Private school in MoCo for bright child

[Anonymous]

We are thinking of going private for middle school for our son. He is bright (accepted into CES program at MCPS) and we live in northern-ish Montgomery County. DS is a very sweet kid, not outgoing or particularly talented in sports. Would prefer to stay in MoCo due to the commute.

Any suggestions?

[Anonymous]

My bright, academically adept boy is doing well at Landon. He is pretty extroverted but not all his friends are, there is a variety of personalities.

[Anonymous]

Such a student could do well almost anywhere. But competition for slots is high and there are lots of "bright" students, so you'll need to apply widely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are thinking of going private for middle school for our son. He is bright (accepted into CES program at MCPS) and we live in northern-ish Montgomery County. DS is a very sweet kid, not outgoing or particularly talented in sports. Would prefer to stay in MoCo due to the commute.

Any suggestions?

Have to ask why since he is in the CES program? You have Norwood, Woods Academy, Bullis, etc. and few others in the Bethesda and Potomac area. I seriously doubt any of them will be better academically than the MoCo advanced programming.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are thinking of going private for middle school for our son. He is bright (accepted into CES program at MCPS) and we live in northern-ish Montgomery County. DS is a very sweet kid, not outgoing or particularly talented in sports. Would prefer to stay in MoCo due to the commute.

Any suggestions?

You need to figure out much of a commute for private you and your kid are willing to tolerate, even if it's only for three years, and what your realistic public option is. (Assuming your kid is in a CES now, you know that the county has moved to a lottery for the criteria-based MS magnets.). If it were me and "northern-ish Montgomery County" were Clarksburg, it would take a really compelling private option to make me want to go even as far as Potomac. But even Rockville to NW DC could be become a real drag without a school bus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are thinking of going private for middle school for our son. He is bright (accepted into CES program at MCPS) and we live in northern-ish Montgomery County. DS is a very sweet kid, not outgoing or particularly talented in sports. Would prefer to stay in MoCo due to the commute.

Any suggestions?

Unfortunately, with the lowering of standards and the switch to a lottery system for CES, being accepted these days isn’t really a sign of much. The program itself is also very different from what it was just a few years ago because a lot of kids who are accepted now don’t really belong in a CES and slow down the pace of classes. So you’re right to be looking for private, but I’d say you’re wrong to use acceptance into a CES as evidence for how smart your DS is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are thinking of going private for middle school for our son. He is bright (accepted into CES program at MCPS) and we live in northern-ish Montgomery County. DS is a very sweet kid, not outgoing or particularly talented in sports. Would prefer to stay in MoCo due to the commute.

Any suggestions?

Have to ask why since he is in the CES program? You have Norwood, Woods Academy, Bullis, etc. and few others in the Bethesda and Potomac area. I seriously doubt any of them will be better academically than the MoCo advanced programming.

Not PP (I'm the Landon mom) but CES ends at 5th grade. So, if OP is looking for middle school CES won't play into it. The MoCo advanced programming is by lottery. Kids have to meet criteria to be in the lottery, but the majority don't get in. So if her kid is in CES he's quite bright, but still likely won't get in for MS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are thinking of going private for middle school for our son. He is bright (accepted into CES program at MCPS) and we live in northern-ish Montgomery County. DS is a very sweet kid, not outgoing or particularly talented in sports. Would prefer to stay in MoCo due to the commute.

Any suggestions?

At MS you might be better staying in MCPS if you have good options. Based on your stated location, the most rigorous schools near you would be Bullis. St Andrews and Sandy Spring also should be close. If you come down further, you have Prep and Landon. A PP also mentioned Norwood. But that’s a K-8 so it may not be worth coming in just for MS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are thinking of going private for middle school for our son. He is bright (accepted into CES program at MCPS) and we live in northern-ish Montgomery County. DS is a very sweet kid, not outgoing or particularly talented in sports. Would prefer to stay in MoCo due to the commute.

Any suggestions?

At MS you might be better staying in MCPS if you have good options. Based on your stated location, the most rigorous schools near you would be Bullis. St Andrews and Sandy Spring also should be close. If you come down further, you have Prep and Landon. A PP also mentioned Norwood. But that’s a K-8 so it may not be worth coming in just for MS.

Just to be clear, Prep isn't an option for middle school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are thinking of going private for middle school for our son. He is bright (accepted into CES program at MCPS) and we live in northern-ish Montgomery County. DS is a very sweet kid, not outgoing or particularly talented in sports. Would prefer to stay in MoCo due to the commute.

Any suggestions?

At MS you might be better staying in MCPS if you have good options. Based on your stated location, the most rigorous schools near you would be Bullis. St Andrews and Sandy Spring also should be close. If you come down further, you have Prep and Landon. A PP also mentioned Norwood. But that’s a K-8 so it may not be worth coming in just for MS.

There are definite benefits to coming to Norwood for MS. They do a great job both socially and academically. Plus, your child would get support from Norwood for HS placement. Of course, if you are willing to go to a competitive school downtown, I'd apply to those at the same time you apply to Norwood. Not that I think those schools are stronger for MS, just that you might as well make life easier if that's your end goal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are thinking of going private for middle school for our son. He is bright (accepted into CES program at MCPS) and we live in northern-ish Montgomery County. DS is a very sweet kid, not outgoing or particularly talented in sports. Would prefer to stay in MoCo due to the commute.

Any suggestions?

At MS you might be better staying in MCPS if you have good options. Based on your stated location, the most rigorous schools near you would be Bullis. St Andrews and Sandy Spring also should be close. If you come down further, you have Prep and Landon. A PP also mentioned Norwood. But that’s a K-8 so it may not be worth coming in just for MS.

There are definite benefits to coming to Norwood for MS. They do a great job both socially and academically. Plus, your child would get support from Norwood for HS placement. Of course, if you are willing to go to a competitive school downtown, I'd apply to those at the same time you apply to Norwood. Not that I think those schools are stronger for MS, just that you might as well make life easier if that's your end goal.

Norwood doesn’t offer advanced math classes until 6th grade (mixed with 7th graders). So if your kid is coming from MCPS compacted math they will be several years ahead. Norwood’s Bridges curriculum is a year behind Eureka math. So an MCPS kid that did math 4/5 and then 5/6 in MCPS will be really bored. The good news is that your child will read actual books in private school versus the online excerpts in MCPS MS English curriculum.

Are HS credits important to you? In MCPS you can earn all of your HS World Language credits in middle school. Going private in MS will require your kid to do a placement test for 9th grade if you return to MCPS. I’ve seen private school kids that took Spanish K-8 in private on lot test out of Spanish I for MCPS.

[Anonymous]

The CES was great for my "bright" child. She was in pool but did not win a lottery seat for a magnet middle school, and middle school has so far been pretty boring, even with Algebra 1 in 6th grade, but given what we've experienced with our oldest in high school, we still think it's better to keep her in MCPS - she will have lots of AP or IB options, and will be better positioned for college admissions.

[Anonymous]

I would recommend Norwood without hesitation. Many bright kids who love to learn. My kid entered in 4th grade from MCPS and was very bright but it took sometime for them to learn to adjust to the demands and they actually learned to write!

[Anonymous]

WES has a great middle school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:WES has a great middle school.

if you exclude the bullying and mediocre teachers, yes, it's a fine school