return to their home lot before going to work. This means that sims do get paid for being principals or teachers, which I like.

So, that's what I do - how about you guys?! :-)
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Top Secret Researcher
#2 Old 25th Jun 2012 at 11:35 PM
I have a residential lot where a woman lives (Mrs. Susan) and she's the 'teacher'. She calls/teleports the students at 7am, puts food on the buffet table at 12 and they leave at 4pm.

But my school isn't for skilling or actually learning anything (its decorated that way though) its just for my sims to meet each other, hang out and whatnot. Of course they can paint or read if they want but I really focus more on mingling and getting to know each other.

I'm thinking about doing a daycare too but I'm scared that it wont work the same since I can't just ask toddlers to leave xD But its built and everything :D
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#3 Old 25th Jun 2012 at 11:41 PM
I use them. It all depends on the family. As we'll as using the two schooling options that come with the game, some families do no school, homeschool or prep school. I've never really done boarding school.

I have a large primary (elementary) school that I built and I've run that as a prep school. I tested it out in my BACC and it works well although I do find some bugs. For example all the students appear in one area instead of in their classes and one time teachers said they were at the school but didn't show up until i had zapped them away and summoned them back. I use a residential lot. I've also started using it in my legacy hood, just the eldest main house child attend with some other playable children at this point. I made a few families just to have more children to attend. Morning is class work and the afternoon is for skilling or free time. I have a school garden, an art room, science room, computer room and a pool and play ground.
I haven't tried it as a community lot as I just thought residential with a live in principle would be easier to run. i use Julian Cooke from the simbin for that. I have a small flat for him and his adopted daughter at the top of the main school building. I have two teachers also set to the education career track.
I also use the hacked cook top so my cafeteria sporns a uni cook and he's there all hours serving up bowls of macaroni.


"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Undead Molten Llama
#4 Old 26th Jun 2012 at 12:33 AM
I was really into having schools for a while, but it seems that I've kind of fallen away from it now, at least for the time being. :\

The one I liked the most, though, was part of my monastery sub-hood. It was on a community lot in the monastery, and I ran it as sort of a substitute for the game's private school. (Which I never use.) It was a day school, because I didn't want to deal with the headaches of a boarding school. It was rigorous, all class work with just a break for lunch. (I used probably the same hacked cooktop as jo, so that there was always macaroni available. ) I imagined that the students at that school received a more "classical" education than the ones in the regular school, more in line with standard religious education. (You know, the classic "liberal arts" curriculum with rigorous training in logic, rhetoric, etc. The stuff that they don't teach kids anymore but that, IMO, they should.). Any student who attended the monastery school was guaranteed to be accepted into college, whereas kids in the regular school have much less of a chance of doing so, according to my rules of play. The kids' families had to pay the monastery for the schooling; it was one of the monastery's income venues. In fact, it was its biggest moneymaker. But also, the kids in the monastery's orphanage attended the school, so even if they were never adopted, they ended up with a good head start on life, since they got a good primary education and the monastery funded their college education, if they were destined for a college education. I really did like the set-up I had going.

The thing that I didn't like about doing school this way, though, was: What to do with the kids when playing their home lots. Sending them to regular school meant messing up their grades AND it just felt kind of strange to me, as if they were being forced to go to school twice. But keeping them home and occupying them with skilling to substitute for the "time they're at school" resulted in kids that were, IMO, too skilled too quickly. And just keeping them home and letting them do whatever felt weird to me, too. It'd be nice if there was a way to just send a kid off-lot for a certain amount of time, as if he/she had a job, but...yeah. So, I guess I just never found a balance that I liked, and I think that contributed to why I kind of fell away from using the school mods. I'd be interested to know what other people who use(d) the mods do/did about that. Might spark some ideas for me if I decide to have a go at it again.

I'm mostly found on (and mostly upload to) Tumblr these days because, alas, there are only 24 hours in a day.
Muh Simblr! | An index of my downloads on Tumblr.
The Great AntiJen
retired moderator
#5 Old 26th Jun 2012 at 12:35 AM
I'm pretty much like you Laura. There are three schools in my main hood in Little Carping, Carping Magna and Sirencester. The one in Little Carping is the primary school and is on an owned lot owned by Ginia Katt. She goes every day, Monday to Friday. Like you, the kids do class in the mornings, have lunch, play a bit and go home. Like JoandSarah, they have playground equipment in the playground. Like you I have community skilling mods. I'll post a pic or two tomorrow if I get time. The school in Carping Magna, a wealthy market town, is the private school and is very well equipped. It's owned by Vince Walter, the creep, who married Winifred Crumplebottom and became playable just before The Rebuilding of Little Carping as a custom hood (no townies - at least at first). They do classes in the morning and then either some sports activity, science, arts, craft or gardening in the afternoon depending on preference. Mr Walter teaches the teens while he hauls in various sims (at the moment) to teach primary level. The school in Sirencester (downtown) is a secondary school but isn't running just yet. I've built it but don't use it. I keep dithering about whether to run it. As it is, the non-private students go to Jeavens, the private school in Carping Magna. I don't really have enough students at the moment to make a separate secondary worthwhile. Maybe I should make a bunch of townie teens. I like the schools because they offer the opportunity for children and teens to socialise.

I no longer come over to MTS very often but if you would like to ask me a question then you can find me on tumblr or my own site tflc. TFLC has an archive of all my CC downloads.
I'm here on tumblr and my site, tflc
Needs Coffee
retired moderator
#6 Old 26th Jun 2012 at 1:29 AM
Quote:
What to do with the kids when playing their home lots. Sending them to regular school meant messing up their grades AND it just felt kind of strange to me, as if they were being forced to go to school twice.


With my legacy kid she just catches the school bus, but of course being enrolled at my prep school means she doesn't come home until 5pm. It is a long day but she doesn't get homework and I also put on a summer holiday school mod so summer times the bus doesn't show up and no grades go down. Most kids end up getting at least a little summer holiday or if not they would all get a weekend or two off as I also have a double age mod and my kids are kids for 16 days. The only other option would be to change the type of school so that when you play the home lot set the child to flexi school so that they don't go to school at all.

"I dream of a better tomorrow, where chickens can cross the road and not be questioned about their motives." - Unknown
~Call me Jo~
Field Researcher
#7 Old 26th Jun 2012 at 2:17 AM
At first I downloaded the hack, thinking it was worth it to have a school.. which it is if you understand what your doing. I made a good school, two floors, lunch room, classrooms, gym, locker rooms, offices. But the problem is I couldn't get into it! I meant it's not like they actually learn.. correct me if I'm wrong but it would be nice to actually have them 'learn' and not just sit there and talk the whole time, besides doing work of course.. so I'm not sure whether to leave it or to get it again.
Mad Poster
Original Poster
#8 Old 26th Jun 2012 at 2:21 AM
I guess I'd kind of expect all my sims' children and teens to reach A+ grades, even with the lifestage durations that I use (7 days for children, 8 for teens), so I just let them go to regular school on the school bus every day. My primary school doesn't make children do gradework, so I'm glad that their grades are still going up! Teens only do gradework twice a week, so again I'm glad their grades are going up anyway. I also have a mod that means that they don't get homework everyday, which I like. I never did homework every day, why should my sims! :-) Mind you, half the time I never did my homework even when I did have it....

When Danselle Cove is a bit more established I plan to set up a private school for teens (and maybe children) where they do gradework every morning and are encouraged to work towards achieving enough scholarships to qualify for university (in my game sims need to get 3 scholarships or they can't attend university, and even with those scholarships they have to pay fees). I'm not really sure how to differentiate between the normal schools and the private school though - Danselle Cove's normal schools are pretty well kitted out so I'm not sure how private school could give an advantage. Smaller class sizes, perhaps, though I'm not really sure how that would help... Besides, a the moment Class 2 in the primary school only has one pupil in it anyway, and the biggest class is Class 1 at the secondary school with 5 pupils.... In theory each class can take 8, but I think it'll be a long time, if ever, before I have that many youngsters in my 'hood.
Inventor
#9 Old 26th Jun 2012 at 2:54 AM
I have never had a school in my game, but I love the idea of homeschooling!
Scholar
#10 Old 26th Jun 2012 at 2:59 AM
It seems that we have an almost equal way of playing schools, lauratje86. We would find diferencences between our curricula if we tried but generally speaking, this is it.
I'm also one of those that don't stop at the high school level. My YAs attend college in much the same way, by the use of Inge's Meeting Controller. Almost all skills my Sims learn are learned in this extended education system. That way I don't get bored watching them study as much as I would in ordinary skilling situations.

Private schools though, that's where the similarities stop. There are no priviledged Sims in my hoods. Some may have more money than the rest, but all get precisely the same quality of education.
Lab Assistant
#11 Old 26th Jun 2012 at 5:22 AM
Some of you who build your own schools should post pictures. I'm confused as to how this works. I've seen the mods on Simlogical but how exactly are you controlling the kids/teens and getting them to act in a school like fashion?

Marebear<3333
Scholar
#12 Old 26th Jun 2012 at 1:49 PM
I have a residential high school(the teachers live there) and soon I'll do a residential grammar school and community college. I play with longer seasons,aging off (sims are aged when their stories require it) and 28 hours skilling. I also use community lot skilling. So sims go to school for both education and socialization.

I also offer the park districts of the kind we have where I live where people go to play, exercise and learn different crafts. Kinda takes the place of the hobby lots.

edit> I'm pretty proud of my highschool I'll post pictures when I get home tonight.

Check out my simblr https://www.tumblr.com/blog/tbssimblr

Click the link, you know you want to. ;)
Lab Assistant
#13 Old 26th Jun 2012 at 2:00 PM
My self sim has a big process where once one of her children has an A+ in school they become home schooled, so they can actually learn something. I do boarding school for all teens in one of my neighbor hoods. I started working on a school for all of my child sims on a community lot, but there were so many that they caused the lot to lag.

"A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way." -Mark Twain

LJ Tumblr
Theorist
#14 Old 26th Jun 2012 at 2:10 PM
I use it mainly for the homeschooling, prep school and boarding school options in most neighborhoods, as I find it more realistic to have these options. Some families are more suited to sending their children to a boarding school while others seem more likely to want to homeschool, it depends on the kind of family they are. Depending on the kind of school they go to they can have a better chance of getting into college, so if a sim family has the money it's likely they'd send their child to prep school or boarding school, unless there's a particular reason they wouldn't want to. It might not be entirely fair that having money buys some sims a better education, but that's often true in life as well!

However I'm planning to build a school in the latest neighborhood I'm working on, once I actually get around to it that is! Eventually I'll probably build two schools, as I'd quite like to run a boarding school too (I used to read a lot of boarding school stories when I was younger!).

"Your life was a liner I voyaged in."
The Great AntiJen
retired moderator
#15 Old 26th Jun 2012 at 2:45 PM
Quote: Originally posted by poisonapple88
Some of you who build your own schools should post pictures. I'm confused as to how this works. I've seen the mods on Simlogical but how exactly are you controlling the kids/teens and getting them to act in a school like fashion?

The mods make the kids temporarily selectable while they're on the school lot. So basically, you are directing them in what to do (or you can not direct them if you like). The school table has a call function which calls the child to the table to do some work. doing the work will improve the child's grade (it's basically a piece of homework). I use harder grades to stop them climbing the grade levels too quickly. I'm thinking of modding it (the hack) again and seeing if I can slow down the rate of improvement even further. I like them to work hard for it.

I no longer come over to MTS very often but if you would like to ask me a question then you can find me on tumblr or my own site tflc. TFLC has an archive of all my CC downloads.
I'm here on tumblr and my site, tflc
Scholar
#16 Old 26th Jun 2012 at 2:57 PM
I also use harder grades and that does help. Also, I've added other stuff for them to do in school so that not all their work is about Inge's schoolwork - so their grades don't shoot up through the roof. They skill in many different ways and are taught by teachers too. Anything to pass the time, reduce/slow down the grade improvements and still to achieve the main goal which is to prepare them for the necessities of their future job performances. Actually, the main goal is for me to play school and have fun with it
Instructor
#17 Old 27th Jun 2012 at 8:34 AM
Quote: Originally posted by iCad
The thing that I didn't like about doing school this way, though, was: What to do with the kids when playing their home lots. Sending them to regular school meant messing up their grades AND it just felt kind of strange to me, as if they were being forced to go to school twice.

I send my sims to school when I play their home lots, and then when I play their week of school I use that time for making friends and skill-building. But then, I use MATY's harder grades hack, which makes perfect grades nearly impossible as school performance is based on both skills and personality. This to me is an easier way of "customizing" their grades than trying to get them to do classwork in the school itself. If you don't make a strict enough teacher (low nice points), then you spend the whole time forcing kids to sit back down every five minutes!
Test Subject
#18 Old 10th Oct 2018 at 12:23 PM
I use the system mainly for skilling purposes. So for eg. The kids go to school anyway, do their homework etc, but get skilled at school. Which is why I enjoy using these. I have 3 schools. Public high and elementary school and a mixed (both kids and teens) private catholic school run by a sister and brother nun and priest.
Alchemist
#19 Old 10th Oct 2018 at 2:20 PM
@Yolandi.Luther, this thread is 4 years old; you really shouldn't post on threads this old unless you are adding something significant to the conversation.

If you want to chat about your school, might I suggest this thread: http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?t=614869

Shameless plug, I kbow, but it's also much more recent. You can probably also talk about it in the What's happening in your game right now? thread.

"May the sunlight find you, thy days be long, thy winters kind, thy roots be strong." -Grand Oak Tree, DAO

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