Private vs. public schools

[ZTAMich]

sorry to crash ladies I hope you don't mind....

my minister's daughter was home-schooled but went to the local public HS for foreign language and sports activities. She wanted to expand her horizons, add some classes to her transcripts for college and interact with kids her age that didn't just go to our church. You may want to look into that for your area as well. I know when I was home-schooled for a year my mom was able to get workbooks from the local elem. school for me. And as some said too there are Christian sports teams, etc around; my sister played soccer for one in the Orlando area last spring!

Also: I teach in an NYC Public school with a pre-k program and visit the pre-school my parent's church in Florida. There's a huge difference in behavior of the students and the general 'feeling' of the room from one school to the next. There are obvious environmnetal differences involved but I definetly think the added element of Christian faith helps strengthen the program and will lead the 'little lambs' to a very different life than the children in my public school, tho I am trying to shape those precious little ones into great boys and girls too!

[NinjaPoodle]

ZTAMich,

How do you feel about being home schooled? Did you enjoy it? Were you with siblings or by yourself? What do you feel are the pros and cons of home schooling? Why were you home schooled as opposed to public or private? Are you in a rural area or city or suburb?

I want to know because this is a route I'm thinking of taking when I have kids. (and secular private schools also)

NP

[ZTAMich]

Originally posted by NinjaPoodle
ZTAMich,

How do you feel about being home schooled? Did you enjoy it? Were you with siblings or by yourself? What do you feel are the pros and cons of home schooling? Why were you home schooled as opposed to public or private? Are you in a rural area or city or suburb?

I want to know because this is a route I'm thinking of taking when I have kids. (and secular private schools also)

NP

NP,

Was going to PM you but perhaps my opinions/experiences will help others as well.

I was home schooled for 3 quarters of 4th grade in a Long Island Suburb. The Christian school I had attended since K was low in attendance and became too expensive for my parent to afford. Low in attendance is an understatement, the previous year I was one of THREE third graders. My parents were lucky that the elem school's curriculum (accelerated christian education) was able to be used for Home Schooling and I had an ok transition. However, I think as far as my progress academically, I would say that I didn't make any great advances beyond the levels I was at when I started 4th grade. I was ready for 5th grade yes but ready not above and beyond. The work for ACE was leveled to some extent but I was able to complete as much work in a year as I could handle so by 4th grade I was doing much harder Math & English work which got very hard for me and discouraging. This is where my mom went to our local public elem. school and got me workbooks for 4th grade for those two subjects. This helped my motivation a little bit and got me ready for the format of work in 5th grade. I didn't go bakwards but I didn't keep rolling forward either.

Being at home all day became boring and I resented leaving my school a bit. There was a homeschoolers group in my area and every Friday we got together at a church for some group instruction, church songs/story and socializing. We did a field trip every month or so. One mom taught French in her home to a bunch of us. My parents definetly tried to have the year be successful for my social and academic growth. They knew I would be going to public school for 5th grade, so I think I got away with a lot of laziness. I remember days where I didn't 'go to school' till mid afternoon. Plus my mom had a young toddler also in the house. Not being the only child after 7 years was difficult for me too at times, in addition to staying at home for school all day.

So I've experienced all kinds of things in my educational career! All three, private, home school & public had pros and cons. I had parents who had being teachers in their earlier careers as my teachers but I think they knew I was their child first and did what was best for me in the long run, not just for that academic year. There's a family of 6 kids (maybe more) at our church in Florida and they are ALL homeschooled. Here super organization and discipline is involved whereas my situation was a lot more relaxed. But it fit the times. I think that's a huge pro with homeschooling. Parents know their children and are a natural teacher or at least can prove a lot of insight into how their child should be taught. My mom and I have always been close and I think this year of me being home helped in that area as well.

Sorry this got to be so long. Please ask if you have any other questions!

[tunatartare]

I think that a major factor in the private vs. public school debate is location. Depending on how the Board of Ed. in your school is, it could make a huge difference. I live in New York City and up until high school, I was in a secular private school. I got accepted into a specialized public high school so my parents decided to take me out of private school because the costs were insane. We're talking my 8th grade tuition cost more than my private college tuition costs now. So anyways, one major difference I noticed between private and public school is the attention teachers paid to students and the effort that was put into college placement. At my public high school, you were randomly assigned your college advisor. Your advisor had between 100-150 other students, if you met with him or her, fine, if not, your loss. In addition, your advisor taught an average of 4-6 classes, and maybe advised a club or two. This meant it was usually pretty difficult to actually make an appointment to see your advisor. In the private school, however things were another story. Each college advisor had no more than 30 students. The advisors didn't teach any classes or do anything other than college advising from 8am- 3pm. The advisors were friends with admissions directors at colleges and they were often able to find out exactly what the admissions directors were looking for or could put in a good word for a particular applicant. In that respect, I think that yes, public versus private school makes a big difference.

[Strive]

I am all for freedom of choice. However, if you do decide to place your child in a private school. You need to make sure they are keeping up with the law You need to know the latest insider news at the school.

Some people say gossiping is not good, but it can save you from disappointments. My son's teachers withdrew their kids from that private school and quit. That was my final signed to pulled him out. If the staff does not believe in the school ability, what kind of lessons will him received.

The school is good in theory, but my child needs an education from strong well-educated and competent people. I withdrew him from that school. It was one of the best decision I made,
my son is happier now at public school.

[LB1914]

I agree that a factor in private vs. public is location.

Here in Georgia, a person does not have to be certified in order to teach at many private schools. Besides that, historically many of these private schools were founded once integration started in an effort for Whites to keep their children out of the newly-integrated schools. Of course most of them may be diverse now, but being a transplant here that still doesn't sit too well with me.

I personally would not want to put my future children in either public or private schools here in the Atlanta area because everything has gotten too damn political. I taught briefly in DeKalb County and my ex-wife still teaches there. It is amazing how far schools have strayed from their true purpose these days. At the end of the day, the children are supposed to learn. However, many school districts and parents are worried about the wrong stuff. For example, when DeKalb wanted to put uniforms in place for high school students, the parents protested because they felt it would take away from their kids' "individuality". Hell, if wearing a uniform will allow my child to be more concerned with doing their work than with keeping up with the Joneses then I don't see the issue with it.

[NinjaPoodle]

I brought this back up because I thought it was an interesting convo re schools and worthy of more discussion. Anyone else have thoughts regarding Public vs. Private, or your experiences or thoughts on the matter?

[SeriousSigma22]

Ninja,

It doesn't matter if the school is public or private as long as the teachers, administration, students, and parents are dedicated, committed, motiviated and real learning is taking place. There's good and bad in all school systems, however, if the students are successful I say we have a win-win outcome.

Serioussigma22

[PearlRuby]

For me it's not so much public vs. private, it's more Christian vs. secular. I chose to place my son in a private Christian school so that he could be in an environment where the principles of the Word of God would be incorporated into his curriculum - his text books incorporated Christian principles. My son is now in 2nd grade, but has been in Christian child care facilities since I first put him in day care, then preschool, and now elementary. Although I am instilling Christian principles in my son at home, I wanted them to be reinforced at his school, especially in these young foundational years.

My son plays on a neighborhood basketball and track team to teach him sports and how to be a team player - this compensates for him not having a sports program in his school. He does have music, sign language, Spanish, art, and computer in his school curriculum though, so I think he'll be pretty well-rounded.

It's working for us and is a great blessing.

[btb87]

My daughter was in a private school for about 4 years, from pre-k through 2nd grade. Her school was started by a woman that had a vision for our children in our area. Her main focus was on reading, and while I admit that my child did learn to read very well (also with help from mom and dad - we started her abc's and counting early), she now has a problem with comprehension. She is a smart young lady, but no thanks to mom and dad, we've not been on her enough about beginning good study habits, so there are some things that we're starting to change with her.

Anyway, I found some good and bad in this school. I do like how they focused on reading, but I believe because of this, they didn't focus as much on her math skills, so when she went to a charter school, her math skills were lacking. Me, being a person that loves math, I couldn't understand why she wasn't getting certain basic math principles. I was very concerned about that when she took the FCAT (we're in Florida) but she did fine. Also, there were some "bad" kids in her school, so they brought their bad attitudes with them. Would I place her in private school again? Yes. Overall, my experience as a parent was pretty good.

[DC_Zeta1920]

I dont have any kids but I grew up in the Catholic School system. In 11th grade I decided to leave and go to public school.....In 12th grade I ended up right back in catholic school not my parents choice but my own.

One thing with this experience is that catholic school taught me alot, academically and spiritually and these teachings kept myself and most of the students in line (you had your few bad asses but thats anywhere) and the teachers cared if you graduated and promoted furthering your education. The environment was conducive to learning. While in public school, a DC public school at that the environment was not conducive to learning, crowded classrooms, old books, and the teachers passed you for just coming to class. There was no intellectual challenge.

All public schools are not like this but when the school system is not up to par in your community, I am sure some parents "do what they have to do" to give their children the best opportunities. When it comes down to having kids one day the only thing I can do is determine which will benefit them more.