Anonymous wrote:If you're considering HU Math and Science you must be AA or AW (adventurous white) who's willing to be the first and only.

Wow. Is ignorant your middle name?

HHI 90k (single parent), Ward 2, 1 kid headed to BASIS for MS.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow. I can't believe how out of touch people are in terms of income. Median household income in DC is under $62k. (See http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/11000.html )

How in the world is $200k middle middle or lower middle class?!

"median household income" is such a bogus number when you're talking about DCUM, because the people on DCUM don't mirror the makeup of the District. The median household income for white families in dc is almost $100k. http://www.usa.com/washington-dc-income-and-careers.htm

Median Household Income by Races
Washington, DC District of Columbia U.S.
White $96,305, see rank $96,305 $52,480
Black $37,430, see rank $37,430 $33,578
Hispanic $60,798, see rank $60,798 $40,165
Asian $77,098, see rank $77,098 $67,022
American Indian, Alaska Native $113,233, see rank $113,233 $35,062
One Race, Other $51,116, see rank $51,116 $38,230
Two or More Races $70,260, see rank $70,260 $43,597
*Based on 2010 data. View historical median household income by races data.

Right, right, right. Forgot black people don't count.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:$170k, 1 kid. We went private for MS, may stay private but prefer public HS. DC has more good HS options than MS.

Since this is anonymous, may I ask you 2 questions (ballpark answers obviously are fine, don't have to be exact):

1. About how much is your total annual school costs (tuition, books, before/after care if you use it) for private middle school?

2. About how much is your mortgage or rent?

Our HHI is less than yours, we have 1 kid, and I'm trying to get a ballpark (even though I know there are a million other variables) to how your situation compares to ours. I would have assumed we could never afford private MS (we can barely afford aftercare at our current charter!) but I honestly haven't looked at the tuitions, so I really don't know.

1) the total annual school costs are about $31,000 per year. It's tuition, a few fees that cover athletics, field trips, etc., and bus transportation.
2) our mortgage is $1500 per month. Yes, we bought in DC when there was a crack house a couple of houses over. Now that house would sell for $500k.

How we afford it is this -- no standing bills that are high, like a car payment. We take in about $8500 or so in a regular month, post taxes. Each month about $3000 gets zapped out of our bank account to go to the school, 10 months a year. So in a regular month, you have to live on $5500 a month or use savings. We can't quite do that, so we go into savings a bit on those months. But several months a year you get an extra pay check (26 pay periods in a year). So in those two months you can make it. If you get a tax return, then that's how the extra is covered that month. A bonus at work = that's how you cover it. In the end we made it work for the most part. My parents gave us some money which helped a couple of months. If it gets tight I'll borrow using the HELOC -- pretty low interest rate.

You have to really watch every penny that you have coming in, scrub your budget for things you can cut. I put everything on mint -- you can see how your money is spent. We wasted a lot of money in years before, just stupid stuff that we should have known better. Mint helps point that out. You see everything, you see patterns, you see places where it makes sense to cut. Get your bills as low as possible and put any extra into a rainy day fund. That's how we are doing it.

I have to say that I think the good education for our dcs at a JKLM ended in the middle of 3rd grade if not earlier - I agree with the poster who said she was told her kid was doing great but then found out that s/he was not prepared for the rigor of another school - in MOCO or anywhere

Anonymous wrote:PP, thanks for taking the time to write out such a detailed list. Really helpful in knowing what to look for. However, I think a few caveats may be in order: It sounds to me like your child went from an elementary school to a middle school environment (schedule by period, Edline make me think so). Besides comparing apples to oranges, that quantum leap may account for a lot of the differences you describe. Lastly, by not naming the school, which I can understand, you're making it sound like this is a matter of DC vs. MoCo, which - seeing our child thrive in a DCPS with all the perks you highlight - it probably isn't. You went from a mediocre (elementary?) school to a good/excellent (middle?) school; that's all. That can be had in DC as well. Maybe you had no other options, but one thing to keep in mind is that many DC charter schools do well because they found ways to attract, if not pick, a significant number of bright students (i.e. economically well of kids from parents with flexible work schedules) and run with that. Surrounded by a high proportion of struggling schools, they can get away with it, not least because parents are blinded into thinking they lucked out, vibe and all, and don't do their homework beyond keeping an occasional eye on test scores.

I'm the poster of that long thread. I'm thrilled that other people are finding this in DC. The OP asked about people's individual experiences. I can only offer my own. I love DC, and was sad to realize that moving was the right choice for us, so I'd be glad to know that our experiences weren't universal.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you're considering HU Math and Science you must be AA or AW (adventurous white) who's willing to be the first and only.

What's your point?

I believe her/his point is that no way would s/he ever do this themself. Basically it's the view of the blogger discussed in the Washington Post thread about the lotteries.

Me, I've been a first and only, and even though there were rough spots, I wouldn't trade it for anything. That said, I don't even know if it's true that HU Math and Science is all AA. A lot of people on DCUM post out of their armpits, and are wrong about several things. I don't know this school myself, so don't know if this poster is correct or incorrect on that detail.

She could be AA and trying to be smug. That being said it is true that if it were not an outgrowth of an HBCU, DCUMers would be banging down its doors.

Sad, because that HBCU is a great school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you're considering HU Math and Science you must be AA or AW (adventurous white) who's willing to be the first and only.

What's your point?

I believe her/his point is that no way would s/he ever do this themself. Basically it's the view of the blogger discussed in the Washington Post thread about the lotteries.

Me, I've been a first and only, and even though there were rough spots, I wouldn't trade it for anything. That said, I don't even know if it's true that HU Math and Science is all AA. A lot of people on DCUM post out of their armpits, and are wrong about several things. I don't know this school myself, so don't know if this poster is correct or incorrect on that detail.

She could be AA and trying to be smug. That being said it is true that if it were not an outgrowth of an HBCU, DCUMers would be banging down its doors.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you're considering HU Math and Science you must be AA or AW (adventurous white) who's willing to be the first and only.

What's your point?

I believe her/his point is that no way would s/he ever do this themself. Basically it's the view of the blogger discussed in the Washington Post thread about the lotteries.

Me, I've been a first and only, and even though there were rough spots, I wouldn't trade it for anything. That said, I don't even know if it's true that HU Math and Science is all AA. A lot of people on DCUM post out of their armpits, and are wrong about several things. I don't know this school myself, so don't know if this poster is correct or incorrect on that detail.

never caught that - link?

My mistake, it was City Paper, not Wash Post:

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/articles/44016/preschool-daze-dear-daughter-one-day-youll-understand-why-educating/

The thread on it is still quite active in this forum.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you're considering HU Math and Science you must be AA or AW (adventurous white) who's willing to be the first and only.

What's your point?

I believe her/his point is that no way would s/he ever do this themself. Basically it's the view of the blogger discussed in the Washington Post thread about the lotteries.

Me, I've been a first and only, and even though there were rough spots, I wouldn't trade it for anything. That said, I don't even know if it's true that HU Math and Science is all AA. A lot of people on DCUM post out of their armpits, and are wrong about several things. I don't know this school myself, so don't know if this poster is correct or incorrect on that detail.

never caught that - link?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you're considering HU Math and Science you must be AA or AW (adventurous white) who's willing to be the first and only.

What's your point?

I believe her/his point is that no way would s/he ever do this themself. Basically it's the view of the blogger discussed in the Washington Post thread about the lotteries.

Me, I've been a first and only, and even though there were rough spots, I wouldn't trade it for anything. That said, I don't even know if it's true that HU Math and Science is all AA. A lot of people on DCUM post out of their armpits, and are wrong about several things. I don't know this school myself, so don't know if this poster is correct or incorrect on that detail.

We moved to VA when it was cheaper (we have older kids now). We live in what we used to call the "brown bag" section of McLean, but that seems to apply only to those who came before the last big run up.

Our HHI is $150-$180k.

Anonymous wrote:If you're considering HU Math and Science you must be AA or AW (adventurous white) who's willing to be the first and only.

What's your point?

If you're considering HU Math and Science you must be AA or AW (adventurous white) who's willing to be the first and only.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HHI $225k, family of 3.5. We currently attend great charter, but live IB for Deal. Plan to stay through High School (Wilson). Even if we get moved out of Deal boundaries, we will be happy with Hardy, Latin, or Basis. No real need to consider moving or private.

What's the half? A large dog?

Lol, we are expecting. We do have a medium dog though