Kindergarten Option 1: Country Day School at $17k+

So we went on our first school tour of the year on Monday to tour a local K-8 Country Day school that was established in the late 1920's. Our tour was very intimate - only two families - and it was given by the Director of Admissions. I greatly appreciated the intimacy of the tour and the ability to ask a ton of questions.

The 7 acre campus and the facilities were amazing - very modern, well lit, and teeming with happy energy. The children seemed to be engaged, and the teachers seemed to be energetic. The school is a Mac school and there are smart boards, Mac books, and iMacs just about everywhere you look.

We had the opportunity to spend over two hours on our tour, and a chance to see every grade level in at least two settings. Some of the things I liked about the school were that the classes begin each day and end each day with a meeting. This is something that is practiced at HBs preschool and it really builds a sense of class community as well as provides the individual with confidence to participate in a group setting.

The Kindergarten children, in addition to their regular classroom curriculum of reading, writing and math, and daily PE, also get specials a couple of times a week like Spanish, Science, Music and more. We witneesed several PE classes in action and the kids were having a great time. My husband was most impresses with the 3rd grade golf lesson we watched as well as the climbing wall.

I also liked that the middle school included grades 5-8 as 5th graders identify more with 6th graders and vice-versa. The middle school language curriculum expands to include Latin and the possibility of switching to French. It also includes Algebra I which means that kids are able to get the full spectrum of math courses that most colleges require you to take in high school (Algebra II, Geometry, PreCalc, Calculus). I know there is a group of DPS parents right now who are working to change the middle school math curriculum to allow students to take Algebra I in middle school.

I have to admit that I didn't really want to like the school, and almost didn't tour it. I was concerned that the $17+k/year price point would mean that HB would be in school with a bunch of uber rich kiddos, and I didn't want her subjected to any kind of "have, have-not" behavior. But the school seemed to have just a bunch of regular kids - nothing over the top. It felt just like the preschool we already attend which has middle class to wealthy families as part of the community.

I also liked that the class size was 18 kids. HB's Pre-K class has 21 kids this year and it feels so big and chaotic. The smaller class size would mean more attention for HB.

So, one school tour down - many more to go. Perhaps we shouldn't have started our journey with the most expensive school - that sets the bar pretty high!

We tour a British primary school on Thursday. Stay tuned!