Reply to Moving to VA from MCPS

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP here. Thanks for the detailed responses. I suspect that my technology concerns won’t be solved with a move. (For the PPs who don’t think tech is a concern, that’s fine, but I am a HS teacher and think pen/paper/binders/hard textbooks are helpful for student learning.)

I guess the other issue we are trying to solve with a move to VA is college. We have saved enough to pay for in state tuition, but the VA options are much better than the MD options.[/quote]

I'm a happy APS parent in the pyramid you referenced, despite definitely being a low-tech parent and would prefer as low tech as possible in school. That being said, I do think if you truly don't want ipads/computers in school you probably want to go private. No public school system these days is going that route completely. My child is in elementary, but so far I have been ok with the amount it seems to be used and how it is used. I do think the teachers seem thoughtful with it and it isn't the majority, but is used for some independent work and testing. That all being said I'm not sure APS or FCPS FCC schools are going to be lengths different from each other. They are very similar school systems generally. People will say x is better, or many will say APS sucks on this board, but generally our neighbors seem happy, we're happy, and I doubt it would be much different crossing a boundary line (husband went to Fairfax schools, my nieces and nephews go to MCPS).

For colleges - yes, VA is way better. I think you need to decide if public school is the right path for your family. Can you accept a good education that isn't perfect or everything you think is the most ideal? (so that it can serve everyone). If not, that's ok too and investing in private education may be a better fit so you feel happy.[/quote]

Agree that private won't be perfect. We went from FCPS to a private (halfway between parochial and independent in cost, close to a high performing parochial in rigor, so nothing crazy here) partially over technology and wanting an older school education for elementary. My kids are now learning grammar from a workbook instead of from Lexia. Tech is used for things like learning to type, which is a pretty critical life skill and actually not taught in FCPS until 7th and only if you take an elective. The school environment fits our kids in so many ways.

That said there are definite downsides to the route we took. For example the math options in high school simply can't compare unless we literally dual enroll our kids with GMU under our own effort and on our own dollar - FCPS will provide this option for you. There's a lot fewer foreign languages. Every time something bugs us, it bugs us extra because of the tuition bill.

So...you have to pick which not perfect option you prefer. And as a friend who is currently homeschooling mentioned, once you start thinking about options you don't necessarily stop. Every year, or even multiple times a year,  you are constantly second guessing and re-evaluating. After all, it's not like our public was terrible or our private is perfect. So that's an added layer of stress.[/quote]

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