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Are we crazy to be spending this kind of money on private school? Help!
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Anonymous
| It comes down to this. If achieving status and connections for yourself and DC are important, go to a Big 3 private. If not, or if you don't get in, stay with the public school, unless you're in DC, in which case you should move. |
Anonymous
| If we don't get into a good OOB or charter, our plan is to send our child to Catholic school. Tuition ranges from $4500-6000 at most places in DC. |
Anonymous
| Crazy? It depends. My older child started out in our local public school, while my younger child started pre-k at a private school (she was too young for public). Initially we thought that after she finished pre-k, they would both go public. But.... with my older child finishing 1st grade now, I am so terribly disenchanted with our public school (and other available local public options). It's rigid, not very nurturing, and the whole emphasis is on idiotic worksheets, standing in line, doing what you're told, and being frog-marched through the curriculum, with little room for creativity. So with great reluctance-- the price tag still makes me feel rather faint-- we decided to send both kids to the great private school where my younger one already was. Have not regretted it, either-- DC is SO much happier. |
Anonymous
| PP, I liked your post. I have not had experience with my local PS, but this is what I see when I tour it. I just cannot see my kid in it, being cattle-prodded along. |
Anonymous
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I think part of "that special something" that we see in our kids' private school is that the teachers are well-supported: significant paid training opportunities, dedicated teacher development days, curriculum intergration, significant supportive resource teachers. The way all that support manifests is in part through ability to demonstrate lots of kindness, patience and creativity with the students. (I personally know I do MY best work when I feel like my employer and my colleagues are supporting me.) What I see every day is that my children's teachers really know their personalities, learning styles, and how to motivate and excite my kids about learning. I'm not saying all of this doesn't happen in public school, I just have enough friends who are current or former MCPS teachers to know that larger class sizes and standardized tests take their toll in stress and time lost to actually TEACHING.
We live in Montgomery County, in one of the "best' clusters in a close-in town. I know our public schools are great. To be honest, with a huge mortgage and flat income, we can barely afford private school for our kids, and we think about re-upping every year. But we've decided that the benefits we see in private school are worth the massive (to our 475k annual income family) cost. |
Anonymous
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It really depends upon you and your child. There appear to be posters on here who believe that private education gives their children something that they absolutely must have, that no other kind of school can provide.
I'm not one of them. If my daughter needed some special resource that public schools don't have, I'd consider making a change. But our local school is very good, has features that many private schools don't, and provides hundreds of children with a solid education in a pleasant setting. I considered the private schools and didn't see much advantage in them other than gorgeous campuses and prestige-- and a commute and hefty price tag. I don't really understand why some parents begin with a presumption, in pre-k, that their child will not be a good fit for public school, especially posters who live in a good PS district and feel that private school tuition is a stretch. But that's the feeling for some people, and they act on it, and that doesn't do any harm either. I just hope that you won't buy into the party line that sending a child to public school is "depriving" the child. Many kids are happy in public school. Sometimes it's hard for parents to distinguish between their own ambitions and what a child actually needs. Good luck. |
Anonymous
| PP, this is literally my struggle, every day. I think I need to admit, at the end of the day, that all my DH and I know is small private schools and that is where our comfort lies. If pushed, DC would probably be fine in the DCPS, it is ME who cannot get over it. I could give a rats ass about prestige or connections, it is more about smallness and individuality, as well as the quality of education when one is not forced to teach to the test. Sigh.... |
Anonymous
I hope you are not looking a Sidwell for smallness. |
Anonymous
So maybe you should just accept that this is important to you and go for it. That's okay, isn't it? |
Anonymous
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I wonder why people only consider public vs. private (religious or non-religious) as their sole options in lieu of using that money for very individualized training via tutors or a private teacher that can supplement a public school curriculum...personally I'd rather spend half the private tuition cost on truly 'small and individual' which would mean a private tutor/teacher. I could provide amazing opportunities for my child with that money, fund their college education, our emergency fund and our retirement if I went that route. Frankly if my parents gave me the option of spending $500k on my nannies and private school from birth to 17 or putting it in a fund for me for college and/or buying my first home...I'd rather have the latter. The latter has far more impact on the quality of my life. If I give my kids any gift I want to give them the ability to pursue their dreams without regard to money and the ability to live without the burden of college debt and a mortgage. I just think area parents can be overly neurotic. I am a corp atty and work with an office full of successful lawyers who live in great school districts but still send kids to private schools. One couldn't afford it recently and had to pull his kids out and he felt like such a failure. Bizarre. I mean if you are worth millions and you have a reasonable mortgage, no education debt, no credit card debt, a 9 month emergency fund, your retirement fund is where it should be for your age, etc. and still have tons of money left over...I say do what you like...you've earned the right to. But for anyone struggling with the above and still considering private school...I'd say consider other options. Even if you need to go the tutor route as I mentioned or rent a home instead of owning one to live in a district that you would be more comfortable with.
Signed, Corp Lawyer in Prince Georges |
Anonymous
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I also find it interesting that in my department no one went to private school but all became successful lawyers and went to the best colleges and law schools in the country (in spite of that) and are all sending their kids to private school and not public.
????????? |
Anonymous
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Our reasoning? We're seeking individuated learning opportunities that will come much easier when the student-teacher ratio is 7 or 8:1. Our DS is quirky, okay weird, right-brained beyond description, stubborn and 99 wppsi.
DH and I compared notes this fall and both of us were bored out of our minds throughout one-size-fits-all elementary. We just don't want that for our son when he's deciding whether he likes school or not. |
Anonymous
Meaning no disrespect, but private school costs, even for multiple children, should not be "massive" if you have a 475K/year income. Unless I am misreading you (and sincere apologies if I am), you are implying that somehow you are hugely sacrificing for private school, and on your income, that is a laughable concept. |
Anonymous
| Agree with pp. Try paying full freight for one with "only" $120K ... it is hard but still totally doable. So at $475K ... how difficult could it be? |
Anonymous
| Yep, $475,000 would be heaven. We pay two tuitions on $250,000 (that was last year -- it will be $200,000 or less this year). |