I think it's worth doing if there's a particular educational philosophy you like or topic you'd like to see stressed (e.g. a language). I wouldn't have done it for a "top 3" but I wanted a specific educational experience for my child and decided to go for it, though I'm not sure how long we can afford it. Our local public is great, so we won't feel guilty when we pull him out.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:great public school districts but chose to send their kids to private anyways.

No such thing.

Not following you

I think the implication is that public school systems are in such decline that none of them can accurately be characterized as "great"?

Our oldest is going to K, no past experience, what are the signs that public school system in "such decline"?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:great public school districts but chose to send their kids to private anyways.

No such thing.

Not following you

I think the implication is that public school systems are in such decline that none of them can accurately be characterized as "great"?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:great public school districts but chose to send their kids to private anyways.

No such thing.

Not following you

Anonymous wrote:great public school districts but chose to send their kids to private anyways.

No such thing.

Anonymous wrote:When we were at a well-thought of APS school, my kid said he didn't have science "that quarter" which made no sense to me.
I figured he was confused.

I asked the teacher and she said in his year, they had to SOL in science, so they planned on doing a lot of SS until the SOL, and after the SOL, they would get around to science.

We moved to a private school with a science lab.

what is SOL?

When we were at a well-thought of APS school, my kid said he didn't have science "that quarter" which made no sense to me.
I figured he was confused.

I asked the teacher and she said in his year, they had to SOL in science, so they planned on doing a lot of SS until the SOL, and after the SOL, they would get around to science.

We moved to a private school with a science lab.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Those kids, smart, self-motivated, thrives anywhere you put them.

That may be true, but if there's even a chance that our kids will thrive more in private than public (or vice versa), I want to pick the one that maximizes the thriving opportunities. Sorry if that comes off as Type A.

No, that is not. I can totally understand, we all want our kids to live the full of their lives.

The difference between my affluent public and private high school friends wasn't so much college placement as it was the college outcomes. They'd end up at many of the same colleges but the public would major in marketing and the private would go on to medical school.

Anonymous wrote:Those kids, smart, self-motivated, thrives anywhere you put them.

That may be true, but if there's even a chance that our kids will thrive more in private than public (or vice versa), I want to pick the one that maximizes the thriving opportunities. Sorry if that comes off as Type A.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to a top Ivy. The kids who really excelled there tended to be public school graduates. The private school graduates were more sophisticated as entering freshmen, but had less drive and a weaker work ethic.

So many "top ivy" graduates on this anonymous forum. Very impressive!

And so wildly successful, living such a decadent life, that they troll private school message boards during the workday.

You're actually making yourself look bad here ... what do YOU do all day?

I don't troll the public school forum, that's for sure.

Anonymous wrote:This topic has been covered to death on DCUM. There is no clear, correct answer. It's what feels right to each family individually.

+1 There are kids in my child's small progressive private that I think would do fine anywhere, and kids who I think honestly need the intervention and supports that public school would be mandated to provide. At times, I think the school's philosophy of "all kids learn at a different pace" blows up in parents' faces when time slides by and suddenly they need intensive intervention.

At the same time, there are kids in my other childrens' public who I think would do better at a small private. They are drawn into bad behavior by other kids, or don't "speak up" to get help.

This topic has been covered to death on DCUM. There is no clear, correct answer. It's what feels right to each family individually.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is good or bad teacher in private or public. But I heard for kids in average range, private is better for them. That's our case and that's why we have very excellent public school, we choose private for our Kindergartener. We might re-evaluate our situation and go back to public later, but happy that we have a choice and going back to public is always available.

But is it worth spending over 500k to send your kid to private school??

Yes.

I'm the pp and yes, it worth the extra money to get the extra attention. To a top student, it doesn't matter so much, but for the middle layer that gets lost or ignored, it matters a lot. Think about this, it is not very easy to push a 99% kid to 99.5%, but it is much easier to push a 50% kid to 75% if not higher.

Not sure what you mean by "top student" but wanted to add that private school is worth it for my super smart, quiet, but not are working kid. They ALL get a lot of individualized attention that helps them develop their strengths and address their weaknesses.

Those kids, smart, self-motivated, thrives anywhere you put them.

Anonymous wrote:OP here - I understand many people in the DC Metro area have this issue - that's why I'd like to hear their perspective!

This is also absolutely not a social thing for us. It would be the opposite. Our social network is going public. We are also not terribly affluent. Private tuition, while not a crazy stretch, would be a sacrifice in terms of opportunity cost for other things.

The size of classes and attention paid to individual kids doesn't seem to be a factor at all I'm hearing. 24-26 kids in a class just seems pretty extreme to me for such little kids...

I agree... Class sizes are too large at public school. We are zoned for highly regarded public but are choosing private. The small class size and nurturing environment are worth the cost for us. We will arrange play dates and keep in contact with neighborhood friends.