There was already a similar thread on this regarding homeschooling.
As mentioned in there I am looking at options and becoming more anxious! All seem good right now, but of course I want what’s best for us. We have a local public school that looks good based on their scores, a language immersion program that sounds great, but I hear rumors of bullying in other grades. Private schools, Montessori, and homeschool are all on the table as well.

He’s already attending a preschool that is outdoor/nature-based (they spend most of their time in the woods- the preschool is based in a park) so the indoctrination has already begun regarding school (kindergarten, school buses all equal excitement and “grownup” to him). As I mentioned in the other thread, I am not sure that I’m able to give him the social outlet that he needs if I were to homeschool (total introvert here) and I’m not sure I have the patience, to be honest, so right now I’m leaning towards private school, Montessori or a Charter school.

The easy out is to just send him to our local public school (where I happily attended as a child) which is right down the way a few blocks, but I’m concerned about what he’ll be learning and if class sizes are too big (outside of bookwork).
My husband is interested in the immersion program at a different public school; I am too, except for the rumors I’m hearing of bullying. The charter schools sound great, but one is a distance, the other sounds a little too green for my husband (per him). Montessori and private both sound great, but of course, we have to be mindful of budget, and in the Montessori case, whether he’s self-motivated enough to do well.
I’m at a loss, and I know you guys can’t decide for me, you don’t even know my kid, but, gosh, any advice? This is overwhelming! Thanks!

In general, my advice is this:

No matter what you choose for kindergarten, it does not mean that you need to follow the same path for the rest of his 12 school years. Do what your gut tells you next year. If it doesn't pan out, switch it up for first grade.

We went through the same hand wringing with our 6yo girl. She went to a local church’s program for pre k. My wife is an employee with the local school district so we are keenly aware of its pluses and minuses. There turned out to be too many minuses for us. The idea of home school was bounced around but never really considered strongly. It came down to two different private schools (Christian, but very well respected in the area). One was five minutes from our house and it won out for various reasons. The school is Pre K through 12th and has a 100% college acceptance rate. This is our daughters second year there. Money is sadly an issue as these places are not cheap, but in our minds you get what your paying for. Best of luck with your decision

Contrary to what some people will tell you not every public school is a leftist shithole trying to turn our kids into homosexual vegan socialists that hate America. We send our kids to public school and I am extremely happy with the local system. The grade school both my kids attend starts every morning with the National Anthem, the Pledge of Allegiance and a moment of silence to "say a prayer or just reflect on your upcoming day". There is a small group of 5th graders who go out just before the final bell and do a little flag ceremony as they take the American flag down for the day. They do it with no adult supervision and take more pride in it than many Marines I knew.

Class sizes are in the lower 20's and most teachers seem to have a parent assistant at least part time. There is a gifted program that my kids attend one day out of each week. There is a science team that my daughter is in, a news team my son is in and several other extra-circular activities.

So don't immediately discount public schools. They get a lot of bad press, and deservedly so in many cases, but there are still a lot of good ones.

In the case of bullying I would definitely be concerned. Do you have any friends with older kids that you can discuss it with?

As much as Pale horse is right, you need to look at the demographic of the area of to determine when choosing public school. Do you live in an upper class, middle class, or lower class area? Pale Horse I would venture a guess is in a middle to upper class area, therefore its a good public school. Otherwise, Private schools are great

If you're open to a Christian education for your son, you may want to consider Classical Conversations.

My sister-in-law does it for her 2 boys. My understanding is that it is a "homeschool plus" They meet regularly with the other families following the same program so they do get some social interaction. However, it is primarily a homeschooling.

Website
https://www.classicalconversations.com/

Visit them all, more than once. Their open houses are great, but pop in and see what it is really like during school hours if you want a good read on it.

Don't look at it as once you start somewhere, you stay somewhere. Go with what's best now.

We ended up in a Catholic school, even though we aren't parishioners.

quote:

Originally posted by fatmanspencer:
As much as Pale horse is right, you need to look at the demographic of the area of to determine when choosing public school. Do you live in an upper class, middle class, or lower class area? Pale Horse I would venture a guess is in a middle to upper class area, therefore its a good public school. Otherwise, Private schools are great

Actually we do not live in an upper middle class area. Pretty solid middle class (I think median family income is in the 50k range) and the school my kids attend is actually a Title 1 school which means we have a significant number of low income students.

But you are right that the school is representative of the area. While many families here are lower middle class that does not make them bad people. I have coached both football and baseball for the city for 7 years now and so I have had a lot of exposure to the families in the area. For the most part they are honest, hard working people who teach their kids decent values and respect.

Money doesn't equal class and it doesn't always equal a good school either. I'd damn sure rather send my kids to this lower income smaller town southern school than some school around 5th avenue full of limousine liberals. If you live in a good community the school will represent that regardless of the median income.

My wife and I just went through this with our daughter, though just for preschool right now. We settled on one of the two Montessori schools here. We will try it for at least a year and then see where she is at.

Something that my wife found to be a great resource for this (and many other parenting related issues) is a local Facebook page "Mothers of Park City." It's just like it sounds; a place for mothers to ask and give advice about all things related to their children. My wife got a lot of feedback about local schools which helped us in our decision. You might check to see if there is something similar for where you are located.

Good luck.

quote:

Originally posted by Pale Horse:

Money doesn't equal class and it doesn't always equal a good school either. I'd damn sure rather send my kids to this lower income smaller town southern school than some school around 5th avenue full of limousine liberals. If you live in a good community the school will represent that regardless of the median income.

Yep. Good schools are a reflection of the involvement of the community. That involve can come from donations, or volunteers, or most likely from parents who make sure their kids get their shit done, are rested, are fed, and have their head on straight.

quote:

Originally posted by Pale Horse:
Contrary to what some people will tell you not every public school is a leftist shithole trying to turn our kids into homosexual vegan socialists that hate America. We send our kids to public school and I am extremely happy with the local system. The grade school both my kids attend starts every morning with the National Anthem, the Pledge of Allegiance and a moment of silence to "say a prayer or just reflect on your upcoming day". There is a small group of 5th graders who go out just before the final bell and do a little flag ceremony as they take the American flag down for the day. They do it with no adult supervision and take more pride in it than many Marines I knew.

Class sizes are in the lower 20's and most teachers seem to have a parent assistant at least part time. There is a gifted program that my kids attend one day out of each week. There is a science team that my daughter is in, a news team my son is in and several other extra-circular activities.

So don't immediately discount public schools. They get a lot of bad press, and deservedly so in many cases, but there are still a lot of good ones.

I agree with this. I realize some public schools are worse than bad... but not are by any stretch.

Mine have all gone to public and have done well - for instance current high-schooler just got a 1370 on the SAT as a sophomore.

-----------------------------------------------

While we live in a very good elementary school district, the middle school is decent, and the high school is not so good.
I am the product of public school (though another state) and so is my wife (of the district but not the individual schools) but we’re also talking 20+ years ago.

Our oldest is only in PreK but we have decided on a private Christian education. Yup, it is costing us a substantial amount of money especially since we will be putting 3 boys through.
My wife was an elementary teacher in the district did not like the inner workings and left for nursing. She then was a nurse for the school district and nothing had changed much and had seemed to get worse.

So that was a big decision for us not to go public but stay private. We like the small class size, the education is not standardized test based, and it is just a wonderfully small tight knit group of families.

It is a big decision and a HUGE chunk of change but for our scenario and needs it so far certainly the best option.

But there are so many factors to look at it is hard to say what would be best for you.

Thanks to all who replied. I know many moms in our area are in the same boat as me, just trying to find the best fit with so many good choices. The local school down the street is middle to upper middle class, and has very good scores. The immersion school is lower middle class to lower, and that’s where I’ve heard the bullying issues. I just wish we could test run them all for a month, lol. I feel like I don’t do enough at home with him, esp with my work- when he mimics me he typically asks me to wait a minute while he finishes “working on something”. It’s an eye opener as far as his perception of my availability.
Does anyone have a list of questions they ran through with prospective schools when they toured?
I don’t want to be Captain Obvious, but since Ive never done this before, and I don’t have a bird’s eye view to the local school system, I’m afraid I might forget something simple-like being able to access my child anytime I want to. Or if they allow assistance/volunteers or helpers in class, or if vacations would be an issue, etc.
Are there any obvious questions I should be asking?
Thanks again, guys. You always set my mind at ease.

quote:

The local school down the street is middle to upper middle class, and has very good scores.

Then do not be surprised when they start bussing kids around bringing the kids from lower performing schools there and sending some from there to lower performing schools.
That was a HUGE issue here they have changed the lines slightly but it is still an issue.

Our old house was less than 1/2 mile from a very good elementary school yet our kids would go to a different school that was one of the lowest performing schools in the state. And you would also pass two other better elementary schools on the way there.

quote:

Originally posted by Black92LX:

quote:

The local school down the street is middle to upper middle class, and has very good scores.

Then do not be surprised when they start bussing kids around bringing the kids from lower performing schools there and sending some from there to lower performing schools.
That was a HUGE issue here they have changed the lines slightly but it is still an issue.

Our old house was less than 1/2 mile from a very good elementary school yet our kids would go to a different school that was one of the lowest performing schools in the state. And you would also pass two other better elementary schools on the way there.

The thing that’s complicated things here (for me, anyway) is that they have open enrollment- so children from other districts can go to whatever school their parents choose as long as there’s room (and the school district pays for bussing from certain parts of town!)-at least at this point in time. It used to be a no brainer as far as where your kids went to school- you’d go to the school closest in your district-now it’s become a citywide free-for-all, with all the schools having “roundups” and ALL of them requesting ALL of your information.

It is a good thing in that it offers more options, a bad thing in that we (imho) have too many choices and I’m afraid it’s a result of the public schools losing part of the population of students to private and charter, etc. I’m sure it’s their response to the wake up call, but geez. I feel like we have more choices in choosing a kindergarten than I had in choosing a college, lol!

I don’t know where you are, but my advice is to ask as many people as possible who have kids that age or older in school. Personal reviews from people you trust are the best. Work, church, the gym- anywhere you have enough contact with people to know if that person is legit, or an idiot. The review is only as good as the person who is giving it. And like all reviews, you need to use critical thinking to read between the lines. I would think you’d pretty quickly arrive at a consensus for your area.

EDIT TO ADD: In some places certain schools “feed” into other schools, so ask about the middle schools and high schools too. Sometimes it’s hard to get into a school if you’re not coming from a certain school, so you may need to factor that in as well.

quote:

Originally posted by honestlou:

EDIT TO ADD: In some places certain schools “feed” into other schools, so ask about the middle schools and high schools too. Sometimes it’s hard to get into a school if you’re not coming from a certain school, so you may need to factor that in as well.

Yes, I’ve discovered that one of the schools splits the kids between two high schools when they age out, and I’ll be damned if I’m driving my kid to the other side of town to attend high school (we only have 4, and two are private). The other thing that bugged me about it was the fact that they’d be separating 1/2 the kids that have been together for 7 or 8 years. The two public high schools are geographically in opposite parts of town. Maybe that’s normal now, but when I was a kid, our whole grade school joined other grade schools to make up the jr high, then another influx of students joined when we hit high school, not the other way around..

And I recently spoke to a mom that was in a charter program that only went through grade 4, and then they were going to have to decide what next as middle school here starts at grade 7, iirc. Now she has to decide to move as a group with other classmates, or as individuals? This is crazy stuff.

What other things should I be thinking of?

Looking back I'm pretty sure kindergarten meant nothing to the eventual intelligence of my 3 daughters. Barring a physical environment problem I'd go with what is simple. Putting aside the cash for a year won't hurt the budget either I would assume.

If however the next level of schooling is unacceptable, and kindergarten attendance is key to acceptance in the future by all means start now.

I have a daughter in Kindergarten now.
The real decision point for my wife and I was the amount of time the kids spend sitting down and indoors.
The local public school has a great reputation but they only offer full day kindergarten. I didn't want her cooped up all day if I could help it, so we opted to homeschool.
If there was a 1/2 day option out there, I would have taken it, but it just isn't available here.

We supplement the homeschooling with a 1day/week Homeschool enrichment class. It's offered at the public elementary for kids K-3. They meet once a week with a dedicated 'Enrichment Teacher' who just covers the fun stuff -- PE, Art, Lab work, etc ,etc. So at this point I think we are getting the best of both worlds.

With my son - who is in 2nd grade now - we tried Montessori, Waldorf, and Homeschooling. He loved Montessori. I would have kept him in it if one was available anywhere close to where we live.

Thanks for your thoughts. That’s part of what I’m looking for now -a half day option. I see no reason to keep my kid in class all day! He’s 5 and loves to run.
There are pros and cons to each program I’m looking at, but that is definitely a big factor for me.