Anonymous
02/28/2012 19:04
Subject: Re:If you send your child to private school, do you live in a good public school district?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:We live in Fairfax County. I am CONSTANTLY questioned by family/friends why we would even think to send kids to private schools. Small class sizes, access to teachers and administration, moral teachings, and strong community at privates makes me want privates all the way through high school.
I have a 4 year old and I am thinking about sending her to private school. The reason is my DC is a little wild and generally seems disinterested in school. All she wants to do is play and she generally drives her preschool teacher crazy by not following directions. Our preschool director thought a play based curriculum would be better and small classes with more attention would as well. She thought the public schools had too much pressure to get the kids up to speed for the VA SOLs by first grade and that my DC would rebel on certain types of teaching and may fall behind. She warned that some teachers would spend extra time with her and give her individualized attention to suit her, but many would not.
I'm torn because I did public school and thought it was fine and the public schools here have such good reputations. I did the private school WISP-III testing for DC and the tester thought my child really needed a hands on progressive school that wasn't so rigid. Sometimes I just don't know and think I'm being sold the private school route by people who are part of its infrastructure (most of the preschool kids at my DC's school go to privates). But I would hate for DC to fall behind and tear DC from the private if DC like it.
My husband is skeptical, saying that's how kids are and the DC will adjust.
One response: GDS
Money is a concern, but it's not like it is that more expensive than preschool/daycare, and aftercare now. So it is manageable for us right now unless we have more kids.
Anonymous
02/28/2012 18:44
Subject: If you send your child to private school, do you live in a good public school district?
Anonymous wrote:I am curious to see how many students live in good school districts but still go to private school.
No, we send DC to private because we live in Ward 1, have a house with an under water mortgage and ride our bikes to work. DC got in because she had great scores. If we could afford to live in CC , we would send DC to public. There is no comparing Janey and Harriet Tubman Elementary or Sommerset and Bancroft.
Anonymous
02/28/2012 17:42
Subject: If you send your child to private school, do you live in a good public school district?
PP, here again. I'm also torn because I've heard private schools do not do well with kids that need special attention, which seems contradictory to what the preschool director told me. That if there is a behavior problem, they get weeded out. My friend in the West Coast said at her private, they are brutal about it.
But I really don't know how my DC will adapt to K. The DC seems to adapt to everything pretty well and has been maturing quite a bit every month. However, DC still have the outrageous meltdown seemingly once every other day.
It's like that cord blood thing where you kind of know it is useless to pay $2K to keep and store it, but you have a little doubt so you do it because it can't hurt (besides the pockbook).
But I really don't know how my DC will adapt to K. The DC seems to adapt to everything pretty well and has been maturing quite a bit every month. However, DC still have the outrageous meltdown seemingly once every other day.
It's like that cord blood thing where you kind of know it is useless to pay $2K to keep and store it, but you have a little doubt so you do it because it can't hurt (besides the pockbook).
Anonymous
02/28/2012 17:37
Subject: Re:If you send your child to private school, do you live in a good public school district?
We live in Fairfax Co. but send DC to private b/c the latter offers religious instruction.
Anonymous
02/28/2012 17:34
Subject: Re:If you send your child to private school, do you live in a good public school district?
Anonymous wrote:We live in Fairfax County. I am CONSTANTLY questioned by family/friends why we would even think to send kids to private schools. Small class sizes, access to teachers and administration, moral teachings, and strong community at privates makes me want privates all the way through high school.
I have a 4 year old and I am thinking about sending her to private school. The reason is my DC is a little wild and generally seems disinterested in school. All she wants to do is play and she generally drives her preschool teacher crazy by not following directions. Our preschool director thought a play based curriculum would be better and small classes with more attention would as well. She thought the public schools had too much pressure to get the kids up to speed for the VA SOLs by first grade and that my DC would rebel on certain types of teaching and may fall behind. She warned that some teachers would spend extra time with her and give her individualized attention to suit her, but many would not.
I'm torn because I did public school and thought it was fine and the public schools here have such good reputations. I did the private school WISP-III testing for DC and the tester thought my child really needed a hands on progressive school that wasn't so rigid. Sometimes I just don't know and think I'm being sold the private school route by people who are part of its infrastructure (most of the preschool kids at my DC's school go to privates). But I would hate for DC to fall behind and tear DC from the private if DC like it.
My husband is skeptical, saying that's how kids are and the DC will adjust.
Money is a concern, but it's not like it is that more expensive than preschool/daycare, and aftercare now. So it is manageable for us right now unless we have more kids.
Anonymous
02/28/2012 16:39
Subject: If you send your child to private school, do you live in a good public school district?
Live in MoCo -- Whitman cluster.
DC goes to private because of much smaller class size.
DC goes to private because of much smaller class size.
Anonymous
02/28/2012 12:14
Subject: Re:If you send your child to private school, do you live in a good public school district?
Arlington, great school pyramid but looking at private primarily for a single sex education. It will mean figuring out commutes and carpools and such since the girls schools are all in NW and MD, but we still have a few years to make that decision.
Anonymous
02/28/2012 11:28
Subject: If you send your child to private school, do you live in a good public school district?
We are in Arlington and have a great elementary school (public) but aren't thrilled about the public high school, so are private.
Anonymous
02/28/2012 11:24
Subject: Re:If you send your child to private school, do you live in a good public school district?
Our local public school in Montgomery County offers free Pre-K only to kids from very low income families (<$33,000 / year HHI) that do not speak English.
Anonymous
02/28/2012 11:17
Subject: Re:If you send your child to private school, do you live in a good public school district?
We live in Montogomery County with excellent public high schools, but the public Kindergarten is full of kids from poor familities that does not speak english.
Anonymous
02/04/2012 14:10
Subject: If you send your child to private school, do you live in a good public school district?
I agree ..we are at a nw private and witnessed some bad behavior in k..teachers right on top of it ..I don't think this is possible with 28 in a class.
Anonymous
02/04/2012 13:24
Subject: Re:If you send your child to private school, do you live in a good public school district?
To PP. So, so sorry to hear your daughter was bullied. That must be the WORST feeling in the world! So glad you found a supportive private school for her.
Anonymous
02/04/2012 07:30
Subject: If you send your child to private school, do you live in a good public school district?
MoCo here. Tried public and it really didn't work out for our daughter. Classes were huge and they really couldn't monitor what was going on at school which led to her being bullied. I would REALLY have preferred to not shell out the cash for private, but feel that it's in my child's best interest to do so.
Anonymous
02/04/2012 05:56
Subject: Re:If you send your child to private school, do you live in a good public school district?
We live in Fairfax County. I am CONSTANTLY questioned by family/friends why we would even think to send kids to private schools. Small class sizes, access to teachers and administration, moral teachings, and strong community at privates makes me want privates all the way through high school.
Anonymous
02/03/2012 22:02
Subject: If you send your child to private school, do you live in a good public school district?
Moco rez here. Great cluster but want more for dd than public can offer (small class sizes, more music/art/pe, not having to teach the test, etc).