Bay Area Montessori House & Lutheran South Questions (luxury, private schools)

[morgaenhat]

Does anyone have experience with either of these schools and if so, were your experiences positive or negative and why? I am particularly interested in experiences with children between the ages of 4 and 7. Thanks in advance.

[texas7]

No experience with Bay Area Montessori but Lutheran South - yes. One child went there. If I had the opportunity to send my kid to a high school in CCISD - I would do that versus a private school. I found my kid who didn't go to the private school actually got a better education and intro into real life at his public school than the one who went to Lutheran High South and he didn't even have the luxury of CCISD - he went to a poorly rated school. CCISD is one of the tops but understand if you prefer privates - some people just do. The one in public school had more of a worldly knowledge and more a wide range of knowledge (and diverse friends) and wasn't so sheltered from real life -- the one in private seemed to have zero interactions or friendship with anyone who wasn't white and the world just isn't made up of that. THe one at Lutheran didn't seem as prepared for life after h.s. or the real world in general. Just my opinion after having kids do both public and private. I'm sure others will have opposite experiences.

[RocketSci]

No experience with Montessori but yes with LSA. I agree with the previous poster that CCISD does an excellent job at the elementary levels, and unless one has a religious preference in elementary education I highly recommend the public schools, at least until Intermediate years. And then, even at that point, it will be dependent on your child's specific needs and offerings of the schools (more attention at private school, more chances to play sports at private school, more variety of classes at public school, higher levels of academics and sports skills at public, etc.).

One note about LSA is that in the last years of our child's attendance the school emphasized that their primary job was to promote Lutheran doctrine first, which may be at odds with your particular beliefs. It wasn't overwhelming, but it was there. In general though, the school did provide a decent level of personal attention to the children at the Intermediate level (more so than public Intermediate), but the experience for the children is very insular. Many of the children and families have longstanding ties to the church and school, and there is a greater amount of cliquishness than in public schools (probably no worse than most private schools, however). Also, there was little to no ethnic or racial diversity (42 in class, 38 were Caucasian), and a pervasive intolerance of people and kids who were "different."

FYI, I returned my child to public school for HS, as there were greater education and other opportunities, and we have been extremely happy.

[texas7]

CCISD is outstanding and for people who are interested in math/science/engineering careers - they have some additional great programs in addition to the good curriculum they already have.