Please prepare me for public school!

[mamamary]

Both my kids went to a very nice (and expensive) private school for pre-school when they were 3 and 4. My son didn't bat an eye when he had to change schools. My daughter kept saying please can I just go to K here and then I'll switch schools. Well by the time the school year came around she also did not bat an eye. They both loved their old school but they also love the public schools (they are quite good here).

I'm sure it will be fine.

 

[shelly3girls]

My DD switched into public school for K. The thing that I had to keep in mind was that just b/c she was ahead in reading did not mean that they didn't have plenty to teach her. She learned a tremendous amount in science, social studies, etc. Reading is not everything and you can continue to read at home if she is ahead. I was worried at the start b/c many of the kids did not know as much as DD did. Even the curriculum was very easy to begin with. What I found was that they expected the kids to learn at a very quick pace. Many kids came in already ready while some barely knew their letters. The teacher dealt with it using reading groups. By 1st grade we had many kids transfer in from private K's and they are usually quite advanced and some kids who read over the summer with their parents. There were enough kids at every level that both of my DDs fit in somewhere.

Good luck and be confident in your decision. No school is perfect. We left private b/c of things we did not like for my older DD. We are very happy with our decision and as a result the kids are happy.

One big difference we noticed between our private vs public was math. Private really pushed advanced computation but most kids had no idea how to apply the concepts or really understand what they were doing. In public they took the computation concepts slower but did many advanced logic and problem solving. IMHO my DDs know math to a much higher level than they did before even though at a glance they may seem a little behind in computation (started long division a little later than private, etc.).

 

[rparmfamily]

I think the biggest indicator of a child's accedemic success is their parents. So send her to public and get involved. Know her teacher. Volunteer if you can, try to make it to "Muffins with Mom Day" or whatever else the teacher puts together. Try out a PTO meeting,etc. You'll get the "inside" scoop on who the good teachers are and how the classroom and school are run.

My children went to a very good private preschool and have been in 2 public schools so far (they are only in 2nd and 1st!) and I have been nothing but pleased. Is the school perfect? NO. Is private school perfect? NO. But is there an $8000 difference between what my kids get now and what the local private school teaches? HECK NO!

She'll do great! Have an open mind! I have found that the 1st year of kindy is a "repeat" of the last year of preschool, depending on the preschool but my kids were never bored, the teachers accomodated them in other ways (had them read books harder than other kids,etc, had them work on number lines and "addition" type worksheets,etc)

My friend has her kids at the local private school and I think she got a shock when we were talking about curriculum and found out that our math and reading curriculum was the same LOL. So where does her $10K go? (that's how much she's paying for private K!)

 

[rie'smom]

We've switched our daughter from a Catholic school to the public school. My daughter had trouble in a subject and asked for an extra assignment but the teacher said no. I went to ask why and told the administration that there were copies of his tests being circulated around school. These tests had the answers. The administrator told me that kids were smart to get copies of a teacher's test and study from it.
So, in other words, its ok to cheat but not to try to bring up your grade by doing extra work. BTW, we had copies of those tests but wouldn't use them for 2 reasons:
1. She wouldn't learn all of the material.
2. She was in a Catholic school and cheating is stealing someone else's work. See Commandment # 8.

 

[jax677]

We have always looked at the schoo dist. before finding a house. This last move we ended up with less house, still nice, just smaller, so they could go into the high school that we wanted. I do believe its all what you make of it. A kid can be in an expensive school and another can be in public and get the same education in the long run. We also wanted a school that had many extra curricular options, not just sports. Around here that is public school.

 

[cabanafrau]

Unless you have some credible evidence to believe that your school system can't do its job, I doubt it's a big deal.

If you're that concerned, make sure to involve your child in cooking at home whenever possible; take them places to make sure they are exposed to art, culture, sciences, etc.; read with him/her; make things with him/her -- you get the idea. I strongly suspect you have been sucked into the realm of thinking that believes it must be better w/ a certain label/pricetag. Save that money for HS and/or college.

 

[pweyl36]

My ds20 grad. in '06 from public school and dd11 and ds7 are in public school,
and are doing fine. I just don't understand why some people act as if public school is so below them? All I can say is If your child has problems in certain subjects they get help,but in private school you are on your own.