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

[Anonymous]

I'm looking at public and private school for dc, and the ones I have liked best end at 3rd/6th grade. I am not sold on keeping dc in private for the long haul, though, since we live in a pretty good school district. I'm just thinking that, for the early years, a smaller environment might be better. However, I'm concerned about the transition to public. Has anyone done the transition from a small private to public around these grades and have any advice? thanks.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't want my child to transition to middle school in the middle. So, if I lived in VA, where I understand that MS starts at 7th, I'd be fine with switching then. Otherwise, I'd probably want my kid to move at 6th if we were in MCPS or DCPS. The first year there's a lot of hand holding and explaining, and I'd want my kid there for it.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

OP: thanks. Trying to figure out if we should do private at all at this point or just wait and see if dc does well in public. The problem is that if dc doesn't, there are no expansion years again till 4th.

[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.

My DD had the opposite experience. Bullied in her private 6th grade and was thrilled to make the transition to public.

[Anonymous]

I'd rather move a 4th grade girl than a 7th grade girl. Too many social issues and drama for most girls in 7th. Trust me on this.

[Anonymous]

I'm curious about this - I have a DD with anxiety who is thriving in her small private. We cannot afford to keep her and brothers for the long haul and decided that bc of DD's anxiety, private in LS would make most sense. We are thrilled with her progress but thinking ahead know that we'll need to move her - either for 4th grade or 6th grade. In your experience, is it better to transition into public mid-elementary school or at the beginning of middle school, where everyone is "new" to some extent? Thanks for sharing insights.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

Disagree with PP -- I think switching at the beginning of MS would be best. Everyone is "new" to some extent. I'd try to get DD involved in sports or other extra curriculars with other kids that will attend the MS so there will be some kids she knows to make the transition a bit easier.

[Anonymous]

Many kids switched from our private to public at 3rd when the option for GT (or whatever it's now called) came available FWIW.

[Anonymous]

Boy or girl? I wouldn't want to transition a girl at 6th or even at all really. A boy particularly one who is good at sports and can be on a team would prob be fine at either. I know a coupe of guys who did this and liked it; they got good prep, thought public was fun, and did well. Girl, I would do before 6th - I transitioned from public to private at 7th at
Ns it was awful. I was at the height of awkwardness, knew no one, and was surrounded by mean girls. I'd do 3rd for a girl

[Anonymous]

Just do public unless you have tons of money. As long as she learns to read and do basic math, she'll be fine in public till fourth. And fourth is an ok time to come in as a girl

[Anonymous]

If MOCO, start in 6th when everyone is starting new, from many schools. There is a lot of handholding for 6th, much less so for 7th.

[Anonymous]

I would go private for h.s. and public for grade school, middle school.

[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.

We switched from a small private to a large public middle school in 6th grade. It worked out very well. Lots of new kids coming in, counseling office was helpful, DC loved the fact there were lots more kids to become friends with.

Teachers were excellent. Only small issue was DC not prepared in Math and for the amount of writing that is done. With some tutoring, DC overcame these disadvantages.

6ht much better than 7th. Depending on which school, 7th grade is when all the Bar and Bat Mitzvah's start. It might be hard to get to know kids in 7th.