If you live in NOVA and send your kids to private why?
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Anonymous
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Private Catholic HS. (public K-8)
Class size, terribly woke public MS (and I am a democrat), values/community service/giving back, RIGOR, rigor, more well-rounded core curriculum (really came out excellent writers!) with just as rigorous math/science (organic chem!). Peer group. Families were all invested in their kids being their and the kids were invested in being there too. Development of the 'whole' individual. Single sex education. My kids grew in so many ways and went into HS as blah writers and came out where my firstborn was getting rave reviews at a T10 on his first college papers. Very well-prepared. Got into multiple T10/20s unhooked and we didn't do anything extra (no tutors, private counselors, etc) and that wasn't even on our radar in 8th grade (not a reason for choosing private). We wanted a good, solid foundation w/ good values and outlook (giving back to others). No guns/knifes at school, no drugs/overdoses, no tolerance for bad behavior (our public HS in a wealthy area had a problem w. all of that). |
Anonymous
Your response is making me feel hopeful! We recently decided to switch to Catholic K-8 after a couple of years in public elementary and I just don’t know if it’s the right move. I’m really hoping for a good curriculum with writing, spelling, grammar, and leveled math, as well as good values and consequences for behavior. Our public is supposed to be excellent and virtually everybody attends, and the Catholic may have slightly larger class sizes and doesn’t draw from our neighborhood at all, so I feel conflicted. |
Anonymous
| Did anyone do private/ parochial and switch to public in 6th or 9th? It seems like most people do the opposite, but private high school is so much more expensive than elementary! And our public Hs has lots of APs, advanced classes, sports, and activities such as orchestra and debate. I just don’t know about the school culture. |
Anonymous
Writing. My step kids attended Yorktown HS and hardly ever had graded writing assignments 9th - 12th. |
Anonymous
This response truly demonstrates a lack of critical thinking skills. |
Anonymous
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There was a thread with this exact question recently and a lot of responses. We are in Langley pyramid. Our kids have never been in public so this is all hearsay but we chose private because:
Smaller class sizes More responsive teachers and administration Fewer screens No "teaching to the test" And it turns out older DC is 2E (with no behavior problems but academic strengths and challenges) -- private is much better able to support that, but we didn't know that when we started. |
Anonymous
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We switched one to private in 2021 because it was 100% open for in-person learning when the local public schools were still virtual. This particular kid struggled so much at the end of the 2020-2021 school year when they switched to virtual school when the "2 weeks to flatten the curve" didn't work out. I knew if we kept him in the virtual public school for another year, he'd get so far behind that he might not graduate on schedule.
We offered to let him switch back once schools opened for in-person fulltime, but he chose to stay. He graduated from the private last June and is finishing up his first year of college in a few days. |
Anonymous
Which school district? |
Anonymous
This is very teacher specific. My son learned to write well at a Catholic elementary but when he arrived at Arlington public middle school (Swanson), his English grades dropped as his teachers really nitpicked everything he wrote, as they should. Same situation now at Yorktown. He scored lower than I'd expect even when I proofed or reviewed his assignments (and I consider myself a good writer). 
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Anonymous
Wow |
Anonymous
Never assume comments like PP's are real (they might be, but there are so many trolls/teens). |
Anonymous
| Anyone who said "woke" I'm glad you're not at my kid's school. I specifically am calling out "woke" because you clearly are being brainwashed and can't think clearly for yourself. |
Anonymous
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Dreadful quality of public schools. I’m a product of public schools, and I was shocked and horrified by how much education quality had deteriorated.
Am now paying $55K+ a year per kid so they can get the same level of education I got. |
Anonymous
We're at a cheaper religious school, but DH makes a comment like this all the time. We have to pay for what was normal in the 80s/90s. |
Anonymous
| All these things you can find in good public school districts. |