Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP- we are in the same place as your. Our kiddo went to a private nursery school and is now in a charter for PK3. We're going to start private next year. I agree with a PP who said it's easier to move them when they are younger. I don't want to wait for behavioral issues to start before moving DD. We want to just avoid it all the way.

I also see private school kids being exposed to academic areas (especially science) starting in PK that public school kids aren't getting until middle school.

And yet, by HS, the top public schools spank the privates in STEM.

. In DC ? Are you kidding?

Which top DC high school is spanking GDS or Sidwell? That’s what I thought. This is a thread about DC publics not the soulless suburbs in FFX and Rockville

You think DC circa 2024 has soul?

Our kids go to a neighborhood Title I DCPS school as an intentional choice. (We could have afforded private.)

We are now applying to move our oldest to private in 6th. We have always wanted to balance being part of an integrated society and community with our children being challenged academically. For our older one, we did this by augmenting at home, especially in math, starting during COVID. That's gone reasonably well. Even so, if I could go back I'd have made the move two years earlier.

So OP, in answer to your question, I wish we had moved our older child by 4th.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP- we are in the same place as your. Our kiddo went to a private nursery school and is now in a charter for PK3. We're going to start private next year. I agree with a PP who said it's easier to move them when they are younger. I don't want to wait for behavioral issues to start before moving DD. We want to just avoid it all the way.

I also see private school kids being exposed to academic areas (especially science) starting in PK that public school kids aren't getting until middle school.

And yet, by HS, the top public schools spank the privates in STEM.

Are we talking magnet programs? There aren't that many of them period, and some areas have zero. If you happen to have a kid's aptitude for science has manifested in middle school AND you live in a district with a magnet or exam school AND your kid gets lucky in the admissions process ... then sure, that's an excellent option. But that's not most people.

In any case, you can't generalize across all schools, public or private. There's no standard measure and two schools can have great STEM teachers, while emphasizing totally different things. (Some schools really like math competitions, others don't do them at all.)

Anonymous wrote:Some days I really miss DCPS and the culture of low expectations. The kids in privates around here (at least Sidwell, GDS, NCS, STA) work insanely hard. it's kind of a sucky high school experience to be honest. They finally catch their breath again in college.

Given the choice, I would much rather have HS be tough than college.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It just really depends on your kid and their needs.

I'll give you our path - I thought we'd 100% do public all the way through. We live in a west-of-the-park school neighborhood and I thought we had a clear path. My prediction was our oldest would go to Jackson Reed and our youngest might likely go to School Without Walls.

Our older child has some mild/moderate learning issues. We had good luck with tutoring in elementary. Middle was harder for the tutor to track and support. We learned of the Benilde program at St John's College High School, a private Catholic school, which supports a cohort of kids with learning differences. We figured we could struggle with her in school, pay tutors, continue to pull our hair out, or we could try this program. We tried the program. It's been a good choice.

Our younger child has the opposite problem - more on the gifted side. DC had a good elementary experience, but clearly struggled / was bored with the pacing (too slow). There were several more advanced kids in the classes, and they seemed to do ok with parental supplementation. We lotteried him into a charter middle school and at first it was good and showed him some possibilities in subjects he hadn't experienced before, and some, but not enough, acceleration. But by 8th grade it simply wasn't a good fit for him. He felt frustrated and held back by the rules. He's now at Gonzaga and loves it. I realize that sounds crazy, because an all boys Catholic school has rules aplenty, but he likes the structure provided while relishing the academic challenge of honors classes and acceleration.

So, wildly different than expected, though I suppose it seems fairly traditional. It is very easy to get sucked into the anxiety of DC parents. Roads to high schools are important. But the landscape changes, and your kids will let you know what they need.

I will say - and I hate saying it - but I didn't realize how much DCPS stressed me out until we were out. There's just a layer of uncertainty every year, with budgets, with the mayor, with building facilities. I like stability. Removing those questions from the DCPS system and going into well known, well structured environments alleviated anxieties I didn't even know I had.

The last paragraph about uncertainty in DCPS is so spot on. I only realized how much background stress DCPS caused after we left. There are constant policy changes from above that cause trickle down effects that, at least at my school, you found out about through rumors from teachers and other parents. Nothing was straightforward and it was so frustrating not knowing what you're walking into from one year to the next.

I don't know. In my experience you just exchange one form of stress for another, especially in high school. My kids have moved to a "Big3" private for 9th grade from DCPS and I don't miss the background stress of DCPS (and I totally get what you mean) but now it's been replaced by the stress of insanely high expectations, teachers who don't give A's, hours and hours of homework (that just never ends), etc.

Some days I really miss DCPS and the culture of low expectations. The kids in privates around here (at least Sidwell, GDS, NCS, STA) work insanely hard. it's kind of a sucky high school experience to be honest. They finally catch their breath again in college.

Poster again--my post makes it sound that my kids are currently in 9th. To clarify: they've no longer in 9th but I had 3 kids move for 9th over the years.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It just really depends on your kid and their needs.

I'll give you our path - I thought we'd 100% do public all the way through. We live in a west-of-the-park school neighborhood and I thought we had a clear path. My prediction was our oldest would go to Jackson Reed and our youngest might likely go to School Without Walls.

Our older child has some mild/moderate learning issues. We had good luck with tutoring in elementary. Middle was harder for the tutor to track and support. We learned of the Benilde program at St John's College High School, a private Catholic school, which supports a cohort of kids with learning differences. We figured we could struggle with her in school, pay tutors, continue to pull our hair out, or we could try this program. We tried the program. It's been a good choice.

Our younger child has the opposite problem - more on the gifted side. DC had a good elementary experience, but clearly struggled / was bored with the pacing (too slow). There were several more advanced kids in the classes, and they seemed to do ok with parental supplementation. We lotteried him into a charter middle school and at first it was good and showed him some possibilities in subjects he hadn't experienced before, and some, but not enough, acceleration. But by 8th grade it simply wasn't a good fit for him. He felt frustrated and held back by the rules. He's now at Gonzaga and loves it. I realize that sounds crazy, because an all boys Catholic school has rules aplenty, but he likes the structure provided while relishing the academic challenge of honors classes and acceleration.

So, wildly different than expected, though I suppose it seems fairly traditional. It is very easy to get sucked into the anxiety of DC parents. Roads to high schools are important. But the landscape changes, and your kids will let you know what they need.

I will say - and I hate saying it - but I didn't realize how much DCPS stressed me out until we were out. There's just a layer of uncertainty every year, with budgets, with the mayor, with building facilities. I like stability. Removing those questions from the DCPS system and going into well known, well structured environments alleviated anxieties I didn't even know I had.

The last paragraph about uncertainty in DCPS is so spot on. I only realized how much background stress DCPS caused after we left. There are constant policy changes from above that cause trickle down effects that, at least at my school, you found out about through rumors from teachers and other parents. Nothing was straightforward and it was so frustrating not knowing what you're walking into from one year to the next.

I don't know. In my experience you just exchange one form of stress for another, especially in high school. My kids have moved to a "Big3" private for 9th grade from DCPS and I don't miss the background stress of DCPS (and I totally get what you mean) but now it's been replaced by the stress of insanely high expectations, teachers who don't give A's, hours and hours of homework (that just never ends), etc.

Some days I really miss DCPS and the culture of low expectations. The kids in privates around here (at least Sidwell, GDS, NCS, STA) work insanely hard. it's kind of a sucky high school experience to be honest. They finally catch their breath again in college.

Anonymous wrote:It just really depends on your kid and their needs.

I'll give you our path - I thought we'd 100% do public all the way through. We live in a west-of-the-park school neighborhood and I thought we had a clear path. My prediction was our oldest would go to Jackson Reed and our youngest might likely go to School Without Walls.

Our older child has some mild/moderate learning issues. We had good luck with tutoring in elementary. Middle was harder for the tutor to track and support. We learned of the Benilde program at St John's College High School, a private Catholic school, which supports a cohort of kids with learning differences. We figured we could struggle with her in school, pay tutors, continue to pull our hair out, or we could try this program. We tried the program. It's been a good choice.

Our younger child has the opposite problem - more on the gifted side. DC had a good elementary experience, but clearly struggled / was bored with the pacing (too slow). There were several more advanced kids in the classes, and they seemed to do ok with parental supplementation. We lotteried him into a charter middle school and at first it was good and showed him some possibilities in subjects he hadn't experienced before, and some, but not enough, acceleration. But by 8th grade it simply wasn't a good fit for him. He felt frustrated and held back by the rules. He's now at Gonzaga and loves it. I realize that sounds crazy, because an all boys Catholic school has rules aplenty, but he likes the structure provided while relishing the academic challenge of honors classes and acceleration.

So, wildly different than expected, though I suppose it seems fairly traditional. It is very easy to get sucked into the anxiety of DC parents. Roads to high schools are important. But the landscape changes, and your kids will let you know what they need.

I will say - and I hate saying it - but I didn't realize how much DCPS stressed me out until we were out. There's just a layer of uncertainty every year, with budgets, with the mayor, with building facilities. I like stability. Removing those questions from the DCPS system and going into well known, well structured environments alleviated anxieties I didn't even know I had.

The last paragraph about uncertainty in DCPS is so spot on. I only realized how much background stress DCPS caused after we left. There are constant policy changes from above that cause trickle down effects that, at least at my school, you found out about through rumors from teachers and other parents. Nothing was straightforward and it was so frustrating not knowing what you're walking into from one year to the next.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP- we are in the same place as your. Our kiddo went to a private nursery school and is now in a charter for PK3. We're going to start private next year. I agree with a PP who said it's easier to move them when they are younger. I don't want to wait for behavioral issues to start before moving DD. We want to just avoid it all the way.

I also see private school kids being exposed to academic areas (especially science) starting in PK that public school kids aren't getting until middle school.

And yet, by HS, the top public schools spank the privates in STEM.

. In DC ? Are you kidding?

Which top DC high school is spanking GDS or Sidwell? That’s what I thought. This is a thread about DC publics not the soulless suburbs in FFX and Rockville

Ah yes, NW DC is the epitome of soul lol

It just really depends on your kid and their needs.

I'll give you our path - I thought we'd 100% do public all the way through. We live in a west-of-the-park school neighborhood and I thought we had a clear path. My prediction was our oldest would go to Jackson Reed and our youngest might likely go to School Without Walls.

Our older child has some mild/moderate learning issues. We had good luck with tutoring in elementary. Middle was harder for the tutor to track and support. We learned of the Benilde program at St John's College High School, a private Catholic school, which supports a cohort of kids with learning differences. We figured we could struggle with her in school, pay tutors, continue to pull our hair out, or we could try this program. We tried the program. It's been a good choice.

Our younger child has the opposite problem - more on the gifted side. DC had a good elementary experience, but clearly struggled / was bored with the pacing (too slow). There were several more advanced kids in the classes, and they seemed to do ok with parental supplementation. We lotteried him into a charter middle school and at first it was good and showed him some possibilities in subjects he hadn't experienced before, and some, but not enough, acceleration. But by 8th grade it simply wasn't a good fit for him. He felt frustrated and held back by the rules. He's now at Gonzaga and loves it. I realize that sounds crazy, because an all boys Catholic school has rules aplenty, but he likes the structure provided while relishing the academic challenge of honors classes and acceleration.

So, wildly different than expected, though I suppose it seems fairly traditional. It is very easy to get sucked into the anxiety of DC parents. Roads to high schools are important. But the landscape changes, and your kids will let you know what they need.

I will say - and I hate saying it - but I didn't realize how much DCPS stressed me out until we were out. There's just a layer of uncertainty every year, with budgets, with the mayor, with building facilities. I like stability. Removing those questions from the DCPS system and going into well known, well structured environments alleviated anxieties I didn't even know I had.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP- we are in the same place as your. Our kiddo went to a private nursery school and is now in a charter for PK3. We're going to start private next year. I agree with a PP who said it's easier to move them when they are younger. I don't want to wait for behavioral issues to start before moving DD. We want to just avoid it all the way.

I also see private school kids being exposed to academic areas (especially science) starting in PK that public school kids aren't getting until middle school.

And yet, by HS, the top public schools spank the privates in STEM.

. In DC ? Are you kidding?

Which top DC high school is spanking GDS or Sidwell? That’s what I thought. This is a thread about DC publics not the soulless suburbs in FFX and Rockville

Anonymous wrote:OP- we are in the same place as your. Our kiddo went to a private nursery school and is now in a charter for PK3. We're going to start private next year. I agree with a PP who said it's easier to move them when they are younger. I don't want to wait for behavioral issues to start before moving DD. We want to just avoid it all the way.

I also see private school kids being exposed to academic areas (especially science) starting in PK that public school kids aren't getting until middle school.

And yet, by HS, the top public schools spank the privates in STEM.

Anonymous wrote:If college results are a driving force for going to private school, then you're doing it wrong.

Can you explain what you mean?

OP- we are in the same place as your. Our kiddo went to a private nursery school and is now in a charter for PK3. We're going to start private next year. I agree with a PP who said it's easier to move them when they are younger. I don't want to wait for behavioral issues to start before moving DD. We want to just avoid it all the way.

I also see private school kids being exposed to academic areas (especially science) starting in PK that public school kids aren't getting until middle school.

I would say anytime before HS OP because HS grades count for college admissions, thus, you want to make sure your kid has time to adjust to the rigor of private before the grades count.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCPS is not a monolith. Many of the answers to your questions depend on where you live.

+1.

And on your kid.