Why did you go private?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Less kids in the classroom. More teachers in the classroom. A more structured education. Recess daily, PE daily.

You mean fewer.

I had no idea that I could not post without my language being picked apart. I meant LESS. You may mean fewer. I still meant LESS.


FYI- http://oxforddictionaries.com/words/less-or-fewer

Who cares. You know what the poster meant. In these days of texts without capitalization/punctuation and spelling short-cuts it's a new world out there. This kind of minutiae in this medium is as outdates as white gloves, hats and "hose". You date yourself poster, or you need to get a job, some volunteer work or some counseling.

So my iPhone changes the grammatically correct "fewer" to the improper "less" just the way it incorrectly autocorrects sometimes? You're right, I didn't know that.

[Anonymous]

Re "less" v. "fewer": yes, we know what the poster meant when she incorrectly used "less", rather than "fewer", but that doesn't make it right.

[Anonymous]

I'm not that poster...but seriously...get a life...who cares...anyone who can read knew what she meant.

[Anonymous]

To the teacher (my quote is challenging on the iPad)

Can you give these services to kids without IEP's?

1:1 - pull out of the class, etc

What if the kid does not qualify for an IEP?

Do you feel most teachers are able to do this or it is hit or miss.

Do you do a modification for students that don't have IEP's?

My son did not qualify to be pulled out otrek have an IEP his reading in 2nd grade was that of a beginning Kindergardener (reading out loud fluency and Accuracy) but he answered the comprehension questions at the level of a 5th grader, which apparently - I guess when averaged is on grade level.

Do you think you would need 2 hours for reading/writing/etc you had 12 kids in the classroom half of which are reading 3+ grade levels above their grade level.

[Anonymous]

I have a child reading way above grade level. I don't think that means that she needs less reading/writing time. My sisters kids attend private school and yes they do get 1:1 pull out BUT only at the parents extra expense. It is great to hear that some private school accommodate special needs rather than counsel out or require extra fees to remain.

[Anonymous]

I am really not sure what this has to do with my original response, but I'll try. My responses are in bold below.

Before I begin, I'll say again, because I think it's getting overlooked that I do think that there are very valid reasons for families to choose private school. I'm not claiming that you didn't have good reasons for choosing private. I'm not saying that your particular public school wasn't lousy. There are good and bad public schools just like there are good and bad private schools.

I made a specific response to a specific poster who was making broad generalizations about public schools that were inaccurate.

Anonymous wrote:To the teacher (my quote is challenging on the iPad)

Can you give these services to kids without IEP's?

1:1 - pull out of the class, etc

What if the kid does not qualify for an IEP?

Some of them, not others. Kids without IEPs at my school can be placed in co-taught classrooms, where there is a special educator involved in planning, and reteaching. They can get small group push and pull out groups under our Response to Intervention program. These services are likely to be a little more standardized, e.g. chosen from a list of 2 or 3 research based reading programs. They are unlikely to get 1:1 instruction.

Do you feel most teachers are able to do this or it is hit or miss.

I think that there are skilled and less skilled teachers in both public and private. Both can be hit or miss.

Do you do a modification for students that don't have IEP's?

Yes, current best practices in special education, require schools to provide services and modifications before a child is referred for special education, in order to assess their response to intervention. Does every school do this? No, they don't. But then again, not every private schools has Orton-Gillingham trained specialists either.

My son did not qualify to be pulled out otrek have an IEP his reading in 2nd grade was that of a beginning Kindergardener (reading out loud fluency and Accuracy) but he answered the comprehension questions at the level of a 5th grader, which apparently - I guess when averaged is on grade level.

This makes no sense. How could he comprehend a text he couldn't read? A child reading on a beginning Kindergarten level, is reading scintillating texts that say things like "A lion" (next page) "A tiger" (next page) "A Kangaroo", it's pretty impossible to apply fifth grade level comprehension skills such as inferring character motivation to a text like this.

On the other hand, if he answered comprehension questions on a test designed for children to read themselves, but instead had the test read to him, then there's no validity in that. Most young children understood texts that are far more challenging than what they can read until at least 5th or 6th grade. This wouldn't be a valid test, and so scores wouldn't be averaged.

If he answered questions on a test designed to test listening comprehension, then those scores wouldn't be combined with reading scores, since they are two different domains.

It sounds like you are either misinterpreting/misrepresenting his scores, or you had a really bad evaluator, or both. Bad evaluators definitely happen, whether in public or private settings. Again, I'm not defending your particular school, just asking that public schools not be painted with a broad brush.


Do you think you would need 2 hours for reading/writing/etc you had 12 kids in the classroom half of which are reading 3+ grade levels above their grade level.

I am confused by this question. Did you move your nonreading second grader into a program like this? I'd be pleasantly surprised to find out that a teacher with strong Orton-Gillingham skills would be working in such as setting. I'd also wonder how well a child would be served in a program where the average student was 5 years above them.

To answer your question though, I think that even with small group sizes, and advanced students, children benefit from longer reading times than was in the proposed schedule I replied to. However, I also think that that time should be divided up differently.

Kids who are advanced readers, where they are 2nd graders reading on a 5th grade level, or 5th grade level, benefit from time, time to go deep into reading and writing, to explore ideas, and make connections. They benefit from longer periods of time for reading and writing to allow themselves to immerse themselves in ideas, and then to represent those ideas for others. A good reading program for kids like this includes blocks of time for kids to read independently, and then blocks of time for them to reflect, whether in a book discussion, or in writing. A good writing program includes time to work on a single piece, researching, drafting, adding details, organizing and reorganizing ideas, editing and polishing. All that takes time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: I want my kids to learn to love learning. I don't want them to go to an Ivy or other crazy notions that are immagined about why I send my kids to a private school.

I just don't want my kids to hate school.

What do you think parents of children in public school want? And why don't you think what you describe is possible there? I only ask because I want to be sure people investigate their own specific local school to decide whether it offers these things, rather than assume all public schools are alike.

I did investigate our specific local school, quite extensively. Unfortunately, it didn't offer the things we want. No foreign language in elementary. Art, music and PE all 1 time a week, 20 minute lunch, 1 30 minute recess. It doesn't really seem to allow kids the opportunity to just be kids. 28 kids per class with 1 teacher. The teaching style was more worksheet/lecture, not much interactive, hands-on learning. That's not the type of environment my kid will be excited about every day. And he's a hand-on type of learner, he won't get as much from the type of instruction offered in public. We would have loved to send our kids to public, but in the end, we felt it wasn't a good option for them and absolutely feel that private is worth every penny.

You and I totally agree here. Do you mind me asking where your dc attends? We are at St. Andrew's.

[Anonymous]

To the teacher: yes and I stated before this is not a public vs private issue it is my school vs the rest for my kid and if I could choose your school he may have more success and my biggest problem with public is the lack of choice.

To clarify - when my son reads silently he is reading at a 5 th grade level but out loud Kindergarden level.

He knows what "tree" means when he reads it silently but he may say "tee" or "three" or "there" aloud.

I know - bizarre.

I say the wrong word all the time but I know what I meant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To the teacher: yes and I stated before this is not a public vs private issue it is my school vs the rest for my kid and if I could choose your school he may have more success and my biggest problem with public is the lack of choice.

To clarify - when my son reads silently he is reading at a 5 th grade level but out loud Kindergarden level.

He knows what "tree" means when he reads it silently but he may say "tee" or "three" or "there" aloud.

I know - bizarre.

I say the wrong word all the time but I know what I meant.

Teacher again:

Does he have problems with retrieval when he talks and writes, or just when he reads aloud?

[Anonymous]

My kids went to public for K . They were 22 in the class, with one teacher and TA, they both were nice ladies but my kids were not learning much, we decided private for 1st grade. We live in FX County and what its supposed to be one for the best elementary schools but it just didn't work for my kids. We live below our means in order to afford private for 2. They are very happy now. I don't think public schools are a bad option but they not mean for everyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids went to public for K . They were 22 in the class, with one teacher and TA, they both were nice ladies but my kids were not learning much, we decided private for 1st grade. We live in FX County and what its supposed to be one for the best elementary schools but it just didn't work for my kids. We live below our means in order to afford private for 2. They are very happy now. I don't think public schools are a bad option but they not mean for everyone.

unless your kids have special needs what you did makes no sense. Why bother paying the higher housing costs of a good school if you are sending them to private.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids went to public for K . They were 22 in the class, with one teacher and TA, they both were nice ladies but my kids were not learning much, we decided private for 1st grade. We live in FX County and what its supposed to be one for the best elementary schools but it just didn't work for my kids. We live below our means in order to afford private for 2. They are very happy now. I don't think public schools are a bad option but they not mean for everyone.

unless your kids have special needs what you did makes no sense. Why bother paying the higher housing costs of a good school if you are sending them to private.

My kids do not have any special needs, they just do better in a smaller environment. Also, as far as I know if my kids indeed were "special need kids' they would not have been accepted to the school they are attending now. Why bother to pay higher housing? As far as I know, I have the right to live wherever i feel like it.
I was just given the reason why I put my kids to private, why do you bother?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids went to public for K . They were 22 in the class, with one teacher and TA, they both were nice ladies but my kids were not learning much, we decided private for 1st grade. We live in FX County and what its supposed to be one for the best elementary schools but it just didn't work for my kids. We live below our means in order to afford private for 2. They are very happy now. I don't think public schools are a bad option but they not mean for everyone.

unless your kids have special needs what you did makes no sense. Why bother paying the higher housing costs of a good school if you are sending them to private.

What? So if I send my kids to private school I should live in a crappy neighborhood? Ok, thanks for the news.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: I want my kids to learn to love learning. I don't want them to go to an Ivy or other crazy notions that are immagined about why I send my kids to a private school.

I just don't want my kids to hate school.

What do you think parents of children in public school want? And why don't you think what you describe is possible there? I only ask because I want to be sure people investigate their own specific local school to decide whether it offers these things, rather than assume all public schools are alike.

Well, I did investigate my local school. Here is what I learned that stopped me cold: one in three children in our neighborhood school has a family member currently incarcerated. 33% of the children required IEP's and less than 30% were able to read and write at grade level. The play ground is regularly strewn w/used condoms and broken liquor bottles. There was no art on the walls.

This sent me to calling Janey. Murch, and Horace Mann to ask their boundaries. They refused to provide same. Somewhere down the line I got the info and spent every weekend for nearly a year driving through those neighborhoods ( I had drawn the borders on a map) looking for apartment buildings that I could possibly afford.

DC was given numbers 98 and 83 respectively in the Cap City and EL Haines Lotteries. DC did not get in at Janey, HM or Murch as out of bounds. Eventually he was taken off a wait list at a wonderful private school and is very happy there.

That is how I came to " choose private".

I would've moved to Arlington. How were you able to afford private school if you couldn't afford to move?

I did not say that I couldn't afford to move. I said that I tried to find an apartment in DC Ward 3 where the public schools schools are decent ( rather than a house) because the rare 2 bedrm apartments in Ward 3 rent for about 2,000 a month and I could afford that. I could not afford to buy in Ward 3 ( at 1.5- 4 million a house) with 20% down required for a jumbo loan since 2008.

In the end I did not have to move to MOCO or FFX and go public because DC got into private. I worked 60-70 hrs a week to pay 2,000 a month of the 3,000 a month tuition. ( I am a single parent). Not sure why DC was accepted when I could not pay full tuition. Perhaps it was DC's IQ of 145 that opened the door. I am extremely grateful for all the FA DC gets ( 10,000 a year is a lot of aid) to a single parent making 95K a year. I really didn't mind working two jobs and handing over all the money I earned. As far as I'm concerned it is the most important thing I have ever worked for.

[Anonymous]

Let's stay tuned for the next 10 years. The follow-up will be revealing.