This whole notion of going "private" for HS to avoid ur child getting mixed up in the wrong crowd is soooo stupid lol. I grew up in Landover and went to Duval HS in lanham...my peers and the people I befriended were people who I could relate to, regular middle/working class black kids like me usually from two parent households, etc. Your child decisions reflect the household they are being reared in point blank. I never smoked or drank the entire time during my HS experience nor did any of my friends, this wasn't because I was so pious but rather my parents were not drinkers or smokers. It was something that was just foreign to me, and something I had zero desire for because it was never around in my home life. I graduated and so did many of my friends and like them did what every normal senior went to college and got a job lol.

We did a less expensive private for grades Pre-Pre-K to Grade 6 and then switched to elite private for Gr. 7 -12. Worked out very well for our DD

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are doing private PK-8 and then public high school. I feel building a strong foundation is important. Public high school will better acclimate for college where they will learn with members of all socioeconomic classes and not just the ones who can afford a $25k tuition.

I suppose that's true if you live in Silver Spring or somewhere, but please don't act like your child is getting this amazingly diverse SES experience by going to Whitman, Churchill, etc. Those schools are almost private schools in the sense that those who go there are the ones who can afford a $750K+ home...

I posted this before and was attacked, but I'll try again.... The private schools are more socioeconomically diverse than schools like Whitman and Churchill because about 30% of the population gets financial aid, and within that 30% are typically kids who come from SE DC and other areas of PG and MoCo. Yes, there are more extreme examples of wealth, but not by much, if at all, since there are plenty of wealthy families in MoCo.

Anonymous wrote:We are doing private PK-8 and then public high school. I feel building a strong foundation is important. Public high school will better acclimate for college where they will learn with members of all socioeconomic classes and not just the ones who can afford a $25k tuition.

+1 If you can afford it, this is great, but it can be hard to get the kids to move from private to public.

It is so family-dependent, honestly.

I would try public first and see how your child is doing. If I had my druthers, it would be private K-8, then public high school, but that's a lot of $$$$$$. We are doing private for middle school and then either private or public depending on the child's needs. I may move my younger child to private sooner if he is not accepted to a HGC for 4th and 5th grade.

Anonymous wrote:Public in HS is simply wrong. HS friends are some of the most lasting relationships people have. These people become your life long friends. Why waste these years with a bunch of kids from the other side of the tracks who lack social skills, proper perspective, and have a propensity for being involved in the seedier side of life?

Haha - we are in the Whitman district and I am not sure there is another side of the tracks. Maybe people who drive Hondas? (that's a joke for those of you who are too serious). Really, my DC had a fabulous peer group in high school. Smart kids who all went to selective/super selective colleges. These are kids who haven't even been exposed to the seedier side of life, much less be involved in it.

We chose public for elementary bc we wanted Mandarin language immersion. DH and I went private for k-12 and beyond. We will switch to private for DS starting in middle school.

This was in the public school forum:
Report: Requiring kindergartners to read — as Common Core does — may harm some
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/w...does-may-harm-some/?tid=pm_pop

I think the problem with public early childhood education is some of the things mentioned in this article. We have a second grader in a DC charter that has all the private school things--small class size, arts, involved parents--with the added benefit of more SES diversity than you would find in a typical DC private. We also have a three year old in private. I def think private is good for PK-1 and then a good public can work for 2 on beyond depending on the kid. The advantage to public HS is that if you are a standout kid, you may have better odds of being accepted at one of the ivies or top ranked colleges. That said, we def want to do private HS because I want to have more control over who my kids are studying around.

every public high school in MCounty has lots of undesirables, and that number is only getting higher, so avoid HS at all costs

Anonymous wrote:Once you go crap you cant go back. Foundation is key..... Private k-8. Public for HS.... but if possible Private all the way!

And yet people do go public then private, so you're obviously wrong.

Anonymous wrote:Public in HS is simply wrong. HS friends are some of the most lasting relationships people have. These people become your life long friends. Why waste these years with a bunch of kids from the other side of the tracks who lack social skills, proper perspective, and have a propensity for being involved in the seedier side of life?

Oh, yes, thank you for enlightening us. Those mean/seedy streets of Bethesda, Chevy Chase, Potomac and Rockville will really scar our precious little snowflakes. You sound like an ass.

Public in HS is simply wrong. HS friends are some of the most lasting relationships people have. These people become your life long friends. Why waste these years with a bunch of kids from the other side of the tracks who lack social skills, proper perspective, and have a propensity for being involved in the seedier side of life?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are doing private PK-8 and then public high school. I feel building a strong foundation is important. Public high school will better acclimate for college where they will learn with members of all socioeconomic classes and not just the ones who can afford a $25k tuition.

I suppose that's true if you live in Silver Spring or somewhere, but please don't act like your child is getting this amazingly diverse SES experience by going to Whitman, Churchill, etc. Those schools are almost private schools in the sense that those who go there are the ones who can afford a $750K+ home...

My husband and I are both professionals with advanced degrees but absolutely do not live in a $750K+ home nor do I live in Montgomery County. There is more to the DMV than the what lies outside the western loop of the beltway.

Anonymous wrote:We are doing private PK-8 and then public high school. I feel building a strong foundation is important. Public high school will better acclimate for college where they will learn with members of all socioeconomic classes and not just the ones who can afford a $25k tuition.

I suppose that's true if you live in Silver Spring or somewhere, but please don't act like your child is getting this amazingly diverse SES experience by going to Whitman, Churchill, etc. Those schools are almost private schools in the sense that those who go there are the ones who can afford a $750K+ home...

Anonymous wrote:We did private k-8, public 9-12 (one of the best public HS in the area). It worked very well. In retrospect moving to public earlier, like 6th grade, would have worked well too.

This.

Once you go crap you cant go back. Foundation is key..... Private k-8. Public for HS.... but if possible Private all the way!