Why did you choose private school over the local public school?

[Anonymous]

Can you name the school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can you name the school?

Google caterina earle Bethesda magazine (not the PP)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:private pros:
recess every day (vs. once a week)
music and art part of the curriculum

aren't these things true at public schools??

They are true in MCPS.

Not true in MCPS. Rosemary Hills zoned family here. PE once a week K-2. And we were told this was county-wide.

At MCPS, PE and all other specials are once a week and ranges from 25-40min depending on how overcrowded they are. And they NEVER EVER EVER take them outside for PE. That was a huge pet peeve of mine when my child went to public. At private, some teachers take the kids outside for their classes if they day is nice. My DD had a math teacher that took them out for Four Square Math problems. She loved that. PE is almost 100% outside at our private. And lower school gets 2 recesses a day for 20-25min each. They also have a garden they work on in science. For my child moving around, fresh air, learning all work together. Sitting in a chair with 30 other kids ALL day long in public, did not. If it rained in public, they watched a show. Mindless. No movement, no creativity. Sucked.

[Anonymous]

At our private, breakfast, snack and lunch are included and are very tasty. Nothing like public school slop.

Not having to make breakfast or pack lunch everyday is priceless. Very appreciative of that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At our private, breakfast, snack and lunch are included and are very tasty. Nothing like public school slop.

Not having to make breakfast or pack lunch everyday is priceless. Very appreciative of that.

I think you could go public and subscribe your kids to this, and you'd still be ahead.

[img]I think you could go public and subscribe your kids to this, and you'd still be ahead.

[Anonymous]

This

http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/double-r-ranch-three-months-of-steak-hol-14/?pkey=e%7Cthree%2Bmonths%2Bsteak%7C1%7Cbest%7C0%7C1%7C24%7C%7C1&cm_src=PRODUCTSEARCH||NoFacet-_-NoFacet-_-NoMerchRules

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

At MCPS, PE and all other specials are once a week and ranges from 25-40min depending on how overcrowded they are. And they NEVER EVER EVER take them outside for PE. That was a huge pet peeve of mine when my child went to public. At private, some teachers take the kids outside for their classes if they day is nice. My DD had a math teacher that took them out for Four Square Math problems. She loved that. PE is almost 100% outside at our private. And lower school gets 2 recesses a day for 20-25min each. They also have a garden they work on in science. For my child moving around, fresh air, learning all work together. Sitting in a chair with 30 other kids ALL day long in public, did not. If it rained in public, they watched a show. Mindless. No movement, no creativity. Sucked.

Are you kidding? My MCPS kid went outside every day, unless it was raining or freezing. You can't make generalizations about MCPS like that.

Also, I know several MCPS schools that have gardens, and that's just the public schools I know.

Also, you make no sense. If your MCPS public supposedly *always* had PE inside, then why did you write that they sit "ALL day long" (your caps)? And if PE is allegedly "always" indoors, why are you claiming that they switched it up with a movie when it was raining *outside*, as if the weather outdoors actually mattered for this mythical indoor PE?

Go away, troll.

Signed, parent of kids who went to public and private elementary schools. I could complain about PE at the publics (not enough supervision, for example, or replaced with useless rallies), but you just can't claim they "NEVER EVER EVER" go outside.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At our private, breakfast, snack and lunch are included and are very tasty. Nothing like public school slop.

Not having to make breakfast or pack lunch everyday is priceless. Very appreciative of that.

Now I was excited when my DC moved from private with no lunch to public with lunch and I didn't have to pack a lunch anymore. I didn't care what he was eating as long as I didn't have to make it.

GDS does not have lunch, and pretty soon the high schoolers wont even be able to go to Safeway. Field has a crazy lunch system where parents have to provide lunch for the whole school a couple times a year. Several of the K-8s have no lunch programs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cons - Cost

Pros - everything else

You beat me to it!

We looked very closely at our MoCo public since cost is definitely a consideration for us. Hands down, the privates we considered beat the public in every single aspect- better curriculum, better facilities, more recess, more PE, more art, music and drama, better differentiation and ability to teach to the individual child, better teachers (from what I've heard, there are some awesome and some not-so-great teachers at our public- the teachers at our private are across-the-board incredible), greater emphasis on character development, greater emphasis on reading/writing/public speaking, better lunch offerings, not only smaller classes, but smaller overall school so that kids are all known by the Headmasters, most of the teachers and most other families of the school. Having attended both a "top" public and a private school myself eons, ago, I admit I'm biased. While in many situations, one can obtain a comparable education, the overall experience at a private is generally far superior than the overall experience at a public.

I find it hard to believe that there are no average/just OK teachers in private schools and only public schools can have a mix of awesome & not-so-great teachers. Certainly private schools can offer a lot of advantages but it is certainly possible to run into a not-incredible teacher in ANY school. In fact, my friend whose kids are at a private school was just complaining to me this a.m. about the awful science teacher she's dealing with this year (DD in 6th grade).

I've always wondered how privates can have more of everything, yet still do the basics with math and writing--and ostensibly better than the publics. Where is the time for all this? Especially when you add in current events like Nelson Mandela dying. Private school isn't a longer day.

BTW, I get it when people say they want smaller classes, you have gobs of money, or a kid who needs special attention.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cons - Cost

Pros - everything else

You beat me to it!

We looked very closely at our MoCo public since cost is definitely a consideration for us. Hands down, the privates we considered beat the public in every single aspect- better curriculum, better facilities, more recess, more PE, more art, music and drama, better differentiation and ability to teach to the individual child, better teachers (from what I've heard, there are some awesome and some not-so-great teachers at our public- the teachers at our private are across-the-board incredible), greater emphasis on character development, greater emphasis on reading/writing/public speaking, better lunch offerings, not only smaller classes, but smaller overall school so that kids are all known by the Headmasters, most of the teachers and most other families of the school. Having attended both a "top" public and a private school myself eons, ago, I admit I'm biased. While in many situations, one can obtain a comparable education, the overall experience at a private is generally far superior than the overall experience at a public.

I find it hard to believe that there are no average/just OK teachers in private schools and only public schools can have a mix of awesome & not-so-great teachers. Certainly private schools can offer a lot of advantages but it is certainly possible to run into a not-incredible teacher in ANY school. In fact, my friend whose kids are at a private school was just complaining to me this a.m. about the awful science teacher she's dealing with this year (DD in 6th grade).

I've always wondered how privates can have more of everything, yet still do the basics with math and writing--and ostensibly better than the publics. Where is the time for all this? Especially when you add in current events like Nelson Mandela dying. Private school isn't a longer day.

BTW, I get it when people say they want smaller classes, you have gobs of money, or a kid who needs special attention.

They don't devote weeks to test prep, announcements about test prep, and testing. Frees up tons of time. More homogeneous groupings (ability, effort, behavior) = get more done, faster. My DC had to repeat a year of MCPS "IM / pre algebra) in private instead of taking algebra in 8th grade, but says they move through the work much more quickly. AND when the kids spell words wrong in the word problems, the teacher addressed the issue. In fact, the math teacher not only taught them how to spell Wednesday but taught them the meanings / Latin derivations for each day of the week! Thank you, Mrs. Sparling!

[Anonymous]

I can't believe people pay $30K to $40K for lunch when most kids probably toss half the lunch.

[Anonymous]

I'll echo what many have said---switching from DCPS to private was an individual choice based on our kids, not a writ large judgment of public schools or DCPS.

The big "pro" of private for us was size, e.g., class size, teacher-student ratio, size of community. I don't doubt that Deal and Wilson are great schools, but they are also absolutely massive. We thought a smaller school was not only better for our kids, but better for us.

The "con" associated with DCPS was looking down the road to middle school, high school, and college, and our desire to minimize risk and uncertainty.

In other words, we roughly concluded that: ($300k spent + high odds of having quality HS options) > ($300k saved + low odds of having quality HS options). Was that the right decision? We still think so, but who knows. All you can do is make the best decision you can with the information you have at the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

They don't devote weeks to test prep, announcements about test prep, and testing. Frees up tons of time. More homogeneous groupings (ability, effort, behavior) = get more done, faster. My DC had to repeat a year of MCPS "IM / pre algebra) in private instead of taking algebra in 8th grade, but says they move through the work much more quickly. AND when the kids spell words wrong in the word problems, the teacher addressed the issue. In fact, the math teacher not only taught them how to spell Wednesday but taught them the meanings / Latin derivations for each day of the week! Thank you, Mrs. Sparling!

My kids' public schools (MCPS elementary and middle) don't either.

By the way, I'm very interested in the Latin derivations of Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Could you explain, please?

[Anonymous]

Our big 3 never has PE outside! My DC hates it

[Anonymous]

This tread is of course! So let's keep it going. Better question to all the public school parents on this tread say why you choose public minus the cost? Seems like private school parents always have to defend their choice.