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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Today I visited a good public elementary school in DC. While I understand that kids in public high schools may have some behavioral issues, what I saw at the elementary level was that this public school is much better than my current private school.

To begin with, it has four different teachers specialized in math, science, social studies, and English. At our current private school, which is considered “elite,” the homeroom teacher teaches all of those subjects, and not especially well to begin with.

Yes, class sizes are slightly bigger in the public school, but are there really any meaningful benefits to a private elementary school? Compared with our current private school, I don't see any major advantage.[/quote]

You should know that the school environment is only one factor. Even elite private schools, like Sidwell and GDS, cater to the mean. For example, world language and math are not tracked at all. Yes, they pay close attention, kids are happier, and students with issues receive counseling. Yes, we pay $60 a year for maybe an improvement in their education.  But as an immigrant, I realized much of learning happened outside school. Want to have solid Math? Join RSM.  Want to master a second language? Join weekend school.  Want to learn an instrument? go to Levine.

The only things private schools really excel at are writing instructions and PE every day. And yes, your kid might meet some VIP/fancy kids early on.

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This is correct. We opted for a "cheap" religious private for that reason. I have public parent friends asking me if the classes are accelerated or if they are working a grade above in math, or if there's school orchestra, and that's not really what I think private school is for us. We just want a normal, back-to-basics, low tech + levels/tracking + behavior standards elementary experience for young kids. Publics (at least in our neighborhood) have gone way off the deep end in terms of going socially/politically radically left and prioritizing events, celebrations, inclusion and SEL over everything else.[/quote]

Totally agree with this. What I want out of my kids' parochial school is strong behavioral standards and strong fundamentals. We can supplement the rest.

On the school orchestra point, I've played violin for more that 30 years and studied with a number of prominent musicians in college, so I definitely know what I'm talking about when it comes to musical education. If you want to do music, you really just need to get your kids into private lessons and eventually a real youth orchestra. Our parochial school does have a school orchestra program, but it's run by a former marching band percussionist who somehow teaches [i]all [/i]of the instruments. Needless to say, the string instrument players sound horrible and can't even hold their instruments correctly! We're sending our kids to a top-quality private instructor and skipping the school orchestra. I appreciate that they're offering this program, but it definitely wasn't a factor for us in selecting the school. At some point I'd like to volunteer a few hours of my time to try to help improve it, and when the my kids are older I'd like to try to put together a chamber music group with some of the other kids at the school who are also in private lessons.

On the math front, I do wish our school offered geometry in the 8th grade, but I'm prepared to work around this with Johns Hopkins CTY or another option when we get to that point. That's a long ways away, and for the time being I'm just working my kindergartener ahead in math at home. We're about a grade ahead at this point, and this is not difficult to do. We just have 15 minutes of dedicated math time each night--and I appreciate that they really limit homework in the early years so we can use the evening for more advanced learning instead of filling out worksheets for school. The third grade teacher has spent some time during aftercare working with our daughter on her math as well, so it seems like the school is receptive to advanced learners.[/quote]
No school music program can come anywhere near to competing with private instruction outside of school.  It's sad, but that's just the way it is.  Don't pick any school with the expectation that it will teach your child how to play an instrument properly.[/quote]

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