Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Absolutely.

You wouldnt ask the question here "I'm looking for a Jewish Day School, but maybe light on, you know, the really Jewish parts".

Because it's absurd.

+1 absurd and frankly obnoxious.

That was Bullis in the late 80s and early 90s.

If you truly want "Catholic light" go for Episcopal schools. Look at St. Andrew's. They explicitly teach phonics/writing.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm going to presume good intent based on OP's later post. The title of this post actually is
"Are there any secular schools with core curriculum similar to Catholic schools"

That probably clarifies for many that they value the education that kids can get at Catholics but recognize that because of the religious focus of the school it might not otherwise be a good fit. This OP didn't say they wanted the lower price tag, just that they wanted the curriculum compared to what her kids are getting in MCPS.

Wouldn’t a classical school fit this model?

While there are secular classical schools, they are mostly quite religious. I also can't think of any secular classical school in this area, besides maybe Washington Latin.

I believe Westminster in Annandale is basically secular.

St. Rita and St. Jerome are excellent classical schools, but as you note they are very religious and not what OP is looking for.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm going to presume good intent based on OP's later post. The title of this post actually is
"Are there any secular schools with core curriculum similar to Catholic schools"

That probably clarifies for many that they value the education that kids can get at Catholics but recognize that because of the religious focus of the school it might not otherwise be a good fit. This OP didn't say they wanted the lower price tag, just that they wanted the curriculum compared to what her kids are getting in MCPS.

Wouldn’t a classical school fit this model?

While there are secular classical schools, they are mostly quite religious. I also can't think of any secular classical school in this area, besides maybe Washington Latin.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m guessing the OP is a troll. Do Catholic schools actually teach reading and writing better than public’s and privates?

Generally speaking, they are known for that. My eighth grader has spent alot of time on writing in English class. The teacher devotes class time to writing, and gives direct feedback to students on their drafts. They explicitly learn grammar and spelling. They read full-length novels in school.

From what I hear from my friends with kids in public schools, that doesn’t really happen there. Obviously, YMMV on that one.

Yes on the grammar and spelling in Catholic schools. And my experience is that they are strict on the grading. DD’s capitalization quiz had instructions to underline the first letter of each word that needed to be capitalized. She got sloppy and sometimes underlined the first two or first three letters of the word. She lost points! She came back telling me that several kids got a D on that quiz. But I think at least some of those kids will read directions more carefully from now on! I can personally say that DD’s spelling and handwriting has improved so much in the month they’ve had school.

Anonymous wrote:I'm going to presume good intent based on OP's later post. The title of this post actually is
"Are there any secular schools with core curriculum similar to Catholic schools"

That probably clarifies for many that they value the education that kids can get at Catholics but recognize that because of the religious focus of the school it might not otherwise be a good fit. This OP didn't say they wanted the lower price tag, just that they wanted the curriculum compared to what her kids are getting in MCPS.

Wouldn’t a classical school fit this model?