Transition to public from private at 4th grade or 7th grade

[Anonymous]

moved from private after 6th to MoCo for 7th and it was a great decision--DD was ready for a larger social pool and more course offerings, etc.

[Anonymous]

I'd move her before 7th grade. I transitioned from private to public in 7th grade and it was a huge shock and difficult adjustment. I think it's easier to adjust at a younger age.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it would be incredibly hard to go from a small private to a bigger public in middle school. I think you either switch in elementary or wait till HS.

I did this as a kid and it was awful. The private I was at wasn't like privates in DC--it was a small, church run school (12 kids in the combined 5th-6th grade class), and I went from that to a big public jr high school, with grades 7-9. It was scary. I did not have the social skills to handle it. I honestly don't know what my parents were thinking, or maybe they didn't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Switching to public in 4th might not be too bad, although I had a child in MoCo and her 4/5th grades were the WORST in all of elementary schools with 30-33 kids in a class. But I think a good private school kid could handle it. I do NOT think moving a child into a new public school in 7th is a good idea. We all already know middle school sucks. Been there, done that. While a private elementary school is small, nurturing and wonderful. Public middle schools is bullying, fighting, running to and from classes, zero nurturing. She gets thrown in at the middle of it?? Academically she would be fine but I think it would be a huge culture shock. We moved our child to private at that age.

I agree. That is when I pulled my kid out of public for private. In all honesty, if I had to move them it would be 6th but preferably 9th