Anonymous wrote:OP, we had a similar choice to make: bright kid, relatively happy at a good NW DC elementary, but just completely bored by the material. We switched around 3rd. More interesting, for sure. Not perfect by any stretch of the imagination: it's school and there will be bumps in the road. Very expensive. I can't really say what's right for your child, and your family (because the tuition requires sacrifices that affect everyone) and nobody else here can either.

What is hard to tell though it whether it was level up that happens in all schools at that grade that made it more interesting or the change in schools. And the leap from 3rd to 4th is even bigger.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We just switched our daughter from a lackluster DCPS kindergarten that sounds like what you described to a very strong private for first grade this year. The difference in just one month is astounding. She does science in their outdoor classroom and comes home chattering about all of the types of things they see in nature, her reading has improved more this month than it did all of last year due to a ton of small class time, and she loves her interactive math classes. I agree with the posters who recommend you go to a lot of open houses and see what might be a better fit for your son. In my experience the difference is huge.

What school? Thanks.

From a DCPS Kindergarten with 27 in her class to Stone Ridge.

Op I would really evaluate the cost and figure out long term what investing this money could do to your retirement. I would not spend this much money in private school unless you're fully on track for retirement and paying off your mortgage. It doesn't sound like there's a significant problem with your child's current school to sacrifice your retirement or savings.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Private is almost always a better option if you can afford it without financially difficulty. That's a big if for most people, and often people who can't afford private are the first to disparage it.

This but it sounds to me like OP can't really afford it easily so there's the answer. If you have to ask if it's "worth" it, it's too much money for you.

And really, if you do have to stretch and sacrifice other things to make it happen (things you enjoy like eating out or taking vacations, etc.), I don't think it's worth it.

I disagree with this. For most people, private school for two children is more than their mortgage. Private school is at least 60k or closer to 100k before tax. You need to be making at least a million a year in investments and salary for 100k to not make a dent.

We make around 400k and I wouldn't send kids to private school because of the cost. My husband's parents made a lot more money than mine but spent well over a million dollars educating two children in private schools in Manhattan. Whereas my parents saved their money. Twenty years later it's obvious how spending this money on private school hurt his parents and their retirement. You have to be very very wealthy (family money, > 1 mm salary etc) to not need to concern yourself with the cost of private school.

Personally, I would try to see if I could make public work longer. Since there are no magnets, compacted math, AAP, how are GT students receiving enrichment in elementary school? What are those parents doing? I can't imagine they are all moving their kids to private in early elementary.

When I started researching private schools, another parent that was recommending her school said to me "no school is going to be perfect". For her situation and the child in question the private school worked better than the public school but it wasn't perfect. When moving to any school, even one with a great reputation, you don't know the peer group for your child (one class may have lots of cliques but the other many not), if your child gets the new teacher where you don't know what to expect, if your child gets the not so great teacher, if the leadership changes and not in the positive direction, if the curriculum changes etc. I was willing to take those chances and pay money for it because I knew public school wasn't working for oldest child and there really wasn't this high bar of what better would look like both in terms of social and academic. My younger child was doing fine at the same public school and we would not have moved her except for the fact she wanted to follow her sister.

Another point we considered is that while the academic building blocks have to be there, I actually place more emphasis on community in the younger years. I feel like I want my kids to look back on their childhood and remember being confident, happy, and involved. When they are at the point where they take more ownership for their work and parents are less involved in schoolwork (like middle school), I would want to know that they are working to potential and have good work habits. Beyond school when I think what will make my children successful in their careers my list would include confidence, good work habits, social skills, and leadership skills. So I am considering all those things when trying to decide if private school is "worth it" and will really make a difference.

OP, we had a similar choice to make: bright kid, relatively happy at a good NW DC elementary, but just completely bored by the material. We switched around 3rd. More interesting, for sure. Not perfect by any stretch of the imagination: it's school and there will be bumps in the road. Very expensive. I can't really say what's right for your child, and your family (because the tuition requires sacrifices that affect everyone) and nobody else here can either.

Anonymous wrote:Private is almost always a better option if you can afford it without financially difficulty. That's a big if for most people, and often people who can't afford private are the first to disparage it.

This but it sounds to me like OP can't really afford it easily so there's the answer. If you have to ask if it's "worth" it, it's too much money for you.

And really, if you do have to stretch and sacrifice other things to make it happen (things you enjoy like eating out or taking vacations, etc.), I don't think it's worth it.

Just to disagree that private is always better. It isn't. There are good and bad. I have one in public and one in private. My one in public is doing amazing and takes advantage of neighborhood friends and independence that comes with getting yourself to school everyday and navigating your own future in a big environment. My one in private certainly has a more nurturing environment and more interesting classes but I don't think the work is really more challenging - some of the individual projects are but not all of them. And, he has a commute plus spread out friends so thats a negative. I think both will stay through high school in their own paths given each is doing what is best for them but it's not so simple. Go to private open houses and look - I was really surprised at the good and bad. (it's my older in public so I didn't know).

Anonymous wrote:We just switched our daughter from a lackluster DCPS kindergarten that sounds like what you described to a very strong private for first grade this year. The difference in just one month is astounding. She does science in their outdoor classroom and comes home chattering about all of the types of things they see in nature, her reading has improved more this month than it did all of last year due to a ton of small class time, and she loves her interactive math classes. I agree with the posters who recommend you go to a lot of open houses and see what might be a better fit for your son. In my experience the difference is huge.

What school? Thanks.