OT: Anyone Send Their Kids to Private School?

[DaisyMamma]

If anyone remembers, my dd struggles with reading as well as socially. Anyway she won a free week of reading/math camp at a local private school and we love it there. The teachers and kids are so friendly. The ratios are really low and I think my dd would really blossom there. The bad news? it's ONLY 22k/year. :: LOL
So literally if I sent both my kids there and paid out of pocket our income would be negative ::
There is financial aid. I will be inquiring about it tomorrow, but I imagine it only covers a % of tuition.
Perhaps someone has some experience in this? Do you know about grants or scholarships?

[mamac]

Yikes! 22 grand a year??? That seems pretty excessive to me. We have a school for the gifted and talented here and it's "only" about 13K a year!!

To answer your question though- I have my ds in private school but I don't have any experience with using or finding grants or scholarships. We pay about 4K a year out-of-pocket. Are there any other private schools in your area that are not as costly? Although we don't practice any religion, my ds was enrolled in a catholic school in order to get him into school a year earlier than he would have if we sent him to public school. We were very hesitant about sending him there because of the religion but I have to say that I am extremely happy with what he has learned in his first year of school there. (kindergarten) He graduated with an award for best reader. All the children there do really well. One of his friend's mom is a teacher there and was also a teacher at a public school. When asked the difference between public vs. private she said that she did more disciplining in public schools and more teaching in private schools.

I think our money has been well spent there but there's no way I would have paid the price of a college education for a 5 year old at the other school. Maybe you could look into some other private schools? If not, I'm sure the school you're interested in could point you in the right direction for financial aid.

[MamaBearCanada]

Something else to consider is that I'm sure you could hire a private tutor to homeschool the two of them for less than $44,000/yr. I would think a lot of beginning teachers would be glad to earn decent money to tutor considering it wouldn't take them a full school day to cover all the material for 2.

[countrymom]

my ds goes for tutoring and if I can afford it, I would like him to go twice a week but I only have funds for once a week. Its made a huge difference, and I pay 45 dollars an hour.

[kathiemarie]

My kids mostly went to Catholic Schools. My older 2 went to public middle school and boy do I regret it. My younger finished k-8 and is now at a Catholic High school. I say apply for all the grant/aide you can and go from there. You might want to look into different options, such as a Catholic school. They work very hard at keeping cost down. Good luck.

[Heidi]

My youngest 2 attend a Charter school. It's a project-based 7-12 with an emphasis on Inventions, Entrepreneurship, and Leadership. There are 35-40 kids in the program, It's a pubic school, so it's free (they use a small section of the high-school). We are very lucky to have such a school in our rural area.

The only private school around here is a Catholic K-8, although it has a wonderful reputation, it's traditional style would not fit my kid's learning style at all.

[Cradle2crayons]

We have a local private school. I started and graduated from there. At the time it was a very very small school and my dad and his four brothers helped build e school back in 1972.

Back then the tuition was $120 a month per student. No we never got a discount . I HATED it ere. It was one of those schools at controlled everything about the children, including exact religious beliefs. It was better if you were a baptist instead of a Methodist etc. only white children were allowed to attend.

We weren't allowed to dance, even at prom. If we were caught going to any type of party, even without alcohol, on e weekend, we were punished the next week at school.

Oddly enough, we were allowed to carry pocket knives and have hunting guns in our vehicles in plain view. Yes, that was years ago, and we were a very rural area.

We had a strict dress code. Girls until junior high had to wear dresses three days a week. Boys had to wear certain shirts and pants and shoes, and were required to wear a belt. No sandals were allowed of any type. No t shirts of any kind. No sleeveless shirts. No shorts. All dresses and skirts had to be two inches below the knee.

The thing at made it misery was me trying to conform us into the perfect baptist mold. Socially you were only any good if your family had money. And the school administration had favorites when it came to sports etc based on the money of your parents.

Well, we were poor. So you can imagine I didn't fit any mold there. The education at e time was the best in the state. I excelled in academics and had colleges fighting over me by e time I was 15 because if my act score. I graduated early and went straight to college. That school did prepare me well for college academics.

The school is still there, even worse than they were back then, only now with a huge enrollment and tuition only affordable by the elite.

But even if it were free I wouldn't send my kids there. Ewwwwwwwwwwwwww. No way would I out mynkidsthroughh that crap.

Especially not when the local public school scores even better academically than this school.

So, WOULD I send my kids to a private school??

Likely not. I grew up around them my whole life. I swore I'd never do it to a child of mine. And I won't.

[DaisyMamma]

22k is the norm here. I'm in CT.

We had a formal tour today and discussed financial aid. It sounds like they are generous with the financial aid, and can get up to 95% of it covered! Wow! Fingers crossed!
The school is very laid back and the people are wonderful. Its a lot of hands on and outdoor learning, including outdoor education. Foreign language starts in PreK! Doesn't start till 6th in public schools.

[Meeko]

Utah has many charter schools and we pulled our daughters from the local school and placed them in a charter school for some of their education. Charters are free to focus on whatever they want as long as they meet the core standards. So different charter schools offer different things and parents can choose which one offers most for their child.

Our girls excelled. The charter school only went through 8th grade, and then we placed them back in the regular school system (but in a different school district). I have never regretted it.

[originalkat]

22k is the norm here. I'm in CT.

We had a formal tour today and discussed financial aid. It sounds like they are generous with the financial aid, and can get up to 95% of it covered! Wow! Fingers crossed!
The school is very laid back and the people are wonderful. Its a lot of hands on and outdoor learning, including outdoor education. Foreign language starts in PreK! Doesn't start till 6th in public schools.

That sounds awesome! And 95% financial aid sounds almost unheard of. I hope it all works out. When will they let you know about the financial aid? Be sure to let us know.happyface

[Meeko]

22k is the norm here. I'm in CT.

We had a formal tour today and discussed financial aid. It sounds like they are generous with the financial aid, and can get up to 95% of it covered! Wow! Fingers crossed!
The school is very laid back and the people are wonderful. Its a lot of hands on and outdoor learning, including outdoor education. Foreign language starts in PreK! Doesn't start till 6th in public schools.

happyfacehappyface

[Cradle2crayons]

The normal here for the top private schools is around $6K a year. Very few of them do scholarships though. And that's just tuition not the extras.

[DaisyMamma]

I just spoke to administraton. She says she knows we will be getting offered about half off tuition for financial aid.
I guess they think that 1/4 of our income is a reasonable price to pay for tuition for a family who lives week to week, paycheck to paycheck and qualifies for state assistance for some things. and next year we would have two kids there, so that would be HALF our income, literally!
I'm so terribly disappointed.
I have a funny feeling that they assume we are like the other families there and have grandparents that can flip the bill. Unfortunately the grandparents in our family are in the same boat as us and would offer us zero assistance.

I will still go to the formal interview, voice my thoughts nicely and hope for the best.

Sigh

[MamaBearCanada]

I think you are right to go for the interview. See what happens, ask about additional scholarships, and hope for the best. You could also try it for your daughter for the one year and then make a decision based upon each child's needs. Your other child might not need or want to go there to still be successful in school. I went to a private school and loved it, but my siblings hated it, moved, and did much better in a non-private school.

[DaisyMamma]

I think you are right to go for the interview. See what happens, ask about additional scholarships, and hope for the best. You could also try it for your daughter for the one year and then make a decision based upon each child's needs. Your other child might not need or want to go there to still be successful in school. I went to a private school and loved it, but my siblings hated it, moved, and did much better in a non-private school.

Thank you for the support. At 11k its just so out of our league. I've done considerable research and there are no other grants or scholarships in our town or state or at that school. The admin woman has also searched for us. She has even Luther feelers out for families at the school who might be interested in sponsoring us. I use to nanny for a woman on the board of trustees, I might ask her as well, if she knows anyone who would be interested in doing a sponsorship. if 10 families gave $1000 we could do it.

But perhaps I should look into Montessori, it would be HALF of that schools tuition.

I'm so disappointed right now.