awty vs robs; home location (Houston, Sugar Land: motel, neighborhood, elementary school)

[tentenequals20]

School question:

We have received admissions from 2 private schools for our elementary school kids (1) Awty International (2) River Oak baptist

We are Buddhist from India, but welcome all religions. Especially we value Christian qualities such love, respect, kindness etc., and other moral values.

Awty school has great infrastructure and seems the academic program is excellent!

River oak baptist seem also very good with more focus on religion. We don't want our children to be picked on because they are not Christians. Is that possible in this school? In addition, we were unable to evaluate their academic excellence. Are they better than Awty from an academic perspective?

thanks for any suggestions

Home suggestion

Where should we live for an easy commute to these schools as well as downtown?
We want a gated community(just for safety), 4 bedrooms with a small backyard and good public high schools. Resale factor is important to us. Budget is 400 to 750K

Is it easy to drive from sugar land or sienna to these schools and downtown?
Are we better off looking in Bellaire or WestU?

Thank you for your help

[fnh]

T'is the season... for private school admission questions.

For some specific observations about Awty, see the parallel thread started today:
//www.city-data.com/forum/houst...me-choose.html

Personally, in my seven years at Awty I have never encountered a family who would be considering both ROBS and Awty. Not that it never happens, clearly, but it is rare to be sure. They attract very, very different crowds.

Awty is secular with many religions and non-religions represented among the students. ROBS on the other hand is Baptist, as in Southern Baptist. I'm not sure where you are moving from and whether you fully appreciate what that means.

Awty is an international school with mobile families moving in and out from and to all over the globe. ROBS is insular and popular predominantly within a certain social set in Houston.

We are pleased with the academics at Awty, and I assume the academics at ROBS are fine as well. I don't know how progressive the curriculum there would be with respect to science and critical thinking. Someone else would need to chime in.

Regarding your housing question, Awty has bus routes to both Sugar Land and Sienna/Pearland and I believe a bus route to West U is in the works if not already implemented. Bus routes are added and deleted with demand, so certainly check.

[tentenequals20]

Originally Posted by fnh

T'is the season... for private school admission questions.

ROBS on the other hand is Baptist, as in Southern Baptist. I'm not sure where you are moving from and whether you fully appreciate what that means.
.

Thank you fnh. This helps a lot

I assume southern baptist is a strict form of Baptisim.
To be honest, I don't even know the difference between a baptist and a catholic other than what I read on wikki; Last time we stepped into a christian church, was on a site seeing tour and last time I read a bible, was in a motel room I am not very proud of this, but we certainly did not get the opportunity. No one talks about religion at work etc., and I don't intent to offend my friends with (what may be seen ) rude questions. I also worry about going to a Sunday church etc., and not following the right protocol.(In Buddhism, depending on the place of worship, there are clear protocols to follow)

Looks like Baptist school may not be the best option given we don't know anything about Baptism and may not be able to guide our children properly. btw,We are moving from Philadelphia but no one (to our knowledge) in the past 20+ years in the US has treated us any differently because of where we come from, how we look or what religion we follow. That's what's great about this wonderful country!! However, everyone wants to be so politically correct that no one will discuss any sensitive issues, with others like me and we end up not knowing. Thanks again for helping us with the decision.

[zhugeliang1]

Southern baptist is very very very conservative, they will keep asking you questions like when are you going to convert to Southern baptist, when are you going to get baptized, they put on a lot of pressure. I know, I started going to one twenty years ago but left because they get real pushy about religion. I know teachers at Awty and Awty seems very open minded.

[KatieKennedy]

My daughter is an 8th grader at ROBS. There is a Christian religious emphasis at the school. However, persons from other faiths are welcome and represented. Bullying is not allowed. One of my daughters best friends is Hindu of Indian heritage. The school offers vegetarian meals as one of the lunch options. Another of my daughters friends is Arabic.

We live in West U which is very convenient to the school. We are zoned to Lamar High School which has a good IB program. However, we are going to send our daughter to a private high school. There are no gated communities in West U, but the area is extremely safe as we are a separate city and have our own police force. Bellaire is very similar to West U with a good public high school also. Awty will be more international. The academics at ROBS are very strong. You have two good choices.

[madrone2k]

On the topic of where to live (relative to Awty or ROB): I have several colleagues at work who have children that attend Awty, and they all live in or near West U. I think they and their spouses take turns ferrying their kids between home and school. Through a friend, I know that a number of French ex-pats who live in far west Houston also send their kids to Awty. I'm not aware of any complaints about the driving distance. However, I imagine drive there from Sugar Land or Sienna would be a burden.

I've always heard very good things about Awty. On the other hand, I don't know much about ROB, except that it is in a nice neighborhood (nicer than Awty, actually) that is even closer to West U. Personally, I would prefer to send my kids to a secular school. That said, I'm glad at least one person with a child at ROB has contributed to the discussion here. I assume that poster is Christian, in which case it would also be nice to hear from a non-Christian family who has direct experience with ROB.

[Houstonianmom]

The academics at ROBS are very strong, and it is closer to West U. Personally, I would prefer to send my kids to ROBS.