Why did you choose private school over the local public school?
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Anonymous
aren't these things true at public schools?? |
Anonymous
My child's class in public school did this. |
Anonymous
They are true in MCPS. |
Anonymous
True in Arlington too. What public schools give recess once a week?? |
Anonymous
| DCPS also has recess every day and many of the schools have an integrated arts curriculum. I know many privates have recess 2 or 3 times a day and PE 3 or 4 times a week, whereas public school normally has PE only once a week --- but that is another matter |
Anonymous
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I have one kid in MCPS and one in private. Here's the difference people aren't getting re art & recess.
1. Recess - generally in privates, recess is more frequent (sometimes more than once per day). Certainly there are more frequent breaks built into the schedule. When the kids go outside, it's generally to less crowded, nicer, better equipped facilities. 2. Art - although often once just once a week, there are generally performances / prizes that are incorporated. Better equipment. Ex: my 2nd grader in a "top" MCPS school got to play two notes on an instrument. At open house, the parents watched as the kids were told to imagine instruments. There were no pictures, no sounds. Likely this is just poor / lazy teaching as there are awesome art and music teachers too but they have too many kids in a class. It is zoo-like in some classes. Generally, kids need to be much more driven and self-motivated with lots of external supplementing to get an equivalent or better education than at a private. |
Anonymous
| I'm wondering about those of you who are saying "more this, more that." Have you been in public also? Or are you going off hearsay? |
Anonymous
| Our zoned public fails to teach half its kids to read and do math at grade level, there is no open house where you can see the school, the principal dodges meetings with prospective parents, and teachers whisper to parents in the neighborhood "I if were you, I wouldn't send my kid here." So no, I won't send my kid there. So we stay in our small, cheap house and send our kid to a fabulous school we have to pay for, just like we'd have to pay out the nose for a house in a really good school district that also allows for a livable commute. Pros: awesome school, happy kid. Cons: friends not in neighborhood. |
Anonymous
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We chose it for my first DC who we thought needed small classes. We were right as DC was later diagnosed with various LDs and the private school was reasonably accommodating. Because we had the first in private school we sent the second to the same school. It was fine, but ultimately DC 2 moved to public and was much happier with a larger pool of kids, more differentiation, and in high school many advanced offerings.
Testing was not really different between the 2 since the private school did ERBs for a week in the spring. |
Anonymous
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Cons - Cost
Pros - everything else |
Anonymous
So no ERBs at your school? |
Anonymous
One PP who has 9 years of MCPS experience and current year with one at private. Posted 10:03. If your kid is thriving in public, that is great. It is a lot more rigid than when we were kids. |
Anonymous
+1 |
Anonymous
| Pro - Typical parent has a degree from Ivy or SLAC |
Anonymous
A lot depends on the specific public and private schools. For DS1, there were two others in his grade in MCPS elementary who were in the same CLASS at Harvard as DH! That said, we moved to private after ES for the smaller class size/more individual attention, as compared to public middle school. |