Okay, so let’s finally get to why I personally put my kids in a private school.
First, my husband works at a private Christian school, so we get a discount. We would not be able to afford private school otherwise.
So since we had the option of a private school, we had to weigh our options. In the end, we decided to try private school because:
1. Strong academics
2. Christian environment/religious education (We are particularly happy that this school is an inter-denominational school since we are Orthodox! No denomination-specific dogma is taught, although there is a general Protestant influence. We feel like we can handle that.)
3. More Opportunities (more field trips, overnight trips, elementary clubs and sports)
What kind of school do your children go to? What do you like about it?
My children have always gone to public schools. I will not move from this area for four years (although it costs me financially and emotionally to stay), because of the city school system. Raleigh is thriving academically and socially. Her school system feeds every child, regardless of income, both breakfast and lunch. It’s part of their budget. Test scores have skyrocketed, while problems at school have plummeted.
I have a plan – you know because as a mommy plans ALWAYS work the way you want them to. Right?
Right now T is in a private Lutheran preschool. Next year (and here’s where I take my gamble) she’ll go to a different private Lutheran Kindergarten. After that she’ll go to the dual immersion Mandarin public school. We’re part Chinese; my mom and grandma who live with us both speak Mandarin – it just makes sense.
The gamble I’m taking is that if they don’t get into the dual immersion program I would have preferred them to go to a charter school. But the charter schools start at Kindergarten and the immersion school start in first grade. The chances of me getting them into a charter school after Kindergarten are pretty miniscule. I’d love for them to be able to go to the Lutheran private school if they didn’t get into either the charter school or the immersion school but I have my doubts about the academic level after kindergarten (shhh it’s my church’s school LOL).
So the smart thing to do would be to put them into the charter school at Kindergarten then try for the immersion school for first grade… But I know for a fact that the Kindergarten at my church is stellar and there’s a family connection there. It’s all very frustrating to me.
Oh, I would LOVE for my kids to go to a dual immersion school! We have ONE of those in my district. Spanish/English. It sounds like you have a lot of options!