Anonymous
Post 06/13/2014 08:51     Subject: In retrospect would you have spent so much for elemntary education?
My kids go to public. If money was no object, then private would be great for elementary.... however money IS a serious consideration. Dropping $60K+ EVERY year for 8-10 years would be a serious change of life for us. So, for us, public is the better "value." If we made over $400K, then the $60K for tuition wouldn't be such a big deal. Whether private elementary is "worth it" depends on how much money you have available to make that decision.
Anonymous
Post 06/13/2014 07:32     Subject: In retrospect would you have spent so much for elemntary education?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Yes. My husband and I are very conservative and are on the lower end of income for private school parents low to mid 200's. I have one kid who is finishing 5th and another that's in K.

It was totally worth it. Every single one of my daughter's friends comes from a very good and caring family and I think it is so important as they are so impressionable at that age. I'm not sure if my daughter would have fallen into the right crowd in public school. When she is around model students, she is a model student and there are fewer model students in public schools statistically speaking.

My daughter is also involved in an outside activity where she is the only private school kid and while the parents are nice, she acts out when she is around these kids. I'm not sure the dynamics of why- but there is a huge difference in the way she acts.

I also think she's getting a better education because she wants to perform like her friends. Since she is highly influenced by other people, my daughter is much better off in private.

My son who is younger would probably have done fine in public school. However, he wrote a short essay about who he would like to be like and he wrote about the pope. We aren't very religious but the paper melted my heart and it was beautifully written for someone his age so I think his school helping him develop fully into a very good human being.

We might not drive fancy cars or have a fancy house- but I'll do anything to provide my kids with a good environment.


Troll post, right?


Not a troll at all.
Anonymous
Post 06/12/2014 22:48     Subject: In retrospect would you have spent so much for elemntary education?
Yes, I wouldn't change a thing, even though it is difficult to swing the tuition AND our inbounds elementary school is Murch (which I hear is fine for many).

DC has a personality/temperament that really called for the type of environment and socio-emotional curriculum offered by a few privates in the area. At least in the early years. I'm sure dc could've learned multiplication and paragraph structure just fine at Murch -- I'd never dispute that -- however that wasn't our issue.

Private elementary did exactly what I hoped it would do for dc and actually exceeded my expectations.
Anonymous
Post 06/12/2014 22:32     Subject: In retrospect would you have spent so much for elemntary education?
Nope, I would have sent DC1 to the public immersion program that DC2 went through. We learned a few things with DC1, concerning instruments and sports, and schooling was one of these things.
Anonymous
Post 06/12/2014 19:14     Subject: In retrospect would you have spent so much for elemntary education?
It really depends on the child, and sometimes you won't know until age 5 or 6. Before that, everyone thought DS would "do well anywhere." Turned out he's gifted with mild LDs. He did much better in the early grades with small classes and no expectation that he would be an early reader (as long as he got the extra help he needed and was reading by the end of 2nd grade). He also could do quite advanced math at the same time (this was not in the DC area).
Anonymous
Post 06/12/2014 19:06     Subject: In retrospect would you have spent so much for elemntary education?
In public*
Anonymous
Post 06/12/2014 19:06     Subject: In retrospect would you have spent so much for elemntary education?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:While my child is developing socially, emotionally, and academically? ABSOLUTELY. Smaller classes, differentiated curriculum, constant communication...worth every penny when they are young.


+1


You are naive if you think public schools don't offer the same. My DD's class for PreK3 was 13 kids with 2 FT teachers in the class. We are in private now and there are 22 kids in her class with 1 teacher.

Check your numbers for actual grades...1st and up. Atrocious in public. Shameful.


Same school goes to 8th grade and doesn't have any classes with 20 or more kids. Older grades also have two FT teachers per class.


PP here again. To add, I am not anti-private. DD will complete elementary at an immersion private, because I feel it's worth the investment. We would happily have opted for Elsie Stokes if she could get a slot, but no dice. The private school she will attend for first grade offers a unique immersion program that we don't have access to in private. However, the classroom sizes at her private are definitely larger, so wanted to point that out.
Anonymous
Post 06/12/2014 18:56     Subject: In retrospect would you have spent so much for elemntary education?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:While my child is developing socially, emotionally, and academically? ABSOLUTELY. Smaller classes, differentiated curriculum, constant communication...worth every penny when they are young.


+1


You are naive if you think public schools don't offer the same. My DD's class for PreK3 was 13 kids with 2 FT teachers in the class. We are in private now and there are 22 kids in her class with 1 teacher.

Check your numbers for actual grades...1st and up. Atrocious in public. Shameful.


Same school goes to 8th grade and doesn't have any classes with 20 or more kids. Older grades also have two FT teachers per class.
Anonymous
Post 06/12/2014 18:33     Subject: In retrospect would you have spent so much for elemntary education?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I don't get parents who won't at least try public schools in their area if they are supposed to be good. We moved to MCPS from another state where we were in a small private. I have learned that one of my kids absolutely thrives in a large public school environment. The other we're not sure about but so far so good. We are open to private for her but how can you not give it a try.


In this area, there are many people who have kids that would likely do well anywhere but have the money to be able to afford private. So they compare the options not taking cost into consideration and are happy to send their kids to private school for the added time in specials, play, etc. If you can afford it and still pay for your house, put money away for college and retirement, why not?


I agree totally with this poster. We loved our private elementary. Kids are in high school now and have a tremendous love of learning. They got to try so many things early on like playing in a band, which one still loves, and performing on stage, learning a second language, etc. Wouldn't change a thing.
Anonymous
Post 06/12/2014 15:45     Subject: In retrospect would you have spent so much for elemntary education?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:While my child is developing socially, emotionally, and academically? ABSOLUTELY. Smaller classes, differentiated curriculum, constant communication...worth every penny when they are young.


+1


You are naive if you think public schools don't offer the same. My DD's class for PreK3 was 13 kids with 2 FT teachers in the class. We are in private now and there are 22 kids in her class with 1 teacher.

Check your numbers for actual grades...1st and up. Atrocious in public. Shameful.


Our local school has wonderful sizes for elementary. 20 kids/kindergarten with a teacher and an aide. Not more than 24 so far in any of the other grades.


Where are you, FCPS? I can tell you that is generally not the case for MCPS. Much higher class sizes and only one teacher even in lower grades.
Anonymous
Post 06/12/2014 15:03     Subject: In retrospect would you have spent so much for elemntary education?
Anonymous wrote:I don't get parents who won't at least try public schools in their area if they are supposed to be good. We moved to MCPS from another state where we were in a small private. I have learned that one of my kids absolutely thrives in a large public school environment. The other we're not sure about but so far so good. We are open to private for her but how can you not give it a try.


In this area, there are many people who have kids that would likely do well anywhere but have the money to be able to afford private. So they compare the options not taking cost into consideration and are happy to send their kids to private school for the added time in specials, play, etc. If you can afford it and still pay for your house, put money away for college and retirement, why not?
Anonymous
Post 06/12/2014 14:33     Subject: In retrospect would you have spent so much for elemntary education?
Anonymous wrote:I don't get parents who won't at least try public schools in their area if they are supposed to be good. We moved to MCPS from another state where we were in a small private. I have learned that one of my kids absolutely thrives in a large public school environment. The other we're not sure about but so far so good. We are open to private for her but how can you not give it a try.


I agree that barring any particular issues, it makes sense to try public. But if you know your kid does better in small classes, or needs a certain amount of active play every day then while I still recommend checking with your public school first, I don't think you need to put your kid in a situation where you're pretty sure they're going to fail before putting them into an environment that's more appropriate for them.
Anonymous
Post 06/12/2014 14:17     Subject: In retrospect would you have spent so much for elemntary education?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:While my child is developing socially, emotionally, and academically? ABSOLUTELY. Smaller classes, differentiated curriculum, constant communication...worth every penny when they are young.


+1


You are naive if you think public schools don't offer the same. My DD's class for PreK3 was 13 kids with 2 FT teachers in the class. We are in private now and there are 22 kids in her class with 1 teacher.

Check your numbers for actual grades...1st and up. Atrocious in public. Shameful.


Our local school has wonderful sizes for elementary. 20 kids/kindergarten with a teacher and an aide. Not more than 24 so far in any of the other grades.
Anonymous
Post 06/12/2014 14:14     Subject: In retrospect would you have spent so much for elemntary education?
I don't get parents who won't at least try public schools in their area if they are supposed to be good. We moved to MCPS from another state where we were in a small private. I have learned that one of my kids absolutely thrives in a large public school environment. The other we're not sure about but so far so good. We are open to private for her but how can you not give it a try.
Anonymous
Post 06/12/2014 13:42     Subject: In retrospect would you have spent so much for elemntary education?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:No doubt that the schools in McLean are good. My only concern was the large class sizes and my children not having one on one attention in their early years. I strongly believe it is important for a child to be in a nurturing environment and I never saw that in public schools. I am also a strong believer in having a solid foundation in the early elementary years. With 30+ kids in public schools this makes it impossible. These were my reasons for sending my kinds to private schools from k-3. Now that they are in public schools. I look back and I have no regrets at all. It was worth every penny.

If you can afford to send your kids to private in the early years, do it. It is a wonderful investment in your child's education. With that said, if you can not afford it, the public schools here in fairfax county is a good alternative. Just give them at home what they may not be getting at the public school.


I have never seen a public elementary school in NOVA with over 30 or even 30 students in the classroom.


To the latter poster.... it was common for years for the kindergarten classes in my children's FCPS to have 28-29 kindergarteners in a class (yes, I know that is not "over 30"). In second grade my DD's class had 30 (with a pretty inexperienced teacher and a couple of behavior-challenged kids). Other than that, my kids typically have had b/t 21-26 kids in their classes. I've learned that the reason the kinderg. classes were so large for years was because of the way the former principal used the funds that were given to her. Now, with a different principal, the kinderg. classes have low-20s (they always have had on assistant). So, yes, there are classes with 30, but it is not typical.... and it is highly dependent on where the principal wants to spend the money. If they decide to make bigger classes, they can put more money into assistants, reading specialists, and adv. academic teachers (which are "extras" at the school). If they choose to hire another teacher for a certain grade, they have less money to spend on other programs/staff.