Anonymous wrote:We have done both and actually I prefer public and my kids most definitely prefer public!! The reason for the kids preferring it is that they enjoy the larger classes and greater choice of friends. My oldest is super quiet so I thought he would struggle in a huge high school but actually he loves it. Being sporty of course helps. For me, I didn't think the cost of private was justified-it just wasn't that much better. Plus I like knowing everyone in our neighborhood-not many people go private in my area, just some choosing Catholic schools. I prefer the kids getting on the local bus than driving them too!! I think the academics were probably better or at least easier in private as the kids got more individual attention, but I am happy enough with what mine are doing now.

Our experience was similar for one kid. Far preferred public school. The other needed the individualized attention in private school.

We have done both with 2 different kids with 2 different private and public schools. Both times the private was so much better.

We've done both. Private.

I went to Stone Ridge and switched to public and wow- loved it so much more. Hated SR in comparison. And the schools kids got into from Whitman were SO much better.

Anonymous wrote:Private. I work my ass off at a job I hate just to keep them there. It's night and day different.

I agree. I was a firm believe of public education but MCPS has just deteriorated. Old schools, portables, high ratios, many kids just there for daycare purposes and "don't care" about learning, too many non-english speaking kids taking up the teacher's time, teaching for standardized tests, lack of teachers being able to adjust curriculum, in-class differentiation and lots of "busy" work which just does not work well at all.

I was so nervous about switching but it has been the absolute best decision we have ever made. We even get some financial aid to help us and the environment is a breath of fresh air. My kids enjoy going to school again. The teachers email them directly, know them well. Lots of communication. A community of families who truly value education. Very low ratios too.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Public. We feel the social environment is much healthier & the academics are, overall, equal (some areas are a bit stronger at the private than the public & vise versa but there are no glaring differences).

Obviously a lot really depends on the particular schools in question & the individual child's needs, however.

+1

+2

Have one kid in a small private and one in a medium public (both elementary school). I can say that right now I prefer the private over the public (I'm refering to the academics, student body and parents). If I could pull my kid from public I would in a heartbeat (my neighborhood public ES specifically). I don't know if this is how I will feel in higher grades, but it reflects my feelings right now.

We have done both and actually I prefer public and my kids most definitely prefer public!! The reason for the kids preferring it is that they enjoy the larger classes and greater choice of friends. My oldest is super quiet so I thought he would struggle in a huge high school but actually he loves it. Being sporty of course helps. For me, I didn't think the cost of private was justified-it just wasn't that much better. Plus I like knowing everyone in our neighborhood-not many people go private in my area, just some choosing Catholic schools. I prefer the kids getting on the local bus than driving them too!! I think the academics were probably better or at least easier in private as the kids got more individual attention, but I am happy enough with what mine are doing now.

Anonymous wrote:We've done both, for two kids. Overall I like the private better for the personalized attention, such as much smaller class sizes. I also like the opportunity to interact more with teachers and administrators - I knew what was going on more easily and thoroughly at private. However, I liked the parents and peer group better at public. Private is pretty intense and competitive, but we more easily found a niche of smart, engaged folks at public who weren't after each others throats. This made a huge difference, especially for my daughter late in ES.

Same experience here.

Private all the way. Not really comparable.

Private

Doing private for elementary and possibly MS, but want DC in a strong public for HS. In our case, we're doing language immersion while young and privates have the definite edge there. However, I would like for DC to experience public schools, economic diversity, and independence before going off to school.

Anonymous wrote:Public. We feel the social environment is much healthier & the academics are, overall, equal (some areas are a bit stronger at the private than the public & vise versa but there are no glaring differences).

Obviously a lot really depends on the particular schools in question & the individual child's needs, however.

+1

Public. We feel the social environment is much healthier & the academics are, overall, equal (some areas are a bit stronger at the private than the public & vise versa but there are no glaring differences).

Obviously a lot really depends on the particular schools in question & the individual child's needs, however.

We had both kids in elementary public and moved them to private by middle school. We were not convinced that our local public MS was the right fit for kids like ours