The immersion schools in Arlington (Key and Claremont). Both provide top education and a diverse environment

Burning Tree Elementary Schoo in MCPSl. My 25 and 27 year young adults still have many friends from school that they keep in touch with and they also keep in touch with teacheres. Very fond memories.

I have had kids at a number of local schools, both private and public. The happiest have been Norwood (K-8) and GDS (high school). I have also heard good things about Burgundy Farm and Green Acres, but I don't have first hand knowledge of those schools. Great priority, btw.

Ditto as to the Green Acres School reference. My DC LOVES school and we continue to be impressed with the academics and curriculum.

Green Acres School in North Bethesda

Inspired Teaching School - http://www.inspiredteachingschool.org/.New charter school with amazing teachers and small class sizes. The whole point of the school is to bring the joy back into learning. A few openings in K, 2nd, and 3rd grade. My DC LOVES this school.

Chesterbrook-Mclean VA--there are townhouses in this area if you need a more reasonable home to be in district

That's great to hear PP! I actually live not too far from there (near J.O. Wilson) so I'd LOVE to stay nearby. I will certainly keep my fingers crossed on that area.

My son is at Brent in DC and he LOVES school. He has had four wonderful teachers and had a lot of great friends. There are good electives. It's in an expensive area but you could probably find an apartment or rental.

Anonymous wrote:My kids were happiest in a small private school in Wisconsin. Small meaning 15-17 kids per class, one class per grade. They don't seem to care whether its private or public, they just liked the invidual attention from a small school. They are middle of the road type of students, no special needs, highly gifted or challenges.

Is it the Waldorf School out there? I saw it this summer and it looked quite nice. Can't remember the town, but near La Crosse. Wisconsin is pretty wonderful.

We just moved back to NOVA. We are middle class. The 2 schools that we centered our search on were Hunt Valley and West Springfield Elementaries, based on multiple recommendations from people of similar situations. Everything we heard about thoses schools was positive. The community seems more middle class than much of NOVA, and that was a plus for us too. Good luck.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Wow! Wisconsin! Not Wisconsin Avenue I take it? I was hoping for the DMV area!

Yes, I'm sorry. Here they are back in a public and they miss their old school VERY much. If I had the money I would send them to private, providing it was a small school. I think small, at least for us, is the way to go.

OP here. Wow! Wisconsin! Not Wisconsin Avenue I take it? I was hoping for the DMV area!

My kids were happiest in a small private school in Wisconsin. Small meaning 15-17 kids per class, one class per grade. They don't seem to care whether its private or public, they just liked the invidual attention from a small school. They are middle of the road type of students, no special needs, highly gifted or challenges.

We're trying to decide where to move to send our son to public school. We're not well off but we're very happy to live in a small apartment to give him a great public school. We don't really care about ranking or test scores - although that gets important later on. What we care about is HAPPINESS. We want to send our son to a school that will teach him to be excited about school.

Where are your happy kids in elementary school? Do your kids get excited about school? Love their teachers? Come home talking about a neat thing they did? Have great friends?

We want to know!