I went through a k-8 school and transferred to a public high school back in the 90s. I wanted to switch in 6th grade. The girls weren’t very nice at my school and there were only 40 per grade. The change was great for me. Academically I felt “ahead” in writing but took honors and AP classes at my public which seemed comparable?

We are outliers on this board because we only send one of f our kids to a private and it’s for a specific reason. A lot of the criticism of publics isn’t valid imo. Public school teachers are better at classroom management and I found - contrary to what every private says - better at differentiation. We found a great school for one of my kids with ADHD but the accommodations in his private elementary were laughable.

If your DS wants to attend public I’d let him. I was SO much happier after switching.

Yes, from private ES to public middle for one kid. 3 years later from privateMS to public HS for the other. Zero regrets about private school or public school.

People do when they lose their jobs, get divorced, and lose grandparent support. It sucks to be poor OP.

I did, from a small K-8 to a big public HS, as did many others from my K-8. It was a terrific experience - much more "real world" and less sheltered before leaving for college, and in high school it's great to have a bigger pool to draw from in terms of friends and activities. Academics were better in some ways and worse in others, so one wasn't clearly ahead of the other.

Anonymous wrote:Mine did - went from private to Whitman for high school. DC thrived at Whitman. As a PP said, some of the private schools we looked at for high school were definitely not as good a fit for DC as Whitman was. The fact that it was free was a bonus but not a driving factor in the decision. Quite a few kids came to Whitman from private school in 9th grade.

From a k-8 private or a k-12 private?

We may do it too, from a distance k-12, because we’ve seen Whitman deal with travel sports schedules better, offers tons more clubs with more members, and strong teachers and electives. Any may be less homework hours.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, people do it all the time. Just did it to SWW. We wanted DC to gain more independence, accountability, and didn't think the private high schools we were admitted to were drastically better(or better at all). Mostly the same type of kids and circle that were at DC's private.

Of course, the public school and programming does matter. Listen to your young person and see if you get the real reason.

Curious what private schools you thought were less good than public ?

PP never said the public was better, they just said that the private wasn't drastically better and that public would have less hand holding.

Exactly, can't make a blanket statement either way if you are really evaluating on what's important to you in a school.

Why was this thread deleted and reposted. I put a lot of thought and effort into my reply.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, people do it all the time. Just did it to SWW. We wanted DC to gain more independence, accountability, and didn't think the private high schools we were admitted to were drastically better(or better at all). Mostly the same type of kids and circle that were at DC's private.

Of course, the public school and programming does matter. Listen to your young person and see if you get the real reason.

Curious what private schools you thought were less good than public ?

PP never said the public was better, they just said that the private wasn't drastically better and that public would have less hand holding.

Mine did - went from private to Whitman for high school. DC thrived at Whitman. As a PP said, some of the private schools we looked at for high school were definitely not as good a fit for DC as Whitman was. The fact that it was free was a bonus but not a driving factor in the decision. Quite a few kids came to Whitman from private school in 9th grade.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DS wants desperately to move to public. Either School Without Walls or Latin. Has anyone made the move, if so, why? I'm trying not to let prejudice get in the way of my thinking.

"prejudice"

OMG op grow up!

Yes, a million kids at least do this every year. What is wrong with you?

Of course, people do this.

One all privates and all publics are not the same.
Two each kid is an individual what works for one may or may not work for others.

DP but at least OP is aware of her biases. Look at the post directly below yours - complete incredulity that a parent could think that any public could be better than any private. Pretending that isn't how a lot of private school parents feel is just papering over reality.

Anonymous wrote:My DS wants desperately to move to public. Either School Without Walls or Latin. Has anyone made the move, if so, why? I'm trying not to let prejudice get in the way of my thinking.

Yep, people do it all the time. But assuming your kid isn't in 4th grade, you can basically rule out Latin. SWW is application-only and that's somewhat of a crapshoot. So consider those options to be among several he should have for high school, and make sure he's applying out.

Anonymous wrote:Yes, people do it all the time. Just did it to SWW. We wanted DC to gain more independence, accountability, and didn't think the private high schools we were admitted to were drastically better(or better at all). Mostly the same type of kids and circle that were at DC's private.

Of course, the public school and programming does matter. Listen to your young person and see if you get the real reason.

Curious what private schools you thought were less good than public ?

Anonymous wrote:My DS wants desperately to move to public. Either School Without Walls or Latin. Has anyone made the move, if so, why? I'm trying not to let prejudice get in the way of my thinking.

"prejudice"

OMG op grow up!

Yes, a million kids at least do this every year. What is wrong with you?

Of course, people do this.

One all privates and all publics are not the same.
Two each kid is an individual what works for one may or may not work for others.

Yes, people do it all the time. Just did it to SWW. We wanted DC to gain more independence, accountability, and didn't think the private high schools we were admitted to were drastically better(or better at all). Mostly the same type of kids and circle that were at DC's private.

Of course, the public school and programming does matter. Listen to your young person and see if you get the real reason.

My DS wants desperately to move to public. Either School Without Walls or Latin. Has anyone made the move, if so, why? I'm trying not to let prejudice get in the way of my thinking.