We live in Fairfax County too. When my daughter told our neighbor's little girl (2nd grade) that she was going to private school, the little girl said to her Oh, my family hates private schools.... Thankfully my daughter has thick skin.

Anonymous wrote:We get the same pushback in MoCo.

We do too. "Why don't you send your kids to [MoCo]ES? It's such a great school!" I don't really understand why parents feel the need to question or comment on where other parents send their kids to school.

We live in a highly desirable school district but after going to the open house determined that the public school would probably not be the best fit for our child. We decided to send him to a small Catholic school. When I told some friends in the nieghborhood some people were really surprised and gave us push back. There were mulitple reasons to send our child to the school we chose but we didn't really share all of those reasons as it would have made it sound like we thought their choice was wrong.

I don't think that people are wrong to send their children to the public school in our nieghborhood, it just wasn't the right fit for our child and our family. I was surprised by how nasty some people were and how great some people were. People who really knew about the Catholic school we are at have said what a great school it is. Everyone else I just take as jealous, petty people who should just mind their own business.

When we moved to our neighborhood one of the plusses at the time was the public school. As our child got older, and we really started to look at schools, the public school was not as desirable for our family as was this Catholic school.

And I do not regret one second sending my child to Catholic school. My child loves it and so do we.

As an aside and a serious question, why live in Fairfax if you're going to try and send your kids to Holton or Sidwell? Why have such a drive? Just a question not a comment on your decision.

Anonymous wrote:About 90% of the kids in our Fairfax County neighborhood are in private school, about a third in DC, with another contingent at Potomac, which is about half an hour away.

What neighborhood is that?

Anonymous wrote:About 90% of the kids in our Fairfax County neighborhood are in private school, about a third in DC, with another contingent at Potomac, which is about half an hour away.

I'm calling BS on that stat.

Anonymous wrote:About 90% of the kids in our Fairfax County neighborhood are in private school, about a third in DC, with another contingent at Potomac, which is about half an hour away.

It's a deep dark and dirty secret reflective of the class sizes and other issues. For all the braggadocio on schools attracting business to this county I see too many executives relocate here, try out FCPS, then go private.

About 90% of the kids in our Fairfax County neighborhood are in private school, about a third in DC, with another contingent at Potomac, which is about half an hour away.

You are getting push back from your kid's friends? Really, I'm surprised elementary school kids would care, besides wanting their friends to be in their school.

or is the pushback from the parents?

Depends on the school. I think some people in Fairfax Cty are a bit provincial and assume that if you send your child to a DC private you think you're better than them. If its a Fairfax private they tend to not mind as much.

We get the same pushback in MoCo.

Anonymous wrote:If you live in Fairfax County and send your kids to private school do you get a lot of push back from your kids friends for doing so? My child goes to a private because she needs a smaller classroom not because I think we are too good for public school. Why are people so defensive of someone else's choices?

By the time high school came around the majority of DS's friends were in private.

Sounds like you need to find some new friends, OP.

I don't know. They probably have nothing better to do. DC go to FCPS, and I have a friend who send her kids to private, which is great, I have never question her decisions.

If you live in Fairfax County and send your kids to private school do you get a lot of push back from your kids friends for doing so? My child goes to a private because she needs a smaller classroom not because I think we are too good for public school. Why are people so defensive of someone else's choices?