Unless you know what it is that is making your daughter miserable, you'll never know what any school can do to fix it.

Just switching to a private school may make things better or they could make things worse.

The problem may not be completely the school.

Try Holy Child. They have a great middle school program and several girls were not cathloic when my daughter went to school there.

Reach out and see around the second week of March after everything has settled down.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a 6th grader and this is a daily conversation among private and public school friends as to how miserable their kid is, it might be the age.

Agree. It might help to know why your 6th grader is miserable. MS adjustment takes a little bit for all kids and is harder for some. Add in two years of a pandemic and things are even harder.

+1 My oldest DD had a great 6th grade year in FCPS which was still elementary but was completely miserable in 7th in private school. Younger twin DDs had a wonderful year in 5th grade last year at the same private school and now are just hating 6th grade, which is the first year of middle school for them. I think it's just middle school and adjusting that first year. Of course the reasons why they all hate it are different kid to kid but the level of misery is the same.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a 6th grader and this is a daily conversation among private and public school friends as to how miserable their kid is, it might be the age.

Agree. It might help to know why your 6th grader is miserable. MS adjustment takes a little bit for all kids and is harder for some. Add in two years of a pandemic and things are even harder.

+1 6th grade would post VL has to be hard. Being a tween is hard enough, then you have MS being a difficult transition, then you have coming back to a large public school after VL for over a year.

We had friends who moved kid mid-year to a parochial school, so that MAY be an option to consider instead of waiting until next year. The school suggested it.

Try Christ Episcopal School in Rockville (https://cesrockville.org/). Don't rule out the Catholic schools -- the religious aspect of the education is not that bad. Consider St. Raphael's or St. Elizabeth's, both in Rockville.

Anonymous wrote:I have a 6th grader and this is a daily conversation among private and public school friends as to how miserable their kid is, it might be the age.

Agree. It might help to know why your 6th grader is miserable. MS adjustment takes a little bit for all kids and is harder for some. Add in two years of a pandemic and things are even harder.

It would be interesting to see what schools are taking late applications. Many schools in the area are experiencing record applications even this year.

Anonymous wrote:Call the k-8 schools too. You might have a better shot because kids do leave after 6th. Think Lowell, Green Acres, Sheridan…They will help you get into another private for HS if you decide to go that route.

Agree! We did this in 7th grade after our child had a miserable 6th grade year, in part due to the pandemic and public school failures. Best decision for our kid.

I have a 6th grader and this is a daily conversation among private and public school friends as to how miserable their kid is, it might be the age.

Call the k-8 schools too. You might have a better shot because kids do leave after 6th. Think Lowell, Green Acres, Sheridan…They will help you get into another private for HS if you decide to go that route.

We moved our DD to Stone Ridge in the middle of 6th grade. It has gone incredibly well. She is thriving! The school and families were very welcoming. I was concerned that it might be too religious because it is a catholic school, but it has not been. Good luck!

Your question comes up somewhat regularly (perhaps search if you want to dive into previous threads). Schools mentioned as considering late applications include Burke, Field, St. Andrews, WIS, Holton, SSFS.

The common suggestion is to pick up the phone (perhaps the week after next) or send emails. Good luck.

I have a miserable 6th grade girl and am considering switching her from public to private. I understand we have missed the typical deadlines, but I am going to be reaching out anyway to see what schools might be interested in a late application. Is this even a thing? We are in Rockville and are ok with Christian but not parochial (we aren’t catholic). She is a good student at an ok school.