Small private or MoCo public?

[Anonymous]

Trying to decide for K. The facilities at the public are amazing, it's more an issue of class size (and possible lack of differentiation in curriculum) and "extras". Plus, afraid the big environment might overwhelm my shy child. Thoughts? Thanks in advance.

[Anonymous]

No one can answer this for you - there are always going to be positives and negatives about ANY school, and not every school is right for every kid.

I happen to think that a smaller class size (but not TOO small) is a good thing for my kids. It allows the teacher time to work with each kid and get to know their strengths and weaknesses.

However, there are good things about larger class sizes too - more kids around lets kids have more options for friends.

[Anonymous]

I am dealing with the same decision. My child will be entering K in the Fall and is very shy and clingy. We are going to try public mainly because we just moved here and chose what I hope is a good elementary school. I have heard the class size can be an issue so if that does turn out to be the case - we will consider private.

We seriously considered private and toured several schools but it would've been a stretch financially and I was concerned we wouldn't be able to sustain it year after year. I thought that the transition from private to public in the middle of elementary school would be hard. If it turns out that public is not working - we will make the transition to private and make it work somehow.

Best of luck in your decision.

[Anonymous]

We are zoned for Stone Mill Elementary in the Wootton cluster, which has fantastic reviews. We instead chose a small private for a lot of reasons, but mostly class size and increased outdoor/phys ed time. I have a fairly immature, highly active boy. It was a better fit for him.

It really is a decision that has to be made on an individual basis. If your child is in day care or preschool, do the teachers have any suggestions?

[Anonymous]

OP: thanks, everyone. The teachers said she'd do fine anywhere. But after talking to some parents, I'm a little concerned about public. For example, she's shy so she's not going to act up. I heard some classes (not K, but first, and up) have like 28 kids. Since she's not the type to speak up or act up, I can see her getting a little lost or ignored. Also, she's starting to read already and is pretty good at basic arithmetic, so I feel like her K year won't be much of a change (already in full-day preschool). On the other hand, it will be a bit of a stretch financially. I had thought about doing private for the first few years, then going to public in say 3rd or 4th grade, but that has a whole other set of issues (friendships, etc.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP: thanks, everyone. The teachers said she'd do fine anywhere. But after talking to some parents, I'm a little concerned about public. For example, she's shy so she's not going to act up. I heard some classes (not K, but first, and up) have like 28 kids. Since she's not the type to speak up or act up, I can see her getting a little lost or ignored. Also, she's starting to read already and is pretty good at basic arithmetic, so I feel like her K year won't be much of a change (already in full-day preschool). On the other hand, it will be a bit of a stretch financially. I had thought about doing private for the first few years, then going to public in say 3rd or 4th grade, but that has a whole other set of issues (friendships, etc.)

MCPS K is generally more rigorous than private Ks (depends on the private school of course). Many privates are still play based for K and teaching pre reading rather than reading. The private approach worked for my kids, but definitely don't assume that private schools are going to be more advanced.

[Anonymous]

That's interesting and good to hear. I had heard previously that since K has such a wide gamut of kids (some never went school before, some don't speak English), you wind up spending most of the year just getting acclimated to a routine, and academics don't really start until the second semester. The privates we are looking at break out into reading/math groups according to ability.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP: thanks, everyone. The teachers said she'd do fine anywhere. But after talking to some parents, I'm a little concerned about public. For example, she's shy so she's not going to act up. I heard some classes (not K, but first, and up) have like 28 kids. Since she's not the type to speak up or act up, I can see her getting a little lost or ignored. Also, she's starting to read already and is pretty good at basic arithmetic, so I feel like her K year won't be much of a change (already in full-day preschool). On the other hand, it will be a bit of a stretch financially. I had thought about doing private for the first few years, then going to public in say 3rd or 4th grade, but that has a whole other set of issues (friendships, etc.)

MCPS K is generally more rigorous than private Ks (depends on the private school of course). Many privates are still play based for K and teaching pre reading rather than reading. The private approach worked for my kids, but definitely don't assume that private schools are going to be more advanced.

I agree with this. And one reason I picked a private over public (for my kid). I didn't want him getting homework, and wanted him to be able to learn at his own pace. But one possible advantage to private is the ability to offer more differentiated instruction. There were kids who could read when my son started kindergarten. He didn't start truly reading until closer to Christmas. The teacher can accommodate that difference in abilities pretty easily because it's a smaller class.

[Anonymous]

K in MCPS is fairly rigorous. My son turned 5 at the end of summer and wasn't reading when he started K, and now he s reading at level 7 and learned how to read at school. I think benchmark for the end of K is level 6 fwiw. And they do math, although it is less rigorous under the new 2.0 curriculum (my older son was doing more in math when he was in K years ago). For class size, it can be hit or miss. Our school tends to have smaller class sizes (19 in k).

[Anonymous]

My K daughter also was not reading when she started at MCPS and was reading just great by the end of the year. (I don't recall her level, but way past the grade expectation). They did break them into reading groups, plus she was pulled out twice a week for reading enrichment with a few peers. Now she is in 1st reading a few grade levels above. So, our experience was that K was academic and that differentiated learning started within 2 months of school starting. But we're in a "poor" school, so she also had only 19 in her K class. Anyway, 25+ kids sounds like a lot, so maybe your shy child would do better in a private, but wanted to debunk the idea nothing academic goes on in K in MCPS. In fact, one friend complained it was too academic!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:)

MCPS K is generally more rigorous than private Ks (depends on the private school of course). Many privates are still play based for K and teaching pre reading rather than reading. The private approach worked for my kids, but definitely don't assume that private schools are going to be more advanced.

This isn't what I found at all. I found that privates were way more intense than public. Also smaller class sizes. Maybe it's just the ones I looked at, which were only ones close to my home and didn't look at any Montessori. I definitely didn't see any that taught pre-reading.

[Anonymous]

I'd like to offer some general advice about this stuff: don't overthink it.

I worried about all this stuff, and in the end my kids were fine. Private will be fine, public will be fine. I wouldn't put yourself under financial strain without at least trying MCPS.

[Anonymous]

First, there is no homework in K in MCPS. I know that was true in our school, and I believe that is a system-wide policy.

Second, they do break the kids into reading groups etc, differentiated by ability. My son could not read before K, but could read very short books by the end of K. He's now in third grade and is very advanced in reading (not in other areas, not gifted, just to be clear.)

Third, my son is an active kid, who had social adjustment issues DESPITE ft daycare experience. So no easy fit in some respects. And while he comes from academic parents and a house overflowing with books, it was MCPS teachers in classrooms of 22-26 who taught him how to read and found books he would love (he's got very intense interests that are a bit outside the norm.)

I don't mean to suggest that he wouldn't have done as well or potentially even better at a small private - I just have no way to know, although I can't help but wonder - but don't underestimate what kind of great stuff happens in these big MCPS classrooms!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:First, there is no homework in K in MCPS. I know that was true in our school, and I believe that is a system-wide policy.

Second, they do break the kids into reading groups etc, differentiated by ability. My son could not read before K, but could read very short books by the end of K. He's now in third grade and is very advanced in reading (not in other areas, not gifted, just to be clear.)

Third, my son is an active kid, who had social adjustment issues DESPITE ft daycare experience. So no easy fit in some respects. And while he comes from academic parents and a house overflowing with books, it was MCPS teachers in classrooms of 22-26 who taught him how to read and found books he would love (he's got very intense interests that are a bit outside the norm.)

I don't mean to suggest that he wouldn't have done as well or potentially even better at a small private - I just have no way to know, although I can't help but wonder - but don't underestimate what kind of great stuff happens in these big MCPS classrooms!

I've got friends with kids in kindergarten at Wyngate, Stone Mill, and Rachel Carson this year and they've all got enough weekly homework to cause fights many nights.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:First, there is no homework in K in MCPS. I know that was true in our school, and I believe that is a system-wide policy.

Second, they do break the kids into reading groups etc, differentiated by ability. My son could not read before K, but could read very short books by the end of K. He's now in third grade and is very advanced in reading (not in other areas, not gifted, just to be clear.)

Third, my son is an active kid, who had social adjustment issues DESPITE ft daycare experience. So no easy fit in some respects. And while he comes from academic parents and a house overflowing with books, it was MCPS teachers in classrooms of 22-26 who taught him how to read and found books he would love (he's got very intense interests that are a bit outside the norm.)

I don't mean to suggest that he wouldn't have done as well or potentially even better at a small private - I just have no way to know, although I can't help but wonder - but don't underestimate what kind of great stuff happens in these big MCPS classrooms!

My DD brings home homework every night from her MCPS K