Reply to If you left APS for private…

Forum Index » VA Public Schools other than FCPS

Reply to "If you left APS for private…"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We left in early elementary school because of Covid. Our kids could not learn to read online. Even though they were passing all the benchmarks, they really could only recognize their letters a little better than others in their classes.

We went to a Catholic school and they immediately started learning more. The Catholic school was actually in hybrid mode when we switched, but went back full-time before APS even went back in hybrid. Honestly, it wasn’t great until we went back full-time, and our kids were behind. Our DD is a quick learner and picked everything up well. Our DS, although never quite struggling enough to get a dyslexia diagnosis, definitely learned to read differently and really struggled. Their patient reading specialist stuck with him, and we had him keep reading whatever he liked, and his reading skills soared between 3rd and 4th grade. Now in 4th grade at the Catholic school, his reading scores are testing much higher than grade level. Their class is reading their second novel together in 4th grade. I give a lot of credit to the school, but I also think things just didn’t click for him until a little later. We were lucky that the school was really helpful with keeping at it, and it never became a situation where he hated reading.

We had always planned on APS, but we are happy at the Catholic school. (I grew up Catholic and we are happy to celebrate Catholic traditions at this very liberal DC Catholic school.) Our kids have also made great friends and we have a great community there. We don’t necessarily think the education is better at their Catholic school; we just think we found a school that has worked well for our kids and family. We will consider W-L, Bishop O Connell, Visitation and Gonzaga for HS. Nowhere in Maryland - it’s just too far for us. We could technically afford much higher tuition at independent privates, but think that is insane, and would rather use our money in other ways.

The only downside is we would love to attend our walkable neighborhood school and know more neighborhood kids and families. My kids are decent athletes and play Arlington sports, so they have met kids that way, and we are jealous of all of their connections in Arlington and the ease with which they can get together with friends. [/quote] COVID closures and the year and a half after schools reopened were a real low point for APS.  It wasn't good.  But things have gotten a lot better.  This really is the first year where I haven't felt a significant covid-hangover for my APS kids.  Teachers seem back to normal and kids are chugging along.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics