Going from public to private school

[Anonymous]

Were your kids behind academically if they moved in the middle of elementary school? We are moving our kids (starting this year) to a local parochial school. From what I can tell there is a LOT more homework and tests in our new school compared to our old school. I am nervous our kids will be behind academically. If they are does your school help these kids catch up? They tested well in NNAT, COGAT, SOLs and did well in their public class rooms.

[Anonymous]

Some parochial schools are behind public. It depends on the school. I wouldn't worry if I were you.

[Anonymous]

Our school does summer tutoring sessions for new students that they think might need this. So I imagine your school would have reached out if your kid is in this situation?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our school does summer tutoring sessions for new students that they think might need this. So I imagine your school would have reached out if your kid is in this situation?

OP - okay thanks. Yea I didn't hear about this from our school at all. They both passed their entrance tests with flying colors. I am just worried about the amount of homework for the 4th grader. They have never had daily homework in public school before.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our school does summer tutoring sessions for new students that they think might need this. So I imagine your school would have reached out if your kid is in this situation?

OP - okay thanks. Yea I didn't hear about this from our school at all. They both passed their entrance tests with flying colors. I am just worried about the amount of homework for the 4th grader. They have never had daily homework in public school before.

That will be an adjustment. Our school doesn’t offer tutoring for new students and I honestly wouldn’t worry about the content. I have heard though that the hw expectations are hard on students coming from public. And at our school at least, fourth grade really ramps up on homework. I don’t think there’s much you can do aside from set expectations.

Have a plan for how your afternoons/evenings go. For my kids, they get about 30 minutes after school to have a snack and wind down, then they start homework and I expect it to be done by dinnertime which is usually 6:00 or 6:30. Occasionally they have a bit more to finish after dinner, but that’s rare.

You’ll probably need to work with them a bit as they get used to it, but they’ll get there .

[Anonymous]

The concept of ahead/behind is not really related to homework. Your kid can be on-level or ahead, but unused to homework.

PP is right that you need a plan for your evenings that includes homework as well as family, wind-down, etc. My kid doesn't do as many evening extracurriculars as her friends without homework. You may also need to work on executive skills like doing a little bit of homework every night when it's all due Friday.

Talk to the teachers about expectations. Ours says that if homework is taking more than X minutes (varies) to just stop where you are at that point. But other schools do things differently.

[Anonymous]

OP we are in your same boat. I looked at the syllabi for my rising 7th grader - who had barely any homework as an AAP 6th grader in public last year - and she's in for a shock.

Our school provided summer assignments and my kids seemed to handle those fine, so I believe they are prepared for the actual content. It's the amount of work and the expectations for doing it well that will be a (good, needed) adjustment.

Our plan is similar to what PP suggested - we're going to have a plan for when the work gets done and help them learn to execute. Thankfully but weirdly our public school did homework for 1st through 3rd and then it basically cut off in 4th. My youngest is just in 3rd now so at least one of them is still used to homework and we have a family rhythm that has room for it. I'm hopeful by October or so the kids will have settled in; if not the school has supports to help.

[Anonymous]

In general do public schools just not have homework in elementary school? Does it ramp up in middle and high school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In general do public schools just not have homework in elementary school? Does it ramp up in middle and high school?

There is no “in general.” It depends.

[Anonymous]

My DS switched from DCPS to a "big 3" in 4th grade. He was not at all behind. If anything, he had less homework.

[Anonymous]

It was a really big adjustment for our kids to go from MCPS to parochial, but the teachers were so kind and helpful. They are used to this situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It was a really big adjustment for our kids to go from MCPS to parochial, but the teachers were so kind and helpful. They are used to this situation.

And sometimes it turns out that one parent/child might not like a "hard" teacher while another child thrives with the challenge - so parent happy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It was a really big adjustment for our kids to go from MCPS to parochial, but the teachers were so kind and helpful. They are used to this situation.

And sometimes it turns out that one parent/child might not like a "hard" teacher while another child thrives with the challenge - so parent happy.

ignore - somehow I replied to the wrong thread....that's weird.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In general do public schools just not have homework in elementary school? Does it ramp up in middle and high school?

Agree with a PP that there is no "in general," but our public ES was pretty light on homework. I have heard mixed things about the middle school, with some saying 7th is light and 8th ramps up, some saying it's all light, and some saying it's a big step up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DS switched from DCPS to a "big 3" in 4th grade. He was not at all behind. If anything, he had less homework.

The stereotype for elementary is that parochial schools love busy work