Double post

[Laugh O. Grams]

You would be very uncomfortable in a Catholic school then. I'm sure you'd have a difficult time fitting in with the parents etc....

Also, since in most cases, the most people who go to School are parish members and regularly attend Mass it tends to very a very tight (but wonderful) community!

I went to an Episcopal School from K-8 and was raised by non-religious parents. They sent me because the education there was better, but I was also required to go to chapel every morning for prayer, every Thursday for a full 90 minute service and take Bible classes twice a week.

The truth of the matter is, even though I was exposed to all of that religion, the only thing that I use it for now is to drive my born again FIL crazy in religious debates because I jknow the Bible better than he does, backwards and forwards. As I got older, I decided to reject religion all together.

I truly believe that this is the greatest educational falacity today. If you are a Christian and go to public schools, or a non Christian and go to a religious school, your main influence is still your Mom and Dad. Noone's recruting Christians at PS 94 to reject Christ, and noone at St. Joseph's Academy is turning kids into holy rollers. You give your kids the best education you can afford, and in the end, they always learn how to see the world around them from you.

 

[chrissyk]

it doe not seem its about religion but more about getting a private education which takes your kids out of the politically correct public schools

Yes, and in MA this is true in some areas. I don't think that ANY of my old neighbors had their kids in the local Catholic school for the religion. They had them there because the public schools stunk. If your kid was in SPED, the public schools were GREAT. Otherwise, you'd better find somewhere else to send the kids. "Politically correct" doesn't even begin to make a dent in explaining the schools in my old town in MA at least...

Where I live now, it doesn't seem to be that way. People opt for private/parochial school here for a variety of reasons, but the driving forces don't seem to be the same ones that I saw in MA.

 

[chrissyk]

I was trying to give you a happy thought--but if you want to go there.....

A friend of mine opted to send her daughter elsehwere than that place...and she goes to school in cocoa (but lives in our town). It's a school of choice and some kind of academic specialization--there are always those options. It begins in K and goes up from there---all over the county. At least you have kids with similar goals and such--sometimes that lessens the problems. I'm sure there are rules for retention at these places since they are so hard to get into.

LMAO!! I should try to embrace the happy thoughts about Hoover

I think that you are talking about Freedom 7 in Cocoa...interesting looking place/program. They do have quite the rules for retention from what I can tell. I'm REALLY big on keeping children in school in their own community for reasons that I have a difficult time explaining, though. That's why I was even considering Catholic school...it's private, and it's in the commuity. If Freedom 7 were here, I'd be all over that though!

 

[JudicialTyranny]

I went to Cathoilc grade school with kids who were not only non-Catholics, they were also non-Christian (Hindu and Buddhist).

They did have to participate in religion classes and other activites during school (such as a school Mass once each month). They even participated in the choir - we were "required" to "volunteer" for the choir....

But I don't recall any issues with the non-Catholic kids being "shunned" or being made to feel left out of anything. We all knew they weren't Catholic and it didn't make any difference to us.

In some inner city Catholic schools, a majority of the students are non-Catholics.

 

[deelam]

I'm really curious about Catholic schools in the south. Are there many, say in Florida. I'm right outside of Philadelphia. We have a high Catholic population in this area. And there are so many Catholic schools around here. As I said earlier, we have 4 Catholic schools in a 3 mile area. Is it like that down south?

 

[welovewdw]

I'm really curious about Catholic schools in the south. Are there many, say in Florida. I'm right outside of Philadelphia. We have a high Catholic population in this area. And there are so many Catholic schools around here. As I said earlier, we have 4 Catholic schools in a 3 mile area. Is it like that down south?

Not in VA - I moved here from central PA (State College) and it's nothing like it is up there - the great majority of people where i grew up were Catholic. Here Catholics are a minority, but growing quickly w/ so many people moving here from PA, NY & NJ.

Here in Richmond (1 million people approx) - we have several elemtary schools (I'm counting 4 in my head but I could have missed one!) a boys & a girls Catholic HS, and one coed school that runs K-12 that's out in the country - and all are smaller schools. There are alot of private schools, but their not Catholic.

 

[chrissyk]

I'm really curious about Catholic schools in the south. Are there many, say in Florida. I'm right outside of Philadelphia. We have a high Catholic population in this area. And there are so many Catholic schools around here. As I said earlier, we have 4 Catholic schools in a 3 mile area. Is it like that down south?

Yes here in FL. That makes sense, though, since a lot of people in this area seem to be from New England/NY/NJ originally (heavily Catholic areas). In our town, we have at least 2 large Catholic elementary schools within close driving distance, and then at least 1 big Catholic high school. There must be more that I'm missing, though.

The difference here is that Catholic schools here seem larger. In MA, a lot of towns/parishes had their own smaller schools. That's gone the way of the wind in MA also, though, as many of those smaller schools have been shut down for various reasons in the past few years.

 

[deelam]

Do you have many sisters teaching at the Catholic schools in the South? Or is it mostly lay Teachers?
Our school is K-8. We have 1 class per grade. We have 2 teaching nuns, what we call a floating nun, she teaches Religion and tutors kids from all classes, and our principal is a Nun.

 

[Christine]

Do you have many sisters teaching at the Catholic schools in the South? Or is it mostly lay Teachers?
Our school is K-8. We have 1 class per grade. We have 2 teaching nuns, what we call a floating nun, she teaches Religion and tutors kids from all classes, and our principal is a Nun.

I'm not sure Virginia is considered the South (northern VA, that is) but we have a nun principal and about 4-5 teaching nuns. Our school is run by the Dominican Sisters based in Tennessee.

 

[welovewdw]

Do you have many sisters teaching at the Catholic schools in the South? Or is it mostly lay Teachers?
Our school is K-8. We have 1 class per grade. We have 2 teaching nuns, what we call a floating nun, she teaches Religion and tutors kids from all classes, and our principal is a Nun.

PK-8 school had no nuns, principal was an ex-nun. (is that a term?? LOL)

HS - principal was a nun and they had 2 sisters teaching -

I'm not sure Virginia is considered the South (northern VA, that is)

My dh is from VA and he refers to Northern VA as "the 51st state" He actually takes offense when someone refers to VA as a northern state.

 

[Christine]

My dh is from VA and he refers to Northern VA as "the 51st state" He actually takes offense when someone refers to VA as a northern state.

Here in Northern VA, it just doesn't feel like the south at all...

 

[legs22]

Chrissyk-

If you have a problem with the Catholic religion, I wouldn't send your kids to a Catholic school. I went to Catholic school (I am a Catholic) and religion and mass were a big part of my schooling.

I'm not sure why you are so leary about the public schools in your area???? I've never heard bad things about them.
I've had dd in a charter out of this county and one in this county. She is now in a regular elementary school and I like this so much better. I wasn't thrilled with the charters. Plus, the charters were out of our community. This school is in our community and she goes to school with kids that live in our neighborhood. I like this much better.

 

[chrissyk]

I'm not sure why you are so leary about the public schools in your area???? I've never heard bad things about them.
I've had dd in a charter out of this county and one in this county. She is now in a regular elementary school and I like this so much better. I wasn't thrilled with the charters. Plus, the charters were out of our community. This school is in our community and she goes to school with kids that live in our neighborhood. I like this much better.

I'm not leery of the elementary school at all! It actually sounds great from what I can tell. It's just that our Jr. High (7-8) is a little iffy, and it can apparently be tough to get your kids into private Jr. High if they don't already have a spot at the school because they went there for elementary. I hope that I'm making sense, LOL! I think that our solution is going to be public elementary, then possibly homeschool for 7-8 if the Jr. High has not turned around by then.

It's great that your DD is able to go to a great public school w/in her community BTW I am so big on that! I think it's very important to go to school w/in your community if at all possible.

 

[golfgal]

I'm not leery of the elementary school at all! It actually sounds great from what I can tell. It's just that our Jr. High (7-8) is a little iffy, and it can apparently be tough to get your kids into private Jr. High if they don't already have a spot at the school because they went there for elementary. I hope that I'm making sense, LOL! I think that our solution is going to be public elementary, then possibly homeschool for 7-8 if the Jr. High has not turned around by then.

It's great that your DD is able to go to a great public school w/in her community BTW I am so big on that! I think it's very important to go to school w/in your community if at all possible.

First off, you don't even have kids yet. I think you are stressing about this a little too much. A lot can change in the 10+ years before your potential children will even be in the jr. high. The jr. high in our town was a nightmare 15 years ago. The principal had a policy of never sending children to the office for anything, so the teachers had NOTHING to back them up in the classroom. The kids knew it and oh boy did they take advantage of the situation. Now there is a new administration, new rules and it is a WONDERFUL school. The private schools in your area could rapidly go down hill with a new administrator, too. You just never know. Just like you never know if and when the kids come if they will even be accepted into a private school, what if they have learning disabilities and they NEED the services at the public school. What if you don't even LIVE in Florida in 10 years. Worry about kindergarten first, then go from there.

 

[Christine]

I'm not leery of the elementary school at all! It actually sounds great from what I can tell. It's just that our Jr. High (7-8) is a little iffy, and it can apparently be tough to get your kids into private Jr. High if they don't already have a spot at the school because they went there for elementary. I hope that I'm making sense, LOL! I think that our solution is going to be public elementary, then possibly homeschool for 7-8 if the Jr. High has not turned around by then.

It's great that your DD is able to go to a great public school w/in her community BTW I am so big on that! I think it's very important to go to school w/in your community if at all possible.

chrissyk,
That was exactly our issue. We have the most wonderful elementary school in our zone. My DD went there up through 5th grade and my DS went there through 3rd grade. Unfortunately, our middle school (grades 6-8) is HORRENDOUS. There is crime there everyday, gangs, low test scores, you name it. My DD went their for all of 45 days until I was able to get her into the private school (which happened to be Catholic). I was even more afraid for my son to go there, since boys seemed to have more problems at this middle school than girls, so rather than wait for the middle school years to try to get into the Catholic school, I started applying right away and he got in for the 4th grade. So, I understand where you're coming from.

I will tell you (and I don't want to offend any Catholics here), that I don't agree with much of the Catholic doctrine, but it has NEVER been a problem at this school. There is nothing that has offended me at all. I swear, about all they teach is religious history and there's a lot of "saint" stuff. But I don't feel at all that they are pushing an agendas or doing anything more than teaching their version of religious history. If Catholic school (and a "good" Catholic school) is an option, I wouldn't write it off. As one poster said earlier in the thread, it really comes down to what is being taught at home.

 

[chrissyk]

What if you don't even LIVE in Florida in 10 years. Worry about kindergarten first, then go from there.

Not an option. We're here to stay, and yes I know that with assuredness. Let's just say that we're all set there

We moved out of MA in large part because we couldn't afford a house in a town with a good school system. We don't want to go down that path again. We have moved 8 times in 10 years. We're ready to buy a long-term home, so we need to worry about schools now. There are other factors involved that I am not mentioning, but we are definitely not worrying about this too much or too early for our particular situation.

 

[chrissyk]

chrissyk,
That was exactly our issue. We have the most wonderful elementary school in our zone. My DD went there up through 5th grade and my DS went there through 3rd grade. Unfortunately, our middle school (grades 6-8) is HORRENDOUS. There is crime there everyday, gangs, low test scores, you name it. My DD went their for all of 45 days until I was able to get her into the private school (which happened to be Catholic). I was even more afraid for my son to go there, since boys seemed to have more problems at this middle school than girls, so rather than wait for the middle school years to try to get into the Catholic school, I started applying right away and he got in for the 4th grade. So, I understand where you're coming from.

I must be naive as all heck, because I've only recently started hearing about gangs in MIDDLE SCHOOL! Who knew That seems so young for kids to get involved in that sort of activity

 

[legs22]

I went to Catholic school in Melbourne and I remember nuns teaching the classes. The whole class went through communion, confirmation, etc. We went to mass. We learned about the church. I just couldn't imagine going to that school and not being Catholic.

 

[legs22]

I begged my parents not to send me to MCC high school. I went to Mel-Hi instead, did great there, went on to college and graduated cum laude.

 

[chrissyk]

I begged my parents not to send me to MCC high school. I went to Mel-Hi instead, did great there, went on to college and graduated cum laude.

Why did you beg your parents not to send you to MCC? You don't have to answer if I'm being too personal BTW! I'm just curious because that school would definitely be under consideration here.