Kindergarten Option 2: A British Primary School at $12k+

Today I toured a local K-8 British Primary school where the emphasis is on educating the whole child. What that means is that in addition to academics the school is really focusing on the social and emotional aspects of the child and nurturing those aspects as much as reading, writing, math and so on.

This school is unique for several reasons. First and foremost they have multi-age classroom environment for K-1-2, 3-4-5, and then in middle school the format changes slightly where the kids have a homeroom and an advisor for those three middle school years that is multi-age but attend classes with their respective grade level peers.

The K-5 classes sometimes split in half to pursue more specific levels of instruction. For example, the older half may do math while the younger half go off to dance class.

The K-5 classrooms have around 28 students and 3 teachers or a 9:1 ratio. The class teachers help the students "uncover" information in core subjects like reading and writing, and the students also benefit from specialists who teach math, Spanish, PE, dance, music etc. The K-5 kids get specials twice a week. A regular day in the classroom includes meeting, choice time, core subjects, and rotating specials.

HB already attends a preschool based in the British Infant System so the atmosphere at the British Primary school feels familiar, yet more casual and unstructured than the Country Day school. The British school is very much about family involvement and community building which I think really improves and enhances the experience for everyone in the school, particularly the child. The children seem to be engaged at both schools, and both schools seem like happy, thriving places.

At the end of the tour a current 8th grader sat on the panel to answer questions about the school. She was darling, articulate, and confident while answering questions about her experience at the school.

They both seem like great schools in different ways, and it is hard to compare the two at this point.

Two tours down, around five more to go. I will also be touring a local Episcopal school, a charter, and a few neighborhood DPS schools. Hopefully I can make sense of it all!

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!

The Search Begins: Kindergarten

So with our oldest in Pre-K we are starting the great Kindergarten tour this fall. There are so many options - public, charter, magnet, private - and it is all pretty overwhelming. Throw into the mix that I have to go back to work to afford private school and the search takes on a whole new meaning - there are trade-offs to that, especially for the little one who I would feel that I am abandoning.

Oh, and is it fair that I was home with my oldest but not my youngest - can it ever be "even Steven" when you have more than one child?

So it isn't just about how my oldest learns and where she would thrive socially, emotionally and academically, BUT also about cost, and me working, and what the effect would be on the little one. It is a lot of important things wrapped into one and it is already hard to dissect.

So we have our first tours next week of two private schools, one a country day school that would be $17,000/year and one a British primary school that would be $12,000/year. I am looking forward to learning a lot about these approaches.

Our three neighborhood public schools are nascent. One is a K-8 with an Advanced Kindergarten track but overall the school had low CSAP scores last year. Another is a K-5 that had decent CSAP scores and was a Distinguished school. And the third is brand new, without a name, yet to choose programming (but with the potential to be an I.B. or Core Knowledge school) and has yet to move into the building that is currently under construction.

My own primary education was so off of the beaten path that I have a hard time relating to public schools and standardized offerings. I attended a British primary school that also leveraged some Montessori practices for reading and then also had an expeditionary practice where we went on frequent outings and camping trips. So these things all seem familiar and comfortable to me which is why I am probably drawn to these kinds of schools - but are they the best for H.B? What kind of learner is she? Where will she thrive?

I am hoping to find all of that out between now and next March when we have completed the tours, the applications, the tests, the meetings, and the letters that will determine our fate.

Come along and ride on a fantastic voyage.