Reply to k-12 or k-8?

Forum Index » Private & Independent Schools

Reply to "k-12 or k-8?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We did the K-8 for our children and while we had a great experience the HS search was more involved than I ever anticipated and it overshadowed the whole K-8 experience. I don’t regret having chosen the K-8. However, with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight I wouldn’t choose it again. Lesson learned for my next life.[/quote]

You must have misspoken.  There is no way that the brief process of applying to high school during Oct-Dec of the 8th grade year overshadows the experience of the [i]entire preceding 8 years[/i] (kindergarten, first, second grade, etc).

— BTDT at Sheridan[/quote]

Not Sheridan but I share the pp’s views.[b] If you end up with crappy HS options [/b]its easy to start to question what the point of it all was. Because you start to wonder what else the school told you that you shouldn’t have believed. [/quote]

From our k-8 HS search process and viewing results from several years at school, I'd posit that if a child ends up with (what others are sadly calling) crappy HS options, it may be that they would have never gotten into the "non-crappy k-12" the family is coveting for 9th grade?  So, I suppose if you are going to really want a specific school in the long run, then it does make sense to apply early and often.  It may not be the best match for your child though. We are very happy with our k-8 choice and have found that in many ways, kids coming from our k-8 to a Big 3 were better prepared than their Big 3 classmates in 9th grade.[/quote]

I posted the "crappy options" comment, and TBH I am happy with my kid's HS placement. But I also know from years at our K-8 that they are heavily invested in promoting the idea, especially to younger parents,  that their grads go to great schools and that it "all works out." This is true, sometimes. But it's disingenuous too, because a lot of families I know are making the best of schools that they don't like that much.

Regardless, doing a big transition at 9th can be hard socially and academically, and I think it's easy to downplay what that'll feel like when you have a younger kid. I transitioned my younger kid out at 6th and it was just massively easier in every way. Plus I know that if the new school isn't a good fit, there's still the option of switching for HS. I loved our K-8 while we were there, but there is some risk in staying through 8th.[/quote]

We were big believers in the k-8 experience and sent our kids to the same K-8 school.  I listened to what the school said about their outplacement, believed in the idea that middle school at a K-8 would be able to give more individualized attention to the kids, allow them to be leaders, and have a more positive middle school experience.  We were fully committed to the K-8 model.  What I learned from the experience at our K-8 is that every year you should be reassessing and thinking about whether the school still meets the needs of your child and your family.  Nine years (K-8) or thirteen years (K-12) is a long time to be at any school.  Not only will your child change, but the school you pick when your child is entering K will change as well.  By the time our eldest graduated from their K-8 changes in the administration, the school structure, the teachers, and the makeup of our child's class had made for a very different experience than the one we had signed up for.  As we applied our 8th grader out from the K-8 we toured a number of K-12s in the area.  We were impressed with a number of their middle schools.  We decided to look at these schools for our younger children and consider applying out.  In the end we did apply them out, mainly because we realized that our K-8 had eliminated some of the unique traditions and features we valued and were a big part of why we had originally picked the school.  The school had every right to change and I hope the changes work out for them.  For us the changes that were made revealed that there were better middle school options out there for our kids, especially when you are paying tens of thoussands of dollars.  Our kids are thriving at their new schools and we are happy we reassessed our commitment to the K-8 model and focused on what is the best place for my child now.

[/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