Private school?

[LovesTimone]

My DD went to private school, for 1st through 8th then to public school 9th through 12th. For her this was a good choice. Smaller classroom size when they are younger is better for one on one attention. They went on really great field trips, one's that you would never get in most public school, lots of parent interaction. Displine and good study habits.

As for high school ,For her she was tired of the same people year after year, and wanted to try some clubs, and be on a team, and meet new people. Which she did very well at, it also made her realize not everyone is the same and taught her some good life skills. How to get along maybe when you don't like someone, how to be part of a team and how to be the leader of a group.

For private school you will get your money's worth as long as it is a good fit for the child. Scholarships are out there for college so if your DD is into learning, then you will have no problem helping her get them, which will help with college cost.

Personally I would not give up family vacations, For us when our kids were in school, that time with them was so special. They still talk about this trip or that trip. Most of the time they have to do with Disney and the memories made there.

 

[Tinker'n'Fun]

That's a big unknown at this point. It is a first-year program just being implemented for the incoming 6th graders and will expand to 7th & 8th as they move up. However, the decision was made last year to move the district's alternative high school into a partially unused wing of the middle school, and unfortunately that wing held the only real science labs in the building. So the same year they're starting this advanced science & math program will be the first without any labs. Our district politics really suck; we're on the "cheap" end of the district as far as housing/income and 6 of 7 board members and the superintendent reside in the more upscale town at the other end of the district, so they tend to watch out for that end of things at the expense of the schools down here.



Older DD is one of those that doesn't mind changing schools. She makes friends easily and her close friends are from her activities, which draw from several local schools, so school isn't a big social deal to her. We moved when she was getting ready to start 3rd grade and she did fine, so I assume she'll have no difficulty handling a change she's involved in choosing.

There really isn't a preschool choice for younger DD that will be the same group of kids as either of the K options. Because our public preschool is in the next town, some kids from our area will attend there but others attend the Catholic school or go to Head Start or to the co-op at another church in town, and quite a few kids around here don't do preschool at all.

SCRIP is something I forgot to ask about, so thank you very much for reminding me. I know the school sells it because they share a coordinator with our middle school, but I'm not sure how it applies to tuition and fees. DS's football fees are entirely covered by his SCRIP sales so I know we could make at least a little dent in tuition with it as well.

I have to say, some of the numbers that have been mentioned in this thread make me realize just how fortunate we are to have this option at all... The first year she'll get a new student incentive that will put her tuition, including books and technology fee, at $2600 for the year. After that, it'll be $4700 for just her or $8000 for both girls (non-parishoner rate; if I join the parish it would be $5750 for both).

If it makes you feel a little better (well at least gives you a chucke). DS's tuition this year is over $15,000.00 and that does not include books, cost for his AP classes (he is taking 6), the new fancy dancy calculator, and yes, the school is requiring Ipads this year. It is built into all grade's tuition except Seniors. Yes, DS is a senior.

We do get aid and it won't cost me the full amount, but his tuition is one of my highest bills each month.

I do admit while they were in grammar, it was around $3,000.00 - $4,000.00 per year (yes a lot less) but that was quite a few years ago.

We sacrificed for so many years, but my kids loved school and is showed. As I said before, money very well spent!

 

[kissy]

I would have loved to send my kids to the local Catholic elementary and high school - but there's no way we could afford it either, so we decided to homeschool. We're going on our third year doing it, I use a Catholic curriculum and don't regret my decision Look into it, maybe it would work for you too.

What program do you use? I've done some research into it as I would like to start DS on some kind of curriculum this year so he's not behind when going into kindergarden.

 

[scootch]

40% of the students at our catholic school are not catholic, but private schools in the area are limited. For us, education comes before most anything.... so additional cost is just something we deal with. We can keep our cars longer, not eat out as much, ect.... whatever it takes to have our kids in the environment we want them in. Our class sizes are 9-14 students and I love the one on one attention, even though both of my girls excel, still great to have.

 

[ctl]

We started our kids out in Montessori and then went on to Catholic High school (my DS chose). My DD had 2 years homeschool with me, when my DH lost his job and we couldn't afford Montessori. It was terrifying, but worked out great.
Both kids loved their catholic HS and my DS graduated as Valedictorian and my DD will graduate in a year also as Valedictorian. More than anything the quality of their education and the morals that surround and support them cannot be replaced. Many of my DD's friends went to the local public HS and ended up being overlooked, underchallenged and talk incessantly about boys. I would definitely give your DD the chance to at least experience MS in the catholic private school. Middle school is an essential learning time.
It hasn't always been easy and I am driving a 16 year old car, but your children's future is absolutely worth it. Hope this helps.

 

[Colleen27]

We did the private thing and for us it was worth every penny. We felt the smaller class sizes, focus on all aspects of growth and not just state mandated standardized testing was important.

Most schools have a monthly payment plan where you pay it through a company like TMS (afford.com) in even payments over 10 months. It just becomes another bill and not a huge expense once a year.

I hadn't even thought about the 'no state testing' aspect. DD will love that; the public schools around here go straight from beginning-of-the-year review into test prep, because testing is in mid-Oct. Real classwork doesn't start until that's done.

Our school takes monthly payments directly on a 10-month schedule, so that does make it much more manageable than coming up with a lump sum.

If it makes you feel a little better (well at least gives you a chucke). DS's tuition this year is over $15,000.00 and that does not include books, cost for his AP classes (he is taking 6), the new fancy dancy calculator, and yes, the school is requiring Ipads this year. It is built into all grade's tuition except Seniors. Yes, DS is a senior.

We do get aid and it won't cost me the full amount, but his tuition is one of my highest bills each month.

I do admit while they were in grammar, it was around $3,000.00 - $4,000.00 per year (yes a lot less) but that was quite a few years ago.

We sacrificed for so many years, but my kids loved school and is showed. As I said before, money very well spent!

That's some crazy-high tuition! If we keep her in private the high school she'd attend is about 30% more expensive than elem, but still not that bad. We're lucky in that these are both very old Catholic schools with very strong alumni groups that donate generously both to keep tuition low and to offer scholarships.

We have decided to go ahead and register them both at the Catholic school. We're going to take it year-by-year but as DH said, this is why we live in a fixer-upper that we could afford without a mortgage - so that we have the cash-flow to take advantage of opportunities as they arise. But between travel softball, the club swim program she's been asking about, and now private school DD10 is quickly adding up to a mortgage payment all on her own!

 

[ariel71]

Given that so many responders are leaning toward Catholic school, I wanted to give some other points of consideration. Not opining one way or the other because it's so individualized it would be almost impossible to judge as an outsider. I went to Catholic school through 6th grade. At that time we moved several hours away, where I was given the choice of public or Catholic. Even though I was raised Catholic, I chose the public school. None of the below may be applicable, again, just my experience.

1. My class in Catholic school was around 30 people. The girls basically formed two cliques. Because there were so few people, there weren't any other options in terms of finding a social group that really meshed. You acted like they acted or were excluded.

2. I was probably exposed to more "bad girl" activity in Cath. school than public, even in 6th grade (smoking, "making out", etc.). There was absolutely none of that in the public school I went into in 7th.

3. At the age/grade that your DD is going into, social activities will become more and more school-based. The friendships she has now can very well begin to fade and given the Cath. school size could become much more limited.

4. With some of the money saved, you could find a happy medium where some of it could be spent on activities that your daughter wants to explore and might not be available through school - art camps, ballet, one-on-one tutoring in an educational area that she loves that goes beyond the curriculum. These are all just random examples.

5. Exposure to less homogeneity, more diversity.

6. The public school STEM/magnet may actually lead to a better education.

7. I focused on math and science throughout school and have a college degree in a science field. I really would not be all that concerned about a lack of science labs at this level.

Again, just some very high level thoughts. Need to be balanced against everything else that's been mentioned.

 

[Colleen27]

1. My class in Catholic school was around 30 people. The girls basically formed two cliques. Because there were so few people, there weren't any other options in terms of finding a social group that really meshed. You acted like they acted or were excluded.

2. I was probably exposed to more "bad girl" activity in Cath. school than public, even in 6th grade (smoking, "making out", etc.). There was absolutely none of that in the public school I went into in 7th.

3. At the age/grade that your DD is going into, social activities will become more and more school-based. The friendships she has now can very well begin to fade and given the Cath. school size could become much more limited.

4. With some of the money saved, you could find a happy medium where some of it could be spent on activities that your daughter wants to explore and might not be available through school - art camps, ballet, one-on-one tutoring in an educational area that she loves that goes beyond the curriculum. These are all just random examples.

5. Exposure to less homogeneity, more diversity.

6. The public school STEM/magnet may actually lead to a better education.

7. I focused on math and science throughout school and have a college degree in a science field. I really would not be all that concerned about a lack of science labs at this level.

Again, just some very high level thoughts. Need to be balanced against everything else that's been mentioned.

I do appreciate the other perspective.

The social aspect is something that I'm concerned about because the school is very, very small. Like 12-15 kids per grade small. That might make it very hard to be the new girl, though DD does know some of her potential classmates from other activities.

I'm not worried about 'bad girl' activity either way. DD has a good head on her shoulders, and our community is so small and close knit that word gets around about most problems as they arise. I don't think she'll be more sheltered at the Catholic school, nor do I think she'll be exposed to more. Likewise, diversity or lack thereof isn't a question for me; the only way she's going to get any diversity at school is if we move.

The activities are something to think about. Her scout troop has been together since Brownies and will be Cadettes in the fall, and one of her first questions was whether the Catholic school gets out in time to make it to the meetings (it does). Her sports won't become school-based until high school regardless but I have talked to her about the fact that some friends are likely to be busy with after-school activities at the public MS and less available to hang out.

Some sort of medium is something we've talked about. Unfortunately, time becomes our constraint there - she is moving up to fall/spring travel softball this year, already takes weekly piano lessons, is a Girl Scout and in 4H, swims competitively over the summers, and goes away to horse camp, plus we're looking for a Japanese tutor to help her get further than she can with software alone. So after-school academics means something else has to give and she hates that idea. My mom used to joke that she wished I'd have a daughter just like me, and DD10 is it; I had activities 6/7 days a week at her age and didn't slow down/specialize until high school.

I do find it interesting that you don't think science labs matter for middle school. That's been a big disappointment for both my older kids - they love the lab element of the sciences, and DD in particular has a fascination with bio labs and dissection (DS, on the other hand, is happy that element of 8th grade science has moved from actual to virtual for this year!). I've never been a science "type" (unless you count computer science) so I really don't know how much practical difference it will make; I got through school taking the bare minimum of science classes and doing extra credit to make up for not being able to stomach dissection myself.

 

[kissy]

Given that so many responders are leaning toward Catholic school, I wanted to give some other points of consideration. Not opining one way or the other because it's so individualized it would be almost impossible to judge as an outsider. I went to Catholic school through 6th grade. At that time we moved several hours away, where I was given the choice of public or Catholic. Even though I was raised Catholic, I chose the public school. None of the below may be applicable, again, just my experience.

1. My class in Catholic school was around 30 people. The girls basically formed two cliques. Because there were so few people, there weren't any other options in terms of finding a social group that really meshed. You acted like they acted or were excluded.

2. I was probably exposed to more "bad girl" activity in Cath. school than public, even in 6th grade (smoking, "making out", etc.). There was absolutely none of that in the public school I went into in 7th.

3. At the age/grade that your DD is going into, social activities will become more and more school-based. The friendships she has now can very well begin to fade and given the Cath. school size could become much more limited.

4. With some of the money saved, you could find a happy medium where some of it could be spent on activities that your daughter wants to explore and might not be available through school - art camps, ballet, one-on-one tutoring in an educational area that she loves that goes beyond the curriculum. These are all just random examples.

5. Exposure to less homogeneity, more diversity.

6. The public school STEM/magnet may actually lead to a better education.

7. I focused on math and science throughout school and have a college degree in a science field. I really would not be all that concerned about a lack of science labs at this level.

Again, just some very high level thoughts. Need to be balanced against everything else that's been mentioned.

I can also pitch in to the other side....I came into the catholic school Junior year and didn't really get along with anyone. I had 3 friends that I hung out with as the others wouldn't really talk to me. They weren't mean, they just didn't talk to me. Now, almost 20 years after graduation most of our class is close and we all keep in touch.

As for my DD's, there are families with a good bit of money in the school. They have big houses, nice boats, name brand everything. It's hard because my girls (especially DD14) wants Nike shorts ($30 each!), northface jackets, and choco sandals, etc......we can't afford that kind of stuff so it ends up being a bit of a battle. I want them to fit in but trying to make them understand the value of our families dollar and the fact that we don't have like some of the other families do is frustrating.

 

[gillenkl]

My DD attended our public school system for 1 year and has since attended private school for 6 years. We have done this primarily for religious reasons. We also like the small class size - around 16. My daughter loves her school and is given the choice every year to remain at her school or be homeschooled - she chooses her private school. My son on the other hand is homeschooled and loves it.

 

[scottmel]

My DD13 is a really sensitive girl and asked to be moved to a private NEW catholic school when she was in 4th grade. I moved her and we stayed thru 6th grade. It was a new school, I don't think academics were that great so LAST year we moved her to a prep school - catholic as well - to start 7th grade. Tuition was double since it was not funded by any diocese but the academic record is outstanding. At the end of this year she cried on the last day of school. The kid that had count down calandar about school, moaned and groaned, - not a peep out of her last year in the complaint department. Hard cirriculum and never a complaint. SHE LOVED IT!

My bottom line is this - if you daughter wants a change, go for it. She is so young that if it doesn't work out you can scramble for plan B but if a kid wants a change there is usually a reason behind it. DD would NEVER leave her current school now....so if she expressed interest in doing so I would realize that she needed it for a reason not a whim....

 

[Minnesota!]

My kids go to a private, Catholic school. There was never a question in my mind that they would attend a private school. we would give up everything else, financially, to be able to afford it if it came to that. It's a small school - 1 class for each grade, max of 20 kids in each grade, plus a pre-k program and a preschool program.

We have a Spanish teacher, computer lab, great gym teacher, parent involvement is fantastic, great band program, choir, etc. It is a great all around school.

Tuition this year is about $4500/kid K-8. There is a 25% discount for each additional child, which helps!

I think a small school such as this sets a great foundation for kids. One on one attention, they teach to the kid, not to the test, the teachers are all great - a good chunk of them were MY teachers when I attended there (K-8) in the 80's! They love their job, love the school, love the community.

I think, absolutely, the money spent is well spent. Plus, uniforms are a big in our house!!!!

I will let my kids choose which high school they attend. I will stump for Catholic, but will let the choice be theirs. I figure because of the foundation that is currently being laid, they will be able to make a decision that is best for them.

 

[Jennifer823]

What program do you use? I've done some research into it as I would like to start DS on some kind of curriculum this year so he's not behind when going into kindergarden.

We use Seton Home Study. In fact, they just started a new pre-k program you might want to look into. I've been teaching my middle son for three years (he's going into 10th grade this year); my oldest son started homeschooling last year, he will be a senior this year, and my youngest daughter will be starting 2nd grade, homeschooled all the way.

 

[Texan920]

We made a decision this year to send out daughter to private school. For us it means making some life changes and there will be little going towards a college fund but the alternative, in our opinion, wasn't the best choice.
The schools where we lives aren't the greatest and I firmly believe that smaller class sizes, teachers, and environment will make a big difference in our daughter's education.
We have enough money for the school - but no life extras after the high tuition (there isn't any financial aide). We toured many schools before we made the decision but the decision was easy. Would we rather be living lean (can pay bills, quality food - no vacations, fancy extras, etc) and know we're doing the best for our child or have 'stuff' and send to her a school we know to be sub-par?
She's worth it and we're so proud to know that she won't be exposed to the problems of the local public school.

As for high schools, public is an option when she reaches the age as there are many great ones in our city she can option or apply to attend. The elementry schools are lacking in many areas and we can't afford to move into the million dollar + neighbourhoods where the good public schools are. Homeschooling was another idea we were playing with but the school we loved the most we got accepted to (it's very competitive) and we feel like the opportunity is golden.

That's a big unknown at this point. It is a first-year program just being implemented for the incoming 6th graders and will expand to 7th & 8th as they move up. However, the decision was made last year to move the district's alternative high school into a partially unused wing of the middle school, and unfortunately that wing held the only real science labs in the building. So the same year they're starting this advanced science & math program will be the first without any labs. Our district politics really suck; we're on the "cheap" end of the district as far as housing/income and 6 of 7 board members and the superintendent reside in the more upscale town at the other end of the district, so they tend to watch out for that end of things at the expense of the schools down here.



Older DD is one of those that doesn't mind changing schools. She makes friends easily and her close friends are from her activities, which draw from several local schools, so school isn't a big social deal to her. We moved when she was getting ready to start 3rd grade and she did fine, so I assume she'll have no difficulty handling a change she's involved in choosing.

There really isn't a preschool choice for younger DD that will be the same group of kids as either of the K options. Because our public preschool is in the next town, some kids from our area will attend there but others attend the Catholic school or go to Head Start or to the co-op at another church in town, and quite a few kids around here don't do preschool at all.

SCRIP is something I forgot to ask about, so thank you very much for reminding me. I know the school sells it because they share a coordinator with our middle school, but I'm not sure how it applies to tuition and fees. DS's football fees are entirely covered by his SCRIP sales so I know we could make at least a little dent in tuition with it as well.

I have to say, some of the numbers that have been mentioned in this thread make me realize just how fortunate we are to have this option at all... The first year she'll get a new student incentive that will put her tuition, including books and technology fee, at $2600 for the year. After that, it'll be $4700 for just her or $8000 for both girls (non-parishoner rate; if I join the parish it would be $5750 for both).

I noticed this post was. While back, however, I'm not sure what state that you are in but you have a great deal in catholic tuition. I'm in Houston, Tx. My daughter is in 3rd grade, been there for 4 years now. When we first sent her there in kin. The cost was $4500 and it went up about $ 300/ yrs. next yr would be $6100/ child. I like to keep my kid there, however, I'm a bit concern because the enrollment drops and most o the grade has only one class.... That mean less resources. Thinking about moving to an other school, however, worry the other school might be too big.... Current school has about 245 students ( k-8) while other school is about 750, they have three classes for each grade.

I don't know what best in this case, any suggestion? Greatly appreciate any feedback. Btw, my almost 4 year old is about to join The school next year as per k, so I have to think about not changing after that.

Thanks

 

[nunzia]

Your daughter may be in a position that her academics and grades earned due to being in a better environment will position her for scholarships.

Two of my three attend private school.

My youngest is in Montessori and smart as a whip, the best environment for him. He's very hands on.

My middle child is a bookworm, so she goes to Prep School. She's fluent in Chinese and can debate the pants off anyone. Her high school tuition is higher than most state universities, but I am confident she will get scholarships and her experience there will pay off.

My oldest graduated this year (he refused to go to private school). Though he's recently moved out on his own, he is a busboy right now and has no plans to do much else. I truly believe our public school here just pushed him through. It amazed me -he'd have C's and D's, then cut out an article and get an A on his report card. It made it impossible to enforce any kind of study habits at home, he knew he only had to do the bare minimum. That being said, maybe private school would have been a waste of money. I'll never know.

Go for the environment that is best for the child. You can't lose.

Yes, my DD is going through this. Her oldest son has ADHD and some learning issues as well. Last year he went to a private classical education Christian school. Not 100% pleased as his main teacher wasn't really experienced in teaching, but overall positive and great sense of community. They moved 65 miles way for DD's husband to be closer to college and not need to commute so made sure the kids got in the best school there..still only 50% pass on testing though...our state has a really awful overall education system...He has all these IEPs that really aren't followed..many of his assignments are just marked 'excused' (?) and one science packet that came home marked 100% was pretty much blank. For some reason the teacher said he couldn't learn cursive and one evening working with him at home had him reading and writing cursive..again.. ?. The younger is in the gifted track and brings home papers with wrong answers that are never explained or corrected to come up with the correct answer..so the same error over and over. I used to be opposed to homeschooling, but that is what she's looking at now and I'm feeling much more supportive of this that I was several years ago. She feels like both of her school aged kids are just being pushed through.

 

[njcarita]

we started out in our local catholic school with all 3 kids..........and honestly for us in restrospect not a good decision........... my oldest went from kindergarten and graduated 8th grade........... my 2 youngest were pulled to public by us in april of their 2nd and 5th grade.............even thought they were straight A students in the catholic school they were all behind when they went over to public........ because of the small class sizes also under 15 kids per class they taught at the level of the lowest child ............ now years later my kids are finally caught up............ and my oldest had gotten a few academic sholarships for college......but that was just my experience............ and i really miss the religious aspect of the catholic schools........... but my kids say the teachers are nicer in the public and actually less teasing and bullying going on in our public schools.........go figure total opossite than i had expected..................good luck with your decison........ i cried my eyes out when i pulled my girls out of catholic school cause i really wanted them to have the catholic education...... just wasnt in the card for us...............

 

[scrapquitler]

We chose a combination of public school and homeschooling over private schools for our DD. We homeschooled k-2nd, she attended public school for 3-5th, homeschooled for middle school 6-8th, and went back to public school for high school. She is now a junior.

We decided that because the private schools in this area, even for elementary age cost MORE than in-state tuition at our state colleges. We would not send her to the local Catholic elementary/middle school because it is (in my opinion) not as good academically as the public schools with no gifted & talented program (which we needed). The secular private schools are just scary expensive ($14K for 1st grade back when she would have been in first grade!).

 

[pocomom]

Tough decisions we wrestle with yearly! Right now my kids are homeschooling. Which I love, but in our area there are not a lot of social activites for the kids during the day - lots of kids cyber school not a lot homeschool.... Just wanted to mention that in this district homeschooling/cyberschooling kids can participate in the districts athletic activities and even one class starting in Jr. High. Although it is not offically sanctioned, my 11 dd was allowed to go in for band practice in her school too. Something to check into if you haven't already. She may be excited to continue with afterschool activies with her current friends if it is available!

 

[2disneyboys]

Our boys are in a small private school (k-12th grade) and have been since Kindergarten. The main reason for this choice for us is the schools in our district are terrible, and out of district would be very difficult to manage with DH & I work schedule. I also don't want them having to jump around from school to school (I moved a lot as a kid and it was terrible entering new schools every 2 years or so) I love the curriculum they are on, as well as the class sizes. There are (of course) some disadvantages to them attending the smaller private school, however, we make sure we provide the opportunities for them to cover these "gaps" in other ways (private classes, various "camps" etc)

Yes, having to pay tuition, well, I don't' like it! (Honestly, paying tuition would not bother me as much if we could at least deduct it @ tax time, but as there are public (free) schools available to us, we can't deduct the tuition costs. ) BUT, we didn't want to move (we love our house, neighborhood, and proximity to various local amenities) so it was either terrible schools, various private schools, or home school, which I KNOW I would never be good at! I am NOT cut out to be a teacher! And no matter how great a school is (Private, public, etc) very few schools are so amazing that they meet every single need of every single student. We picked the school the met the majority of the needs we had (and we did have to prioritize "needs" and as I said above, we fill in the gaps where we feel it's lacking. This works for us.

In the situation you described, I would try to send her. She sounds old enough and mature enough to be able to be involved in this choice. Plus, she would have a vested interest in suceeding as she was part of the decison. Go with your gut!

 

[bettymae1121]

We are doing private for pre-school and kindy but we aren't sure about grade school yet. The price almost doubles from K to 1st grade and while we can swing it, it will be a sacrifice. I think it will depend on if we can get financial assistance and if so, how much. They offer assistance even for higher income families so it could work out okay. If that doesn't pan out, we'll actually move rather than send her to our current district.