Did you try out public school before starting your child in private school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a quesiton to the prior posters -- if you tried out public before starting your kid in private school, did you worry that you perhaps would not be able to get into private schools? Or are there enough private schools of various kinds in the DC area that you were pretty sure you could get into a private school down the road?

I don't live in the DC area, but am currently applying to private Pre-K programs in Dallas. It seems like this is the year to apply as after this year there are 1-2 openings (depending on the school). There are more openings down the road in Middle School, but it still seems hard to get in (versus now when there are more slots).

the way I see it, if your child doesn't get into a particular private later on, then that school is likely not a good fit for the child. My child attends public in DC for elementary and will attend private for middle school. I haven't heard back yet about which one, but even if none accept him, I am not frightened. If no one will take my awesome kid, then really I should look into starting a new private school as there must be an unfilled market for good students and parents willing to pay $$$! But that is a big "if". I haven't heard of a parent feeling like their kid wasn't able to find something great for their child. Although I suppose it would be (needlessly) embarrassing to to admit it.