Private school?

[sillyyankee]

Are you a Parishioner of the Catholic Church ?

Usually your Diocese will help subsidize the tuition for it's parishioners.

In our Diocese it is $500 per child. We do not request it our our struggling parish.

We changed our children over to Catholic school after starting in public. After 3 years of public school it was apparent that we could not send our children to public anymore. Between massive cuts, personnel changes and increasing class sizes, not to mention lack of ethics by fellow classmates and their parents we have not looked back. We say on a regular basis how happy we are to have made the change.
By the way, we just keep driving the same cars, a 1997 and a 2004. No car payment, but we have tuition payments (and repair bills) instead. Also, the uniform is an incredible money saver in the clothing department. We also do not contribute as much as we should to the college fund. It goes to tuition.
Wiser and more experienced parents at our school have mentioned that some local Catholic colleges give an almost-automatic scholarship when they see the school's name on the transcripts. I hope this is true!
Good luck with your decision.

 

[MomToOne]

I am a firm believer that you have to look at the needs of the individual child, and the resources (primarily $, but also things like parent hours, etc.) that you can afford to give. No child is alike, so the answer will ultimately be different for each child.

I put DD in a private non-parochial school for K thru 6th. For 7th this year, she went into public school. The decisions were based on the characteristics of the individual school, and what was right for DD and me at the time. I'm not sure what we'll do for high school yet - there's a chance I'll put her into a Catholic High School, but I'm not really sure yet.

My sister-in-law put my nephews into two different private elementary schools, since they had different needs and the schools had different strengths.

The thing to remember is that no school will be perfect. Not private, not public. They all have issues. It's just a matter of finding the one that will work best for your individual situation. And no one but you can figure out what that is.

 

[danceintherain]

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!

Just so y'all know. This post is around 6 months old, and the OP has made her decision, and already started sending her daughter to the new school.
It would be interesting to see how it's going though....

 

[brymolmom]

Haven't read all the posts, but here's my perspective.

IMO - not all private schools are created equal. And Catholic schools (at least around here) are not at the top of that pyramid. I went to Catholic school K - 8 and then a good public high school. I was way behind other 'honors' level kids from the public school. Don't get me wrong - we learned a LOT in Catholic school, just different things. I can still diagram just about any sentence you want to give me - but we never read the classic literature that most other kids read. It was not worth it for my mom to spend that $ on sending my sibs and I to that catholic school.

For me it would depend on the 'issues' that you have with the local public school. Everyone is going to have some sort of issue...and likely lots of smaller issues with their school. If it is big issues - then I might consider the switch. A lot of it, IMO, comes down to good teachers and good parental involvement - which can be about the same at either school.

Rule of thumb in my head is that for really high or really low academics, public can 'usually' provide more opportunities (except for the really elite private schools) - but for 'middle of the road' kids Catholic schools are fine. Of course, that wouldn't be enough for me to spend the money on it.

Unless it is an unbearable situation, I would rather have my parent put any money that would have been spent on private schooling and put it into a college account. That way I could come out of college debt-free.

I hate old posts....LOL - I likely commented the first time around too.

 

[SYDCOLEMOM]

We made the decision to put our daughter in private school this year. We live in a fairly good school district but it lacked in soooo many ways. The public schools method of teaching was a strict "our way or the highway". By putting her in private school the classes are smaller, her current class is 12 kids with 2 teachers. For us it has been simply AMAZING ! They are able to cater to how each child learns versus a one method approach. I cant speak for everyone and each child is different but this was the very best decision we ever made for her. I hope we can afford to keep her there all the way thru high school. Somehow I will find a way (I might have to drive the same vehicle for the next 10 years but it will be worth it). The public schools passed my daughter on to 3rd grade (she has marginal grades) We made the choice as her parents to hold her back for a repeat of 2nd grade. This year in Private school she is making all A's and B's !! Her self confidence has sky rocketed and she has learned so much more than if we had left her in the public school mold. Its unfortunate that public schools arent allowed to tailor their curriculum to each students needs. We prayed about it and really struggled with the decision to move her from public to private but I can not tell you how glad we are that we decided to give send her to private. We are not Catholic (this is a christian school but not catholic) and we are not wealthy. This is a sacrifice for us. If you think for a second that this is going to be whats best for her then go with your gut and your instincts. You could always try it for a year and see if its a good fit. Best of luck

 

[HeatherL]

My older son has a genius IQ but he has special needs (diagnosed ADHD and high functioning Aspergers). Our school district is notorious for not knowing what to do with intellectually gifted kids who have special needs. If at all possible we will keep him in private schools with low student/teacher ratios and more individualized attention.

Our toddler isn't showing any signs of Aspergers and does very well in social situations. He also shows signs of being smart so we are going to try him in a local Montessori school twice a week in the fall. I'm not sure what we will do for kindergarten. It will depend on him temperament and how good the public schools are when we reach that point.

This is exactly what I am dealing with right now with my almost 10 year old ds. He has aspergers and an almost genius IQ. I have always been fairly happy with our school district, but this year has been horrible. They aren't meeting his needs as he gets older-I've been meeting with the principal and going above his head. Anyway, we are starting to consider private school, and hoping we can find a way to make it work. This post is very timely for what we are going through!

 

[scootch]

For us, it is more important than the home we live in or the cars we drive... My girls have 9 and 12 kids in their classes... love the individual attention and the abundance of parents who are all into raising their kids with strong morals.

 

[Colleen27]

Just so y'all know. This post is around 6 months old, and the OP has made her decision, and already started sending her daughter to the new school.
It would be interesting to see how it's going though....

She loves it. Halfway through the year she's getting all As, though she struggles for the A in religion, and she just started 7th grade math (she's in 6th). The combination of small classes and dedicated teachers has given her much more opportunity to work at her own pace, and I'm thrilled that the history and literature are more "thinking" and research oriented than anything my son has brought home.

Socially it has been interesting because she's sort of straddling the social worlds of both peer groups. She's still part of a very active scout troop based at the public middle and she decided to play one more year of Little League rather than juggle the new school and the demands of travel softball all at the same time (the travel team plays fall and spring seasons). But she's also a cheerleader, on the volleyball team, and will be running track in the spring at her school. She has made a couple close friends at school and gets along with everyone, but is still getting used to being the non-Catholic kid in the Catholic school. She's really coming into her own as more of a leader, though - she was just inducted into National Junior Honor Society in December and already she proposed and is working on implementing a major service project (community garden to support the church's food pantry). They also have some really cool annual events for the kids - she just got home from winter camp, where she had everything from orienteering and survival courses to cross country skiing and snow tubing, and she's part of the forensics team that will be competing in an academic olympiad competition later this month.

Older DD will certainly be staying in at the private school through 8th grade. We're still waffling over where younger DD will go in the fall. Older DD has experience with several educational and social settings so transitioning back to public for high school doesn't worry me at all, but I do worry about how it would be for younger DD to attend such a small school K-8 and then have to adjust to the much larger classes and more rigid environment of a public school setting. But the Catholic high school isn't even a consideration - I've talked to other parents and to a few students and the consensus is that the small size is just too limiting at that level to be worth the price tag. Too few extracurricular options, too few AP/honors offerings, etc. And there are much better public options available to us at the high school level than there are for middle school so there's less incentive to spend the money on private at all.

 

[DisneyATlast]

Each individual school is different, but I noticed that there's a huge misconception that private school automatically means better school. Specifically, better teachers. Actually, private school teachers are not required to have a bachelor's degree or teaching license. That doesn't mean that a lot of individual schools don't hire only teachers who are licensed, but a lot of them don't. Some people may know that already, but a lot of people are surprised to find out. I first learned this when I was student teaching and I started talking to a lady who was working as a teacher's assistant. She told me she used to be a teacher at a local private Christian school. I asked why she was working as an assistant then instead of a teacher, and her answer was, "I don't have a degree." The public school wouldn't let her teach, but the private school did. Again, I'm sure this varies by school, but it's something worth knowing.

 

[DisneyMommyMichelle]

We chose private over public but we did it right off the bat. As in before the children were born we began saving for it. Of course we had our savings for the children we had 'planned' on having! LOL!! Add in a third and it really did begin to eat away at the savings quicker than I thought it would! LOL!! It was tight but we took from our vacation savings more than ANYTHING else.

The thing we fell in love with at this school was class size! It was 8:1 and that was AMAZING!

We are beginning to have MAJOR issues with the school because they keep raising tuition and allowing more students to go their for free, while treating the full paying tuition families as nothing more than a wallet. Along with some other not so happy findings. We have made the executive decision to homeschool next year and will use the extra tuition money that we will not be spend will be used to sock away for extra classes (gymnastism, Mandarin and Tae Kwon Do) and all the membership renewals we have coming up (Museums and Zoos) along with our 'field trips'

 

[PA Princess]

Actually, private school teachers are not required to have a bachelor's degree or teaching license. That doesn't mean that a lot of individual schools don't hire only teachers who are licensed, but a lot of them don't.

I will not dispute that many private schools do not require a teaching certificate, but I have personally never encountered a private school that did not require at least a bachelor's degree for teachers. I have years of teaching experience in both private and public schools, and I hold a BA, M.ed and teacher certificate, for the record.

As well, a teaching certificate is not a guarantee that a person can teach (says the lady who spent last year teaching algebra II to her son in public high school), and private schools can often be flexible in ways public schools cannot. I currently teach at a private high school. One of our teachers has a Ph.d and is a retired Princeton professor but no teaching certificate. He is an amazing teacher, but he could not work in a public high school here.

 

[danygirl]

We opted for Catholic school for all three for k-8. I wanted more than just academics, I wanted the kids to part of a community where folks care about more than just themselves. I do not regret the money I spent on this.

We sent them to public school for high school. Two of the kids loved it, the school has changed some and if I had the money I would put the last one in Catholic high school, but at $18000 or more per year that is not an option with 2 others already in college.

We found the classrooms were better managed in catholic school, the kids showed respect for each other and the teachers (my youngest finds this really lacking in public school), parents were much more involved in catholic school, you got to know the families of all the kids, everyone played sports together.

My son summed it up like this - In Catholic school the teachers tell us we are all the same (children of God) but they treated us as individuals. In public school they tell us we are all "special" but then treat everyone exactly the same, despite what our needs actually are.

 

[punkin]

We opted for Catholic school for all three for k-8. I wanted more than just academics, I wanted the kids to part of a community where folks care about more than just themselves. I do not regret the money I spent on this.

We sent them to public school for high school. Two of the kids loved it, the school has changed some and if I had the money I would put the last one in Catholic high school, but at $18000 or more per year that is not an option with 2 others already in college.

We found the classrooms were better managed in catholic school, the kids showed respect for each other and the teachers (my youngest finds this really lacking in public school), parents were much more involved in catholic school, you got to know the families of all the kids, everyone played sports together.

My son summed it up like this - In Catholic school the teachers tell us we are all the same (children of God) but they treated us as individuals. In public school they tell us we are all "special" but then treat everyone exactly the same, despite what our needs actually are.

...from the mouths of babes.

 

[sskem96]

We pulled DD16 out of public school half way through 8th grade. She was having problems concentrating on her work because of all the noise and commotion. I don't know what changed for her that year, but she suddenly needed to be in a calm quiet environment to absorb the information. There were about 27 kids in each classroom, and 1200 total in the Jr. High. She finished out 8th grade with an online program from home that cost us $120/month through Slavic Christian Academy.

We decided that program wasn't quite structured enough for her and we were worried about her missing out on the social aspects of school, so we enrolled her in a small Christian high school. It has certainly gotten her through her first 2 years of high school with very little stress, but it has its issues too. There are only 11 kids in her class and most of them have gone to school together since preschool, so they tend to fight like siblings (teasing that gets out of hand and turns hurtful). The teachers are very laid back and there is little discipline in the classroom. There is also no communication from the teachers. Conferences are only offered in October. Grades and assignments are supposed to be available online, but most of the teachers don't keep it up to date. We also found out this year that if you have a lengthy illness and miss several weeks of school, there are no resources available like a homebound tutor to help you get caught up.

DD is going back to public school next year. Her best friend is there, and our other daughter will be a freshman there in the fall as well. She seems quite confident that she will be successful there. I just hope she's up to the challenge because I feel like she's been able to really slack off the last 2 years. She's very smart, but tends to be lazy unless forced to work hard, and I think her current school has a lot to do with that. I always thought private schools were more strict than public, but we've found that not to be the case in this instance.

I would suggest talking to some of the parents who have kids your daughter's age enrolled at the school and find out what they like the most and the least about the school so you can make an educated decision on whether it's a good fit. I think if we were faced with the same decision again we probably wouldn't change anything because we didn't have a lot of options at the time, but I feel bad that we sold our camper and gave up lots of other things so she could go to school there and now she's leaving after only 2 years.

 

[hoosiergirl7]

I know this is an old post and so to some responding may seem silly. I went to Catholic school from 1st grade through my freshman year of HS. My parents bought a house where there was no Catholic HS nearby. So I spent my last 3 years of HS in a gigantic public school. I absolutely hated it. I never really made friends there and totally got lost in the shuffle of a school that at the time had 2200 students. Now it has double that.

My son has spent his entire school career at Catholic schools. We love the smaller class sizes and compared to the public schools around here is getting a much better education. The school he is currently enrolled in is extremely small. There are just about 80 students in grades K-12. He is one of 7 or 8 kids in his 3rd grade class and there are less than 30 families in the entire school. I love that I can easily talk to the teachers if need be. I also like that with a small school it's easy to get to know the families and the kids. I also love that the 6th, 7th, and 8th graders really take the younger kids under their wings and mentor them. Our son will not be going here for HS even though it is offered. We will be moving him to one of 2 of our choice Catholic HS where he will have the opportunity to play sports and be involved in other extra activities.

Our daughter was born with severe hearing loss so she is currently enrolled in a deaf school. She is extremely happy there but she's still in preschool. I will have to wait and see what the academics are like next year and in 1st grade. I may have to supplement her academics at home to stay ahead of the curve.

It is worth giving up an extra vacation a year to send my kid to a school where I know he is getting a better education than the local schools. I am amazed on a daily basis what he is learning at school.

 

[KMarston]

Nothing in the world I wouldn't give up to send my son to private (parochial) school. He's a sophomore and thanks me most every day I pick him up for sending him there. We recently had to take on another teen, our niece, and figure out how to put her through private school. She had problems both acedemically as well as with behavior. She had been bullied terribly and mistreated by teachers, aside from being severely neglected and abused at home.

These teachers rallied around, brought her up to speed on their own time, and she hasn't received even one conduct mark the entire year! They love her and she adores them. The child that HATED school, can't get ready fast enough and hasn't missed one day this year! Even in my sons very large Catholic High School, the teachers will go out of there way to help students in all areas, not just acedemic.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

1) We sent our kids to private (Catholic) school.
2) The local school systems were "just OK". or worse.
. . . we thought the school day was too short
. . . we did not like the curriculum or materials
. . . we did not like the school board decisions
3) We wanted to give the kids a-leg-up on the competition.
4) Besides, we FIRMLY believe that public schools have gone downhill. *

* I shall not get into politics, or what-have-you. We even paid to send
our grandkids to a private school. We just wanted the best opportunity
for the kids.

 

[Colleen27]

We opted for Catholic school for all three for k-8. I wanted more than just academics, I wanted the kids to part of a community where folks care about more than just themselves. I do not regret the money I spent on this.

We sent them to public school for high school. Two of the kids loved it, the school has changed some and if I had the money I would put the last one in Catholic high school, but at $18000 or more per year that is not an option with 2 others already in college.

We found the classrooms were better managed in catholic school, the kids showed respect for each other and the teachers (my youngest finds this really lacking in public school), parents were much more involved in catholic school, you got to know the families of all the kids, everyone played sports together.

My son summed it up like this - In Catholic school the teachers tell us we are all the same (children of God) but they treated us as individuals. In public school they tell us we are all "special" but then treat everyone exactly the same, despite what our needs actually are.

This really touches on why we want to keep younger DD there K-8 even though the two years with both in private school and the years when we have the older two in college and the youngest still in private school will be a financial stretch. We decided to enroll older DD based mainly on academics but have been very impressed by the school community. Our public school isn't really lacking on that count - it is above average as far as public schools go, but there's still a clear divide between "home" and "school" that doesn't really exist at the Catholic school because of the degree of parental and family involvement.

 

[DisneyMommyMichelle]

Each individual school is different, but I noticed that there's a huge misconception that private school automatically means better school. Specifically, better teachers. Actually, private school teachers are not required to have a bachelor's degree or teaching license. That doesn't mean that a lot of individual schools don't hire only teachers who are licensed, but a lot of them don't. Some people may know that already, but a lot of people are surprised to find out. I first learned this when I was student teaching and I started talking to a lady who was working as a teacher's assistant. She told me she used to be a teacher at a local private Christian school. I asked why she was working as an assistant then instead of a teacher, and her answer was, "I don't have a degree." The public school wouldn't let her teach, but the private school did. Again, I'm sure this varies by school, but it's something worth knowing.

I am going through this RIGHT NOW. I was worried about how behind my son was in school compared to what I noticed in previous years with the older teacher who is no longer there and only to find out the teacher had less than one semester of college......Yes, it does happen and lo and behold most if not all of them are NOT certified. Do your research, you may fall in love with a school as I did only to find out that it wasn't all it seemed.

 

[jperrot1]

I think you should definitely consider any school (private or public) that your child would be eligible to attend. Every school has a different atmosphere because of the principle, teachers, support staff, students, and parents, as well as size of school and class sizes. Also, some grade levels might have very well behaved students, and another grade level might have a mix of kids that aren't as conducive for the best learning environment.

My wife and I decided to send our son to the Catholic School because we felt it was the best match for our son, although the public school here is excellent. I believe that a teaching certificate is awarded mainly for completing written work and schooling and is not an indicator of a fine teacher. So, I wouldn't get so hung up on whether or not a teacher is certified. You just have to talk to the parents and they'll tell you about the teachers. I would also ask for a school tour while school is in session. You can get a good feeling for the workings of the school.