Advice on Good Fit Private for K with Good Amount of Outdoor and Play

[Anonymous]

Sheridan!! My DS loves the school, loves Mountain Campus, loves to learn thanks to the environment they create. It’s wonderful!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm the River School PP. Certainly not admin, just a parent that feels we've gotten our money's worth. The school's not perfect, but teachers and administration have been very responsive throughout our time there.

I'm only aware of one child in my LO's class who has a tutor, and that child has clearly had learning challenges from the start.

My LO has some especially bright classmates who are doing outside above-grade-level math, but I'm not aware of any other tutoring. I can't imagine why any child who is even the slightest bit bright would need tutoring in elementary school, to be honest.

Like PP 08:14, I've been impressed by the creativity of the teachers and the way they're able to adapt to the interests of the children. I think that adaptability fades somewhat with the elementary but they're surprisingly flexible.

It really depends on the teachers and the cohort. The preschool program at River is wonderful with truly excellent teachers, but the elementary program was a mixed and overall disappointing experience. Perhaps it is because they tried to expand too quickly and took in too many kids with behavioral issues, but the teachers seemed overwhelmed and at least my DC was not sufficiently challenged. There are much stronger programs out there for elementary.

[Anonymous]

We loved Norwood - both of my children have now graduated, but it’s a solid school with wonderful families and staff. The new lower school head is fantastic. We often referred to it as “a hug on a hill.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We loved Norwood - both of my children have now graduated, but it’s a solid school with wonderful families and staff. The new lower school head is fantastic. We often referred to it as “a hug on a hill.”

Great to hear!

[Anonymous]

My experience with academic differentiation at River is that it is incredibly teacher-specific. My neuropsych-confirmed-gifted LO had a year in the elementary program where they really were not being academically challenged despite clear efforts to accommodate them, but other years have been variably better, so YMMV.

FWIW, we looked at other elementaries and they didn't really offer more differentiation, unfortunately.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In that neighborhood you should absolutely consider WES. You would have lots of neighbors at school, your commute would be easy, and WES is a great community.

You're right - it's super close and I am sure an excellent school. I am sure there are kids of numerous faiths there but since we are secular and Hindu have been mostly targeting secular schools for now, though I myself grew up in Catholic and Episcopal schools and found them to be very welcoming and progressive (the ones I went to, anyway).

As is typical of Episcopalian schools, WES is indeed very inclusive. It is also incredibly international and has a not insignificant population that come from Hindu backgrounds.

This is good to know! I may check it out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look at NPS. Nice community, lots of outdoor time and a brand new playground opening this Fall.

They have a new playground (that they over fundraised for or way overpaid for) and terrible academics. NPS is a joke of a school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Absolutely look at Green Acres. Smaller school with tons of outdoor and play time. It's progressive-based learning and it's wonderful.

Completely agree! The kids spend lots of time outdoors, not just playing but learning. My son attended their middle school but I volunteered on campus and was able to observe the youngest students and teachers and was blown away. I regretted that we didn’t discover the school earlier.

[Anonymous]

One caution on the parent community of these smaller private schools: There can be a lot of variability from cohort to cohort, or even class to class within the cohort.

In my child's private (which has been mentioned several times in this thread), the parent community as a whole seems pretty down to earth and welcoming. But, for example, we had a year in which the families in my child's class seemed really status-obsessed. The room mom that year was an extremely wealthy SAHM who was very involved in volunteering and thus had quite a bit of influence over class parties and special activities, as well as mom activities that seemed exceptionally clique-y. The kids had numerous conversations in the classroom in which they bragged a lot (and, I suspect, lied a lot) about how wealthy their families were. By contrast, there was another year where there were numerous students in my child's class with parents who clearly were less wealthy, and an Army mom tried hard to make sure that activities were inclusive of families that could not afford to casually drop a bunch of money on them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid is at the River School, and while the playgrounds are relatively small (responding to PP 8/28 19:29), the younger kids' playground is sufficiently covered and that they usually use it rain or shine. They spend plenty of time outdoors, especially since they don't only go outdoors for playground times.

River has a lot of the things that you want, OP, although the facilities aren't luxurious. They do zero standardized testing (though they administer the WRAT every couple of years for benchmarking where a kid is at, it's done one-on-one with each kid) It's screen-free until 4th grade where they start to teach keyboarding skills and typed papers, and even then, they don't depend on screens for any instruction.

Classes cap at 14 kids, and there are a minimum of two teachers per class (both with master's degrees) and there's often also a teaching assistant and.or an intern, as well. Kids get a lot of individual attention as a result. Classrooms are busy with activity, but they aren't chaotic, and the teachers do a very good job of classroom management.

The way subjects are taught at River is often very creative. The preschool is wonderful, with play-based learning rooted in dramatic play. That goes away bit by bit in the elementary school, but since the curriculum is progressive there's still a lot of fun hands-on projects built into the day. They do a great job of disguising the "learning" part in the activities that the kids participate in.

The commute from Bethesda to the Palisades (where River is located) is relatively easy, though it does depend on where in Bethesda you live -- some parts of Bethesda border the Palisades.

The preschool program is excellent, the elementary program is not, unless you are ok supplementing with math, reading, and writing tutors.

Our child just finished the River School elementary program and the math placement test at our child’s next school placed our child over a grade level ahead. Our child also reads at an advanced level. The innovation and art program in upper elementary was also unparalleled. The school follows the interests of the kids. At one point the kids got into trying to figure out odds of a raffle and were taught summation and probability. Our child has never had outside tutors or Russian math.

The school will not force an uninterested student to be a top student. However, the school does provide ample opportunity for children to learn at individually differentiated paces. The school also tries to foster a natural love of learning and follows the children’s interests. Teachers have made up lesson plans around everything from glitter to world travel. Ours took an interest in CAD design and was supported. Bright, curious kids do well there.

With all due respect, "bright, curious kids" will do well anywhere.

[Anonymous]

We had a child in Norwood till 3rd grade, we liked the teachers and school. Its more on the conservative side wrt to parents. We are liberal, and did not fit well, hence the change in 4th.

Anonymous wrote:Great advice! What do you think what type of community is in Norwood?

Anonymous wrote:I say this with kindness OP, since you appear to be a new parent: all independent K-3s in MoCo and NWDC near you will offer a whole lot of outdoor play and creative, hands-on, project-based learning. All of them. Every single one. Concord, Primary Day, Green Acres, Sheridan, Lowell, Beauvoir, GDS, Sidwell, Sandy Spring Friends, Bullis, St. Pat's, Norwood, NPS, Maret, and Washington Waldorf.

I would instead narrow my search using the filters of short commute and good fit with the parent community. There some _very_ significant differences among the parent cultures at these schools. Which, when kids are little, has a lot of impact on their social lives and your general hapiness as a family. Unfortunately, parent :: parent relationships have more impact on things like playdates, parties and pee wee sports teams and activities than they probably should, from the child's POV

You didn't mention parochial / parish schools as an option, but the few of these I know don't present the same level of free play nor outdoor time as the ones I listed (Blessed Sacrament and Holy Trinity in case you're curious)

[Anonymous]

100% Green Acres. The school is exactly what you describe you're looking for. We chose it over Norwood (no criticism of Norwood, we just chose Green Acres) and so happy we did.