General Private School question

[JABATL]

My children go to a Buckhead public elementary school and we've been very happy so I would say save your $. I also have a 6th grader at Sutton, so we just saw the after 5th grade private school transition with a lot of her friends, and it really did seem like they all got into the private school that they wanted to attend. One thing to note, if you are zoned to one of the Buckhead public schools, APS has changed their Gifted program - it used to be a pull out model once a week, but this apparently conflicted with the IB program, so now they have the gifted teachers working in the classroom with children identified as gifted. My oldest went through the old gifted program and I haven't had my younger two tested yet (K and 1st grade) but it seems as though at least in Kindergarten they are grouping them according to abilities anyway.

[ctinatl]

My child is a 5 year old at one of the schools mentioned. We are not wealthy and are very much working class at the school. There are some vacations we won't take to cover it all. At his age, the socioeconomic gaps aren't noticeable to him and so far the birthday parties have been very normal affairs like bounce house places and gyms. I see nicer cars but also a lot of Hondas too. We don't live in Buckhead but find that a lot of the kids who live there and in Sandy Springs/Buckead do soccer and other sports together.

We are really happy. Our child gets a lot more specialized attention and it feels like he is given an enormous amount of care. Obviously we pay for that but it feels great. The school is great at providing support to the kids at different levels which is very typical at this age with some kids reading chapter books and others not reading at all.

Visit them all and you may be pleasantly surprised.

[PTC Dad]

I know someone who's kids go to a Buckhead private and they love the community and the education their kids are receiving. Their kids have been at the Buckhead private school since kindergarten. The only downside is their oldest is starting to feel a lot more pressure in high school. They are bright, but there are a lot of very talented/gifted kids to keep up with, which can give even a high achieving kid an inferiority complex. There is also a lot of money in these schools, but most of the kids and families they've met have been humble and welcoming. Also, with less than a 100 kids in each grade level, everyone knows everyone.

[Lhrmom]

We have a daughter in perfirst at westminster. It’s a mix. The competition is fierce, not academically but socially among parents to keep up. We are in Morris Brandon now and questioning our choice. The education has somewhat been underwhelming. We have another child and weighing Morris Brandon for them and applying this fall to the 3 Buckhead privates. We never thought we would split the two up this young.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by Lhrmom

We have a daughter in perfirst at westminster. It’s a mix. The competition is fierce, not academically but socially among parents to keep up.

Hearing that makes me sad. Little 4 and 5 year old kids, and the parents acting like that.

[AnsleyPark]

Originally Posted by arjay57

Hearing that makes me sad. Little 4 and 5 year old kids, and the parents acting like that.

Yep. We learned that, as parents, we had to take ourselves out of the social fray and simply focus on our child's education.

[wasel]

I would not tell your child that he rated “superior.” He doesn’t need that burden.
As far as public vs private, how sophisticated does the education really get at the age of 5 or 6? Save your money and revisit this at higher grades.

As for fitting in, I’m a middle class homeowner in a wealthy part of town (Brookhaven) and while people are very nice, the income differences are clear. For example, it seems people regularly eat out at restaurants that my family would only go on special occasions. That’s a small thing but perceptions of affordability really become cystallized. If your kid was invited to join a friend to ski in Park City over spring break, could that work?