Is the OP a troll?

OP, if you are for real, there are many reasons why a family might choose public first, then switch to private in high school.

I have 2 kids and can give you 2 examples. First, one child is bright and really into school. That child ASKED for private in HS. Our public option is fantastic, in fact, better than many private schools in our area (not DC area). That child is tired of kids that don't take school seriously (although I suspect a lot of those kids will up their game in HS). She wants a serious, strong academic school where sports aren't; emphasized to the detriment of academics. She wants somewhere that she feels she fits in. She wants a small class size and small community of similarly academic minded kids. She is applying to 2 schools that she thinks would be better than our public school. If she gets into them, she'll likely go. If not, she's ok with public.

Child #2 is not yet at the HS level, but I suspect that child will go private because he has "minor" LDs. Ou local public option will likely be too challenging and too stressful for him. There are a couple local private schools that would still give him a good education, but would give him more personal attention and help. They are not LD-specific schools, but schools that have a good attitude toward LDs.

So there are 2 reasons, OP. I can think of plenty more: Money (daily didn't have it before but has it now), zoned high school not so great, bullying at the local public school, child wants a specific focus for HS (arts, STEM, etc.).

Anonymous wrote:I don't seem to get the idea behind applying for private school at the high school level only.
We have been at our school from K and are approaching middle school.
Is it the college counseling versus public?
I feel at that age the parenting job should be done in a way. Not sure why parents whose kids perform strongly and come from public have the
desire to go private for high school only? What am I missing?

Where to begin ...?

The experiences in a private prep school are not able to be duplicated at even a top rated public school.

I don't understand the part about parenting in your question. You parent your children whether they are in public or private.

well, many of us live in an area with a fantastic public elementary school and a good public middle school but a questionable public high school.

Is this really so hard to understand?

A lot of families can't afford 13 years of private school, so choose to focus on the four years right before college.

Our public high school, while very highly regarded with some truly excellent and dedicated teachers, seems to have great difficulty in getting rid of teachers that everyone agrees are absolutely atrocious.

Anonymous wrote:The roots of your parenting ideas should be ingrained and all kids have to decide what choices they will make. Anyhow your answer didn't add to my original question.

Like I said, I can't provide insight into a choice we didn't make. I can tell you why we didn't investigate that choice, it was due to money. However, I can't tell if we would have chosen private if that hadn't been an issue, because I didn't investigate private schools.

I can tell you that before you seek to understand the perspective of parents of teens on a specific issue, you might need to learn more about teenagers and parenting them.

Private has fewer bad HS teachers (the time it matters most), offers more individualized attention, and has better college placement. Not looking for someone else to provide a parental role in my child's life at this point.

Wow. Ever considered that one could be zoned for good ES and MS but not so great HS? Or how about college admissions, programs offered that aren't offered at the public HS, sports offerings, smaller classes, facilities, I could go on.

Don't fret about it OP. Just go about your merry way. I'm sure your kids and your neighbor's kids will all be fine.

My DD left public after 8th because she wanted small seminar-like classes with extensive teacher/student interactions. She would have done really well at her local public but she wanted something a bit different. Our decision had nothing to do with parenting and very little to do with college counseling as she is probably disadvantaged for college acceptance vis a vis her local public which is less competitive academically.

Trust me. In some ways parenting doesn't begin until the kid is 14.

The roots of your parenting ideas should be ingrained and all kids have to decide what choices they will make. Anyhow your answer didn't add to my original question.

Anonymous wrote:I don't seem to get the idea behind applying for private school at the high school level only.
We have been at our school from K and are approaching middle school.
Is it the college counseling versus public?
I feel at that age the parenting job should be done in a way. Not sure why parents whose kids perform strongly and come from public have the
desire to go private for high school only? What am I missing?

I'm a public school parent, but I am laughing my head off at the idea that one's parenting job is done when the kid is 14.

I'm sorry, have you interacted with any actual teenagers?

I don't seem to get the idea behind applying for private school at the high school level only.
We have been at our school from K and are approaching middle school.
Is it the college counseling versus public?
I feel at that age the parenting job should be done in a way. Not sure why parents whose kids perform strongly and come from public have the
desire to go private for high school only? What am I missing?