In retrospect would you have spent so much for elemntary education?

[Anonymous]

I would also like to add that if you have multiple children private school can get very expensive in which case you may have to pick and choose which one would benefit more from a private school education and which will do just fine at public school.

This was the case with my kids. My daughters are doing very well going from private to public, my son however may need private til 12th grade unless he matures and becomes a bit more independent. He is only in 1st grade so time will tell.

[Anonymous]

It depends on your finances. We scrimped to send all three to private elementary (top tier) and I don't think it was worth it. If money isn't a factor then I would do it. I regret it. They are now in public and I wish I had saved the money and sent them to private in HS, although Our public is pretty good (MCPS).

[Anonymous]

Our child loved his time at elementary private ... he went K thru 5. He is now doing well at public middle and unless something dramatic changes, we plan to continue with public high school. The money for private was extremely high, and in retrospect, I think we mostly purchased a nice experience for him rather than better academics. The campus was nicer, the small community was nurturing and cozy, the specials and field trips were nicer, and so on. But the actual learning was fine but not anything he wouldn't have gotten at the neighborhood school. So we are pleased that he had such a nice experience that he will look back on fondly, but if I knew then what I know now, I probably would not have paid over $130,000 for it.

It very much depends on what your alternative would have been, of course.

[Anonymous]

You need to look at what each has to offer and see which fits with your child's needs. For some, public school makes sense. For others it doesn't. We're still in school but when ours was about to enter elementary school, we looked closely at our local MCPS, which everyone we spoke with loved, and some of the private options. The closer we looked at MCPS the less we liked for our child's needs. We are now in a private that we like very much.

Another way to look at this is after reviewing your options, ask yourself, if money were not an issue (granted that's a big if), where would you send your kids.

[Anonymous]

Yes. My husband and I are very conservative and are on the lower end of income for private school parents low to mid 200's. I have one kid who is finishing 5th and another that's in K.

It was totally worth it. Every single one of my daughter's friends comes from a very good and caring family and I think it is so important as they are so impressionable at that age. I'm not sure if my daughter would have fallen into the right crowd in public school. When she is around model students, she is a model student and there are fewer model students in public schools statistically speaking.

My daughter is also involved in an outside activity where she is the only private school kid and while the parents are nice, she acts out when she is around these kids. I'm not sure the dynamics of why- but there is a huge difference in the way she acts.

I also think she's getting a better education because she wants to perform like her friends. Since she is highly influenced by other people, my daughter is much better off in private.

My son who is younger would probably have done fine in public school. However, he wrote a short essay about who he would like to be like and he wrote about the pope. We aren't very religious but the paper melted my heart and it was beautifully written for someone his age so I think his school helping him develop fully into a very good human being.

We might not drive fancy cars or have a fancy house- but I'll do anything to provide my kids with a good environment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes. My husband and I are very conservative and are on the lower end of income for private school parents low to mid 200's. I have one kid who is finishing 5th and another that's in K.

It was totally worth it. Every single one of my daughter's friends comes from a very good and caring family and I think it is so important as they are so impressionable at that age. I'm not sure if my daughter would have fallen into the right crowd in public school. When she is around model students, she is a model student and there are fewer model students in public schools statistically speaking.

My daughter is also involved in an outside activity where she is the only private school kid and while the parents are nice, she acts out when she is around these kids. I'm not sure the dynamics of why- but there is a huge difference in the way she acts.

I also think she's getting a better education because she wants to perform like her friends. Since she is highly influenced by other people, my daughter is much better off in private.

My son who is younger would probably have done fine in public school. However, he wrote a short essay about who he would like to be like and he wrote about the pope. We aren't very religious but the paper melted my heart and it was beautifully written for someone his age so I think his school helping him develop fully into a very good human being.

We might not drive fancy cars or have a fancy house- but I'll do anything to provide my kids with a good environment.

Troll post, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, we've had kids in public and private schools in this area. While there were differences, these were not stark. The best outcome is public immersion, but that can be difficult to swing depending on where you live.

Another question to ask yourself is, how does your public option stack up against the private school your child can actually get into. Not, how does public stack up against your ideal private school.

However, if you are zoned for a bad public school, or if your child has special needs, private can make great sense.

This is an important point. DH wanted to send our rising first grader to private even thought he is in a highly rated public school. We applied to five and got accepted to one and waitlisted for another. In the end we decided to send DC back to public. I'm not sure why DC didn't get accepted at more schools. It's somewhat of a mystery how these folks made their decisions. Honestly DC scored a low average on the intelligence test. Maybe that was it. I did think that the whole admissions process was a major pain involving applications, fees, the intelligence scale test ($400), play dates, and parent interviews. Going through all that and getting the result we did was a little disappointing. A positive outcome was that I became much more involved in DC's school and developed a closer dialogue with DC's teacher. I am more confident now at least in this point of time that DC is where DC needs to be in public.

We won't rule out private in the future, but it would take a lot to get me to go through all of that again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:While my child is developing socially, emotionally, and academically? ABSOLUTELY. Smaller classes, differentiated curriculum, constant communication...worth every penny when they are young.

This. Should a serious issue arise, I am worried about dealing with the bureaucracy of a public school system with overcrowded schools. In the end, how well will my child be known by principal and teachers in an overcrowded school? I wonder, to what extent can my child have a personalized learning experience in a large (700+ students) K-5 public school.

[Anonymous]

The problem is OP that the vast majority of people simply cannot afford private school even if they wanted to. So, it's really a shame that so many great kids will just blend into the wood work at a larger, overcrowded school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our child loved his time at elementary private ... he went K thru 5. He is now doing well at public middle and unless something dramatic changes, we plan to continue with public high school. The money for private was extremely high, and in retrospect, I think we mostly purchased a nice experience for him rather than better academics. The campus was nicer, the small community was nurturing and cozy, the specials and field trips were nicer, and so on. But the actual learning was fine but not anything he wouldn't have gotten at the neighborhood school. So we are pleased that he had such a nice experience that he will look back on fondly, but if I knew then what I know now, I probably would not have paid over $130,000 for it.

It very much depends on what your alternative would have been, of course.

THIS exactly. however I would have still paid the money for the experience but only if you can comfortably afford to do so. In my experience the private school academics are nothing spectacular nothing you can't get from a public school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes. My husband and I are very conservative and are on the lower end of income for private school parents low to mid 200's. I have one kid who is finishing 5th and another that's in K.

It was totally worth it. Every single one of my daughter's friends comes from a very good and caring family and I think it is so important as they are so impressionable at that age. I'm not sure if my daughter would have fallen into the right crowd in public school. When she is around model students, she is a model student and there are fewer model students in public schools statistically speaking.

My daughter is also involved in an outside activity where she is the only private school kid and while the parents are nice, she acts out when she is around these kids. I'm not sure the dynamics of why- but there is a huge difference in the way she acts.

I also think she's getting a better education because she wants to perform like her friends. Since she is highly influenced by other people, my daughter is much better off in private.

My son who is younger would probably have done fine in public school. However, he wrote a short essay about who he would like to be like and he wrote about the pope. We aren't very religious but the paper melted my heart and it was beautifully written for someone his age so I think his school helping him develop fully into a very good human being.

We might not drive fancy cars or have a fancy house- but I'll do anything to provide my kids with a good environment.

Troll post, right?

Pounce-worthy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:While my child is developing socially, emotionally, and academically? ABSOLUTELY. Smaller classes, differentiated curriculum, constant communication...worth every penny when they are young.

+1

You are naive if you think public schools don't offer the same. My DD's class for PreK3 was 13 kids with 2 FT teachers in the class. We are in private now and there are 22 kids in her class with 1 teacher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:While my child is developing socially, emotionally, and academically? ABSOLUTELY. Smaller classes, differentiated curriculum, constant communication...worth every penny when they are young.

+1

You are naive if you think public schools don't offer the same. My DD's class for PreK3 was 13 kids with 2 FT teachers in the class. We are in private now and there are 22 kids in her class with 1 teacher.

Check your numbers for actual grades...1st and up. Atrocious in public. Shameful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes. My husband and I are very conservative and are on the lower end of income for private school parents low to mid 200's. I have one kid who is finishing 5th and another that's in K.

It was totally worth it. Every single one of my daughter's friends comes from a very good and caring family and I think it is so important as they are so impressionable at that age. I'm not sure if my daughter would have fallen into the right crowd in public school. When she is around model students, she is a model student and there are fewer model students in public schools statistically speaking.

My daughter is also involved in an outside activity where she is the only private school kid and while the parents are nice, she acts out when she is around these kids. I'm not sure the dynamics of why- but there is a huge difference in the way she acts.

I also think she's getting a better education because she wants to perform like her friends. Since she is highly influenced by other people, my daughter is much better off in private.

My son who is younger would probably have done fine in public school. However, he wrote a short essay about who he would like to be like and he wrote about the pope. We aren't very religious but the paper melted my heart and it was beautifully written for someone his age so I think his school helping him develop fully into a very good human being.

We might not drive fancy cars or have a fancy house- but I'll do anything to provide my kids with a good environment.

Troll post, right?

Pounce-worthy.

If this is a troll, it is a troll who knows my thoughts. It is tight for us too, but worth every cent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No doubt that the schools in McLean are good. My only concern was the large class sizes and my children not having one on one attention in their early years. I strongly believe it is important for a child to be in a nurturing environment and I never saw that in public schools. I am also a strong believer in having a solid foundation in the early elementary years. With 30+ kids in public schools this makes it impossible. These were my reasons for sending my kinds to private schools from k-3. Now that they are in public schools. I look back and I have no regrets at all. It was worth every penny.

If you can afford to send your kids to private in the early years, do it. It is a wonderful investment in your child's education. With that said, if you can not afford it, the public schools here in fairfax county is a good alternative. Just give them at home what they may not be getting at the public school.

I have never seen a public elementary school in NOVA with over 30 or even 30 students in the classroom.