OES or Catlin Gabel? (Portland, Clackamas: spring break, how much, neighborhood)

[sprash25]

My kid has been offered admission to both OES and Catlin Gabel for primary (1st Grade). We visited both schools, and liked them both. We liked the inquiry based learning, and focus on creativity at Catlin, while we loved the emphasis on Science and academics at OES. We hope to pick a school and stick with it all the way to end of high.

Are there any parents on here from either schools who would be willing to talk? We need to reach a decision soon. If so, please send me a private message.

Thanks!

P.S: I hope this thread does not turn into a public/private debate.

[hamellr]

It depends on what way you want your kid to go. I'd send them to OES personally, because science and academics are more likely to help them get a good job in 20 years.

While I do not have kids, many coworkers have spoken at length about the qualities of both schools. No one has anything negative to say about either one.

[Nell Plotts]

OES's curriculum is designed to meets the needs of international schools, those chosen by executives & ex-pats globally. I think it is more rigorous. FYI admission standards at OES's high school is very high. A mediocre OES grade school student won't go on to their high school -- at least that was their practice in the past.

[AndyAMG]

We'd love to get our son into Waldorf or OES, but the cost just isn't justified to us. He's doing well in North Clackamas Schools. We visited OES and Waldorf and both were extremely impressive, but they should be for $1300 a month. There probably aren't many people here who send their kids to 10k a year schools, so we apologize in advance if you get crickets.

[sprash25]

Thanks all! We're leaning towards OES currently and connecting with parents who send their children there. Yes, the cost is a huge factor in making a decision - $22.5K/year will mean a significant lifestyle change for us and we're not 100% convinced we need to invest that much in Lower School education (and save for later university expenses instead). I asked the admissions office and they said that "if all was well", we do not need to reapply to middle and high school.

[Nell Plotts]

Have you considered enrolling your child in your neighborhood public school and spending that money on enrichment?

Keep in mind that tuition is often just the beginning, there may be activity fees and the like. You should also inquire about the lifestyle of your child's classmates. My example may be extreme.. but are ski vacations to Sun Valley or Vail typical?

[AndyAMG]

I like what Nell is saying. I won't inquire as I don't care how much you make, just inquiring about this makes me happy we're attracting some monied people. When we looked into Waldorf and they told us $1300 per month per kid each other like..... but they are 6,7 and 11. They better be programing web apps and building airplanes by the time they are teens for that kind of money.

Spoiler alert, they won't be.

The way we see it with the 6 and 7 year old they are already ahead of standards. The 11 year old.. is not quite ahead. Hes the best candidate for private school.

What we are going to do is put the boy(11) into Public Middle school. If he doesn't do well we will put him into private for 8th grade year and then until graduation. That will give us time to save up for the girls (6,7).

My wife and I have the same education. We started out in grade school in Reynolds. Then we started becoming illiterate zombies in Reynolds middle school. I was moved into the Adventist school system and my wife went to the odd charter system schools and earned her A.A. In Foreign Language from CCC at 18 then went on to higher ed at... Actually, I don't know why I'm telling you my life story.

All I can tell you is we would not be as successful if we were not rescued from the Public School system in middle school. We have every intention of putting our kids into private schools at that point. However, at 6 and 7... It's not worth it, save the money for High School. 8th through 12th grade is where kids start struggling in all aspects. North Clackamas schools are good for now, schools in North Portland were terrible we had to get them out of there.

Disclaimer: I type these posts on my iPhone, it's quite finicky and half the time I can't see what I'm doing.

Good luck.

[Nell Plotts]

My pre-school grandchildren attend Class Acadamy and have learned a lot. Many of their classmates are the children of Intel employees, some of whom are immigrants who value education highly. As private schools go this is a value education. The school doesn't have athletic facilities, they go to Lloyd Center for ice skating lessons and I understand they also take swimming lessons. They use TriMet for transportation. My interaction with the students has been very positive. When going to Lloyd Center they assigned my 3 yo grand daughter to an older 'partner', that 'partner' looked after her with loving attention. When grand daughter fell asleep on the bus she carried her off (the teacher was able to wake my little one). My grandson just turned 5, when I went to help with ice skates he introduced me to all his class mates like a pro. When I mentioned to one child that DH & I were planning a trip to India this fall one child told me what is was like for her to visit family in India. I am impressed!! Not a one spoke of expensive spring break vacations.

[Basu1]

Absoutely go for OES. Catlin is a cesspool of effete liberals. The biggest mistake of my life was to go to Catlin. As a conservative I was marginalized and ridiculed. The teachers even went so far as to tell my mom that student agreement with their politics was a Plus factor. (in my era this as anti-Viet Nam). Catlin ruined my life. I was the top SAT scorer in my class but had to settle for a state school because Catlin downgraded my achievements. I was able to fix this with graduate work, no thanks to Catlin.

[urbanlife78]

Originally Posted by AndyAMG

We'd love to get our son into Waldorf or OES, but the cost just isn't justified to us. He's doing well in North Clackamas Schools. We visited OES and Waldorf and both were extremely impressive, but they should be for $1300 a month. There probably aren't many people here who send their kids to 10k a year schools, so we apologize in advance if you get crickets.

Right now I am liking what I know about Waldorf Charter School, but my fiancee and I have the benefit of having friends with kids now so we can use them as our experiments to see what worked best for them to get a better idea of what we wanted to do.

For the purpose of this thread, I have heard good things about OES and Catlin, which really doesn't help with making a choice. But I think either way you go you will be happy with that choice.