Hello,

Good luck with you decision. It is not an easy one. We had our child at River for two years and loved it. At pre-k we struggled with whether to stay at River or to move to an immerson charter (not Mundo). Ultimately we decided to go with the charter. It was a very difficult decision for our family. We loved the River community and thought the teachers were amazing. It is a well established community and very nuturing to kids. However, we decided that the chance for our child to learn a language at such a young age was worth it. We have a good teacher/child ratio but not as great as River. We have a great parent community at the charter. The outdoor space is much better. And our child seems to generally love both schools. It has been a good choice for us.

Anonymous wrote:River school has a track record, and Mundo Verde does not. People may be happy there, but it doesn't mean that will transfer into strong academic achievement for the students. There's just no way to know yet. River School is in a great location and will not be moving. If you have the funds to attend River School, don't leave. If we could afford to send our daughter to a great and safely located private school, we would in a heartbeat.

I couldn't agree more. Many of us on this forum were happy with our 3, 4, and 5 year old day care options ( which honestly speaking is what MV is providing at this point with only early childhood kids enrolled), but we look for a track record of success for our kid's real education.

Another MV parent here for PK-4 child. I concur with the prior poster on the social aspects -- our DS is very happy at MV and appears to be learning, and is certainly learning Spanish at a tremendous clip. The first two months were really rough on the immersion, but after that it has been smooth sailing, and he clearly understands Spanish at a decent level. I admit that it is sometimes hard to track progress of a four year old since they don't really read, write and do math on their own yet, and I really don't expect them to. The school does have growing pains as expected, but is a happy, positive environment where kids from all backgrounds seem to get along very well together. The parents who we have met are also really terrific. It is off to an excellent start as a school. I agree with a prior poster that there is no track record to judge, so that is something you will have to consider when comparing it to a more established school. The location is also a wild card, and the facilities in the early years will not be the best. The after care is really well done if that is important to you. My DS loves going to school every day, and I often have to drag him out of school. Good luck with your decision, there is no right answer here. There are so many factors that go into how a child succeeds academically and socially, especially at the younger ages, and we as parents play a very large role independent of whatever school our child attends.

My 6 year old son currently attends MV and my wife has been a K-2 educator for over 13 years. We have been very happy with both the academic and social aspects of MV. The expeditionary and sustainability elements of the program have been particularly appealing. Additionally, our son had no previous Spanish language experience but is reading and writing beyond "grade level" in Spanish. While I don't know much about the River School, I would fullly endorse MV. I believe the PK program will be full immersion next year so that is something you should consider.

Anonymous wrote:OP, to me it's a no brainer. Mundo Verde! You want the Spanish, it saves you tons of driving every day, and it's a free option over the long term. Hopefully in coming years MV, Yu Ying, and other bilingual schools will band together to create an awesome middle school and high school, so you won't have to worry about what'll come next.

Also-- just putting it out there-- the opportunity to attend MV is probably a one-time deal. There are many other private schools in the city that you could look into if MV isn't the right fit.

We left our wonderful, warm, lovely private Montessori PS program for Yu Ying. It was definitely a hard decision, but we really wanted the Chinese. Can't say the first few weeks at Yu Ying were easy (you'll have a leg up, since your daughter already speaks Spanish), but now my kid says she never wants to go anywhere else.

At any rate, you all will be fine whereever you choose. Good luck!

OP: Thank you.