Anonymous wrote:How delightfully sanctimonious!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:oh brother. who is rooting now for the high performing kids there whose parents could care less about sustainable whatever. I bet most parents barely even recycle or use all natural cleaners and detergent to help the river and bay anyway. but okay.

God it is a slow day on DCUM... dragging back all the chaos hits we all are over...

Maybe you're like OP - picked Sidwell or whatever for "pluralism at the cellular level" and social justice. It's like saying one just watches porn for the music.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:oh brother. who is rooting now for the high performing kids there whose parents could care less about sustainable whatever. I bet most parents barely even recycle or use all natural cleaners and detergent to help the river and bay anyway. but okay.

God it is a slow day on DCUM... dragging back all the chaos hits we all are over...

Anonymous wrote:I’ve seen a recent influx of posts from parents looking for a "nice private alternative" to MCPS or DCPS because they want "rigorous academics" and "small classes." As someone who has been through the cycle with multiple kids at Sidwell and GDS, I feel compelled to say: You are fundamentally doing this wrong.

If your primary goal is just a heavy workload and high AP/IB participation, stay in the public system. The top-tier tracks in MoCo and DC are just as rigorous as anything you’ll find in an independent school. In fact, if you go the private route just to "avoid" public, you often end up paying $45k+ for facilities that are—let’s be honest—frequently dated or even inferior to what a well-funded public school offers. I’ve seen some of these smaller parochial campuses in the Olney/Sandy Spring area, and I’m baffled why anyone would pay tuition for a "campus" that looks like a 1970s office park when the local public has better labs and fields.

You don't send your LOs to the crown jewels of DC private to escape public school. You send them for a values-based, progressive experiential education. You go because you want your DS to be an out-of-the-box thinker who understands social justice and pluralism at a cellular level.

What makes Sidwell special isn't the math curriculum—it’s the intentionality. It’s the school-wide Iftar dinners, the student-led seders focused on sustainability, the niche global theater productions (the recent African folk tale was breathtaking), and the Quaker values.

There’s also a deeper "values" component we rarely talk about. If a parent is fleeing public school to find a "stifling" or narrow environment—like some of the "diploma mills" up-county (GC comes to mind)—it makes me wonder if they’re actually just trying to avoid the diversity and pluralism that makes the DC area great. If you aren't seeking the beauty of a truly progressive education, you’re just paying for a smaller, more homogeneous pond.

Choose a school for its mission, not because you’re afraid of the public school "boogeyman." Otherwise, you’re just paying a premium for a mediocre outlook.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It depends on which private school, but I think the poster’s point is a valid one…especially when it comes to elementary school. Public school at the elementary level is generally better, but too many folks balk at the very thought of doing public school and want to jump on the private school pipeline in the early stages…and many find out too late that it’s at their detriment.

In FCPS public school at the elementary level is entirely lacking in grammar instruction (except some random on-a-screen stuff from Lexia), the "knowledge based curriculum" for upper grades ELA is not that great and my older kids suffered years of Lucy Calkins before they went to the current curriculum, homework and classwork as actually having to fill out PowerPoints is given by some teachers to some kids as young as the primary grades, handwriting instruction is uneven at best and lacking at worst. Science is life cycles and kids doing presentations to teach actual content standards to other kids, not direct instruction.

The math is decent, especially with a good teacher.

Our middle of the road private corrects those deficits and has better-than-gen-ed, slightly-worse-than-AAP math.

High school is where it won't be able to compete.

Not in FCPS but you're describing our public school elementary experience exactly and why we switched to a no frills parochial, despite the lack of flashy science labs and sport fields that PPs describe. IMO knowledge based curriculum is good, thinking about math in different ways is good, and social-emotional learning is good... but ON TOP OF foundational knowledge. Not INSTEAD OF.

For high school we intend to go public, but wish we didn't have to given how cutthroat it can be at a large public. Middle school starts a year from now and we are still uncommitted! We can stay at the parochial or switch to the public middle.

Anonymous wrote:oh brother. who is rooting now for the high performing kids there whose parents could care less about sustainable whatever. I bet most parents barely even recycle or use all natural cleaners and detergent to help the river and bay anyway. but okay.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve seen a recent influx of posts from parents looking for a "nice private alternative" to MCPS or DCPS because they want "rigorous academics" and "small classes." As someone who has been through the cycle with multiple kids at Sidwell and GDS, I feel compelled to say: You are fundamentally doing this wrong.

If your primary goal is just a heavy workload and high AP/IB participation, stay in the public system. The top-tier tracks in MoCo and DC are just as rigorous as anything you’ll find in an independent school. In fact, if you go the private route just to "avoid" public, you often end up paying $45k+ for facilities that are—let’s be honest—frequently dated or even inferior to what a well-funded public school offers. I’ve seen some of these smaller parochial campuses in the Olney/Sandy Spring area, and I’m baffled why anyone would pay tuition for a "campus" that looks like a 1970s office park when the local public has better labs and fields.

You don't send your LOs to the crown jewels of DC private to escape public school. You send them for a values-based, progressive experiential education. You go because you want your DS to be an out-of-the-box thinker who understands social justice and pluralism at a cellular level.

What makes Sidwell special isn't the math curriculum—it’s the intentionality. It’s the school-wide Iftar dinners, the student-led seders focused on sustainability, the niche global theater productions (the recent African folk tale was breathtaking), and the Quaker values.

There’s also a deeper "values" component we rarely talk about. If a parent is fleeing public school to find a "stifling" or narrow environment—like some of the "diploma mills" up-county (GC comes to mind)—it makes me wonder if they’re actually just trying to avoid the diversity and pluralism that makes the DC area great. If you aren't seeking the beauty of a truly progressive education, you’re just paying for a smaller, more homogeneous pond.

Choose a school for its mission, not because you’re afraid of the public school "boogeyman." Otherwise, you’re just paying a premium for a mediocre outlook.

Lol. You are the reason we chose another private over Sidwell.

I read that weeks ago and assumed the OP was just trying to make Sidwell look bad. Odd this thread is still here.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve seen a recent influx of posts from parents looking for a "nice private alternative" to MCPS or DCPS because they want "rigorous academics" and "small classes." As someone who has been through the cycle with multiple kids at Sidwell and GDS, I feel compelled to say: You are fundamentally doing this wrong.

If your primary goal is just a heavy workload and high AP/IB participation, stay in the public system. The top-tier tracks in MoCo and DC are just as rigorous as anything you’ll find in an independent school. In fact, if you go the private route just to "avoid" public, you often end up paying $45k+ for facilities that are—let’s be honest—frequently dated or even inferior to what a well-funded public school offers. I’ve seen some of these smaller parochial campuses in the Olney/Sandy Spring area, and I’m baffled why anyone would pay tuition for a "campus" that looks like a 1970s office park when the local public has better labs and fields.

You don't send your LOs to the crown jewels of DC private to escape public school. You send them for a values-based, progressive experiential education. You go because you want your DS to be an out-of-the-box thinker who understands social justice and pluralism at a cellular level.

What makes Sidwell special isn't the math curriculum—it’s the intentionality. It’s the school-wide Iftar dinners, the student-led seders focused on sustainability, the niche global theater productions (the recent African folk tale was breathtaking), and the Quaker values.

There’s also a deeper "values" component we rarely talk about. If a parent is fleeing public school to find a "stifling" or narrow environment—like some of the "diploma mills" up-county (GC comes to mind)—it makes me wonder if they’re actually just trying to avoid the diversity and pluralism that makes the DC area great. If you aren't seeking the beauty of a truly progressive education, you’re just paying for a smaller, more homogeneous pond.

Choose a school for its mission, not because you’re afraid of the public school "boogeyman." Otherwise, you’re just paying a premium for a mediocre outlook.

Lol. You are the reason we chose another private over Sidwell.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It depends on which private school, but I think the poster’s point is a valid one…especially when it comes to elementary school. Public school at the elementary level is generally better, but too many folks balk at the very thought of doing public school and want to jump on the private school pipeline in the early stages…and many find out too late that it’s at their detriment.

In FCPS public school at the elementary level is entirely lacking in grammar instruction (except some random on-a-screen stuff from Lexia), the "knowledge based curriculum" for upper grades ELA is not that great and my older kids suffered years of Lucy Calkins before they went to the current curriculum, homework and classwork as actually having to fill out PowerPoints is given by some teachers to some kids as young as the primary grades, handwriting instruction is uneven at best and lacking at worst. Science is life cycles and kids doing presentations to teach actual content standards to other kids, not direct instruction.

The math is decent, especially with a good teacher.

Our middle of the road private corrects those deficits and has better-than-gen-ed, slightly-worse-than-AAP math.

High school is where it won't be able to compete.

Anonymous wrote:I’ve seen a recent influx of posts from parents looking for a "nice private alternative" to MCPS or DCPS because they want "rigorous academics" and "small classes." As someone who has been through the cycle with multiple kids at Sidwell and GDS, I feel compelled to say: You are fundamentally doing this wrong.

If your primary goal is just a heavy workload and high AP/IB participation, stay in the public system. The top-tier tracks in MoCo and DC are just as rigorous as anything you’ll find in an independent school. In fact, if you go the private route just to "avoid" public, you often end up paying $45k+ for facilities that are—let’s be honest—frequently dated or even inferior to what a well-funded public school offers. I’ve seen some of these smaller parochial campuses in the Olney/Sandy Spring area, and I’m baffled why anyone would pay tuition for a "campus" that looks like a 1970s office park when the local public has better labs and fields.

You don't send your LOs to the crown jewels of DC private to escape public school. You send them for a values-based, progressive experiential education. You go because you want your DS to be an out-of-the-box thinker who understands social justice and pluralism at a cellular level.

What makes Sidwell special isn't the math curriculum—it’s the intentionality. It’s the school-wide Iftar dinners, the student-led seders focused on sustainability, the niche global theater productions (the recent African folk tale was breathtaking), and the Quaker values.

There’s also a deeper "values" component we rarely talk about. If a parent is fleeing public school to find a "stifling" or narrow environment—like some of the "diploma mills" up-county (GC comes to mind)—it makes me wonder if they’re actually just trying to avoid the diversity and pluralism that makes the DC area great. If you aren't seeking the beauty of a truly progressive education, you’re just paying for a smaller, more homogeneous pond.

Choose a school for its mission, not because you’re afraid of the public school "boogeyman." Otherwise, you’re just paying a premium for a mediocre outlook.

Anonymous wrote:LOL I take a few months break and find this gem

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know, but this post is good as it shows how some of these parents think. My kid goes to a small parochial school and whenever a parent who has kids at Sidwell, etc asks me where they go to school, their interest immediately drops when I tell them where. While I have seen first hand their ears perk up and get so interested when they hear the others like NCS, GDS, etc. it’s just such a big part of their identity.