Switch to private in middle school?

[Anonymous]

This post is inspired from the concerns over Dorothy Hamm and specifically the issue of learning taking place mostly online through Canvas as opposed to taking written tests, etc.

I’m curious if some private schools also conduct a large portion of learning online through platforms like Canvas or if there is a lot more written work, written essays/tests.

It seems to me that the physical act of writing is better for growing kids. I could be wrong but would love your thoughts.

We like our public elementary where there is very little iPad work. Just wondering if we should look to a place like Sidwell for middle school to avoid concerns stated in the DHMS post.

I know you can’t believe the pictures on a website, but the Sidwell middle school images and descriptions look so appealing.

[Anonymous]

My child is in 8th grade at a private PK-12. He doesn't do any learning through things like iready, but he types his essays -- no physical writing.

[Anonymous]

We moved our DC from public ES to private MS and have been very happy. There is very limited screen time and DC has to write out homework. It’s been great! Try it- if you don’t like it you can always go back.

[Anonymous]

We're looking at doing this very thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We moved our DC from public ES to private MS and have been very happy. There is very limited screen time and DC has to write out homework. It’s been great! Try it- if you don’t like it you can always go back.

Socially its hard to keep moving them around. Friends have learned this the hard way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We moved our DC from public ES to private MS and have been very happy. There is very limited screen time and DC has to write out homework. It’s been great! Try it- if you don’t like it you can always go back.

Socially its hard to keep moving them around. Friends have learned this the hard way.

Moving once (between ES and MS) is not exactly the same as moving them around?

[Anonymous]

I would not base a decision like this on what you read on DCUM.

We have a kid at Swanson. Math tests are all handwritten. Lots of other handwritten work in other classes. Study guides, homework, class projects, etc. Yes, they do some typing as they should as that's a key skill. Handwriting essays in middle school would be kind of weird. In fact, I wish they gave them a full year of keyboarding skills as a requirement in 6th grade. They need to learn how to type properly and efficiently and to write and edit through typing. Where in their life are they going to hand write any substantial writing in academics or life moving forward. It's not 1950.

[Anonymous]

I knew a family that did middle school only at a private. It was the weak link in the pyramid. They might have stayed but the private was $$$ and they had some bad teachers there too. I think if you are going to do it for any years it makes sense for middle just because kids can be so horrible those years and you might avoid some trouble makers/bullies. They didn’t really have any issues re integrating into the public since knew kids from elementary.

[Anonymous]

I forced my kid to switch from public to private. He was miserable and we ended up switching him back. Middle school is a tough transition time. My kid had spend his entire elementary school years with friends and we forced a switch. We thought it would be an easy transition year and it was not.

Make sure your kid is on board.

[Anonymous]

my child begged to switch to private. we toured, applied to see our options and found a great fit. she had a better than expected MS experience and stayed for HS.

[Anonymous]

Should be a mutual decision between your kid and you but as a mom of 2 who took ours from public elementary to private MS, it's the right choice for us. It's dependent also on the schools you are going to and are looking to go. I think it's about a lot of considerations not just public v private. But MS is where a lot of the foundation gets built - study habits, organization, even the interest level for classes. It's writing but so much more from a holistic perspective. These are the years of puberty so social considerations are just as important you'll find.


To answer your question, we definitely don't use Camvas in private and most papers are typed and google docs is cur platform. The school gives the laptop and the kids are able to use it yr around incl summers.

[Anonymous]

I'm surprised your ES is not doing much online. My kid was online all the time in public ES. There was zero monitoring, and the kids were all getting into YouTube videos they had no business watching. It was infuriating. Even when they tried, they couldn't keep them from finding shortcuts around the controls.

We switched to a private and have been much impressed with the teacher attention and staff/student ratios, but I will say that they are still doing a fairly large amount online. One of the teachers is really phoning it in and sometimes handwrites a quick math assignment and copies it that day during class. Other times, they do iReady.

However, I think this varies. Overall, I would anticipate a fair amount of online work anywhere, but a private is likely to be better monitored and more thoughtful about the approach to it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would not base a decision like this on what you read on DCUM.

We have a kid at Swanson. Math tests are all handwritten. Lots of other handwritten work in other classes. Study guides, homework, class projects, etc. Yes, they do some typing as they should as that's a key skill. Handwriting essays in middle school would be kind of weird. In fact, I wish they gave them a full year of keyboarding skills as a requirement in 6th grade. They need to learn how to type properly and efficiently and to write and edit through typing. Where in their life are they going to hand write any substantial writing in academics or life moving forward. It's not 1950.

All of our laws are written by hand. Our rights are shrouded in cursive. If you can’t write it you will eventually not be able to read it. Do you really want to rely on somebody else or a computer for translation?

[Anonymous]

APS middle school is awful. If you have the option for private absolutely take it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:APS middle school is awful. If you have the option for private absolutely take it.

^PP. our older two went to Swanson. The youngest went to private. It’s a world of difference.