Reply to Top private (Sidwell, GDS) versus top public (JKLM) for early years: what are the differences?

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Reply to "Top private (Sidwell, GDS) versus top public (JKLM) for early years: what are the differences? "

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I am the "off the grid" Homeschooling poster, and PP describes it perfectly (although I feel like it's a pretty common term?)

the funny thing is, we're at one of the highly coveted schools EOTP that gets a lot of love, and I think they do their best to insulate the kids from the "pressure cooker" but I'm still feeling it and don't like many aspects of the teacher:student ratio or the access to outdoor time and generally feel like there isn't enough of a sense of fostering what my kids find interesting.  Yes,they all have to learn their ABCs at some point, but my oldest kid in particular is already starting to feel shame and internalizing his inability to be the "noarmalized" learner that teachers love in their classes.

Is there school in DC, private or public alike, that will allow him to follow his interests and allow him ample outdoor time to do the dreaming that this kid needs that doesn't also cost $40K/year and/or mean he's only going to school with incredibly wealthy children and all that implies? [/quote]

Can't tell what grade you're thinking about, so these skew older.

Sandy Spring Friends in  MD might be worth looking at -- logistically impossible for us and, while not 40K, still 30K, so maybe not realistic.  Couldn't get my head around Waldorf, but I've known a couple of kids who were happy at Washington Waldorf in Bethesda.

In DC, one of my friends has a kid who is happy and unstressed at School without Walls.  Another sent three kids through SWW pre-Rhee and their education sounded a lot like mine (and certainly included lots of mad scientist in the basement-type activity!) but that friend warned me off Walls, saying things had changed and I wouldn't like it.  Other friend's kid is there now-- so post-Rhee.  Which means I've gotten really mixed signals (and the two friends involved are both academic-y guys who understand/share my values and concerns) but enough positive feedback to think it's worth checking out, especially if choice is limited to DC proper.

And if you're seriously considering home-schooling (and therefore willing to forego cohort to a significant extent), I think both Stanford and GW have online HS -- MS even, in GW's case.  Depending on kid/curriculum, that might leave time to explore and certainly allow time- and place-shifting (work when you're most productive, seize the day when it's beautiful out, read in the park instead of at your desk).

Good luck and, if you find what your're looking for, let people know!  [/quote]

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