Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Texas > Dallas
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 06-14-2017, 09:08 PM
 
Location: Colleyville
1,206 posts, read 1,518,989 times
Reputation: 1182

Advertisements

Quote:
Originally Posted by calgirlinnc View Post
I have children in private schools (both religious and not) and public and in my experience....

1) I primarily wanted private schools for the religious aspect and because I loathe Common Core. In that respect I was mostly satisfied with the private schools, except for one supposedly Christian school that taught using Common Core and were teaching some non-biblical things.

2) If you cannot afford private schools, do NOT feel guilty! Since you have excellent public schools, there is no need to even worry about it. If all your extra money is going to the school, perhaps you would not be able to afford things like travel (which can be also educational). Previous posters are correct about the extra costs of uniforms, activity fees, DONATIONS (many private schools expect these). Sometimes there is the added stress of the keeping up with the Jones'.

3) Excellent teachers and mediocre teachers are found in both public and private schools.

4) Mean kids and nice kids (and their parents) are found in both public and private schools.

5) You say your child is very smart and advanced, and I'm sure he is, but MOST children equal out by 3rd or 4th grade. What looks like "gifted" at 4 or 5 often becomes "average" by age 10. However, if by 7th or 8th grade your child is still far ahead of his peers and needs the academic challenge, that may be a better time to look into private schools.

6) If an issue comes up (for example, our son was diagnosed with dyslexia in 4th grade), public schools are perhaps more equipped to handle it unless the private school is equipped for that particular problem (for example, a private school that specializes in ADD kids).

7) Sometimes, and generally speaking, cheaper private schools are not nicer or better equipped than a well-funded public school. You see examples of this in things like the media center/library, art, theater, band, sports...more than in academics. You need to compare the specific schools. My daughter's private school...her classroom was in a trailer. My son's public school was brand new and beautiful with all the amenities. Expensive private schools are different I would think.

8) No teacher will ever love and take care of your children better than YOU. As their mother, you are your children's primary teacher, primary giver of moral and ethical principles, role model, etc. A private school education is well and good, but not at the expense of you not being with them. You will never get that time back. This is not to take away from mothers with jobs. It's just that if you have a desire and the means to stay home with your kids, I would not give that up for private school, not at Kindergarten.
I agree with almost all of this except the "hatred" of Common Core. Why anyone hates Common Core is beyond me and I have to say, as a bright child myself (Duke TIP, identified "GT"), I had a hard time with math. The way my children are learning math has illuminated so many concepts that I just couldn't grasp the first time around. I am learning with them and I'm actually excited to understand Calculus.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 06-14-2017, 10:41 PM
 
19,483 posts, read 17,702,664 times
Reputation: 17012
Quote:
Originally Posted by 4Movingeast View Post
I agree with almost all of this except the "hatred" of Common Core. Why anyone hates Common Core is beyond me and I have to say, as a bright child myself (Duke TIP, identified "GT"), I had a hard time with math. The way my children are learning math has illuminated so many concepts that I just couldn't grasp the first time around. I am learning with them and I'm actually excited to understand Calculus.
I'm a fan of common core math but I don't anything about the effort outside of math.

I very much like the notion of eliminating tricks and short cuts in arithmetic and instead demanding that students understand what is going on within a problem common core does a nice job of that.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-18-2017, 07:08 PM
 
139 posts, read 168,661 times
Reputation: 267
Unless RISD has severely gone down hill since I attended (haven't heard anyone ever say that), it's better than most private schools. If you were in a bad school district (parts of DISD), then sure look at private, but for Richardson, I'd take the public school and feel no need to explore private. I'm in PISD and we never considered private for a second. It's worked out great so far.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-18-2017, 07:45 PM
 
Location: In a George Strait Song
9,545 posts, read 7,003,529 times
Reputation: 14045
Quote:
Originally Posted by 4Movingeast View Post
I agree with almost all of this except the "hatred" of Common Core. Why anyone hates Common Core is beyond me and I have to say, as a bright child myself (Duke TIP, identified "GT"), I had a hard time with math. The way my children are learning math has illuminated so many concepts that I just couldn't grasp the first time around. I am learning with them and I'm actually excited to understand Calculus.
As far as math goes, it depends on the child and the math level. In 2nd grade, my daughter struggled with 1 digit from 2 digit subtraction because her school would not teach "borrowing". I taught her how to "borrow" and she mastered it in about 5 seconds. When she switched to a school that taught math the traditional way, she excelled.

The school also espoused the idea that you shouldn't mark math answers "incorrect" because that would damage the child's self-esteem. So when my daughter answered that 5+4=10, and it was not marked, I had a problem. Math is not subject to feelings. In no universe does 5+4=10.

There are numerous videos all over YouTube showing the silliness of Common Core math.

Not to get too far OT, but in other subjects complaints vary from the books read/not read to the testing and data mining. I had enough when my 2nd grade daughter learned all about unions and government intervention and why both are necessary to protect workers from the evil greedy capitalists...but did not know who George Washington was or what the Declaration of Independence is. But then again I'm very conservative so YMMV.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-18-2017, 08:38 PM
 
Location: Fort Worth, TX
2,502 posts, read 2,171,798 times
Reputation: 3784
I'm a bleeding heart liberal and that sounds insane. My kids go to pretty liberal private school and I've never experienced such craziness there.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-18-2017, 09:06 PM
 
19,483 posts, read 17,702,664 times
Reputation: 17012
Quote:
Originally Posted by speedyg View Post
Unless RISD has severely gone down hill since I attended (haven't heard anyone ever say that), it's better than most private schools. If you were in a bad school district (parts of DISD), then sure look at private, but for Richardson, I'd take the public school and feel no need to explore private. I'm in PISD and we never considered private for a second. It's worked out great so far.
If you haven't explored any of the privates how do you know none of the would be better for your kiddo(s)?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-19-2017, 03:05 PM
 
Location: West of Louisiana, East of New Mexico
2,916 posts, read 2,975,059 times
Reputation: 7036
Quote:
Originally Posted by EDS_ View Post
In a sense you are right legions of kids graduate public schools and go one to great things. That said let's not short sell local private schools via the, "not every grad goes to Harvard" thing, that's simply a faulty test.

After too many, "man years" of experience with private schooling via my kids and nieces and nephews it's pretty clear to me that many people rationalize top notch private schooling around here as maybe just shade, "better" than the best publics and in some really important ways that's true and in others it simply isn't. It's narrow for sure but did you know Jesuit's robotics team won a world championship a couple of years ago? Came in 3rd this past year? I looked a while back no local public was to be seen anywhere close to that. Linking that to a more broad point.........the better privates for lots of reasons concentrate exceptionally bright kids.

Gotta go more later.
I can agree with your points.

Maybe it's me, but I almost feel like a challenging private school would be most helpful for the really smart but not quite "elite" kids. That kind of student has boundless potential but perhaps needs an environment that can maximize their gifts.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-20-2017, 12:00 PM
 
3,678 posts, read 4,120,304 times
Reputation: 3332
Quote:
Originally Posted by Aggielina View Post
I'm not opposed to Catholic schools, but my Puritan ancestors might roll over in their graves, LOL! I said $12K because that's about half of what we're paying for daycare for two kids now, and if I put one in private school we'd probably want to put the other one there too when he's older, if possible. And barring a huge raise, I can't imagine paying more for private school than we already are for daycare. But there's always scholarships, right? Or is that a pipe dream?
I think you can do it with living frugally, staying healthy and gainfully employed but do remember that academically strong private schools are expensive and selective. One kid may get in others may not.

There is also undergrad and graduate or professional schooling, good ones only have financial aid for needy or athletes, they get plenty of high achieving kids so they don't need to attract them with merit scholarships. Heck many top 25 schools don't even give $2500 to National Merit Scholars. If your income is enough to send two kids to St. Marks, you'll not qualify for a penny in financial aid.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-20-2017, 09:40 PM
 
Location: Fort Worth, TX
2,502 posts, read 2,171,798 times
Reputation: 3784
Quote:
Originally Posted by UnfairPark View Post
I think you can do it with living frugally, staying healthy and gainfully employed but do remember that academically strong private schools are expensive and selective. One kid may get in others may not.
My sister pulled my sister out of public school in RISD one year because she was being bullied and put her in a Dallas private school that shall remain nameless. It isn't one that I've seen mentioned on these boards though. My sister was only there one year because my parents discovered that the education my sister was receiving wasn't as good as the education she had received in the RISD. The following year my sister returned to RISD but to a different school. My mother received permission to switch schools because of the bullying. When my sister went to her new school she was glad that she wasn't bullied but she discovered that after only one year at that private school she was behind in math. My mother had to hire her a tutor to help her catch up.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 06-21-2017, 09:45 PM
 
18,494 posts, read 7,252,581 times
Reputation: 11315
Quote:
Originally Posted by lakeside15 View Post
Other than Catholic schools, I'm not aware of any private schools in Dallas that have tuition under $12k.
Our Redeemer Lutheran School does.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Texas > Dallas

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top