Disappointment! About This Page:

[simbarel]

The school I had my heart set on is CLOSING! Sure, I was drafting his education kinda early, but I feel so defeated being sent back to the drawing board!

Where do your kids/did you go? Public? Private? Homeschool? Montessori? I found a French immersion school 20 minutes north that I thought sounded cool---until I saw the pricetag!

[Teresa]

Rachel - my kids go to a private school - oddly enough, a French immersion program. the school also offers Spanish immersion. Starts at 3 yr. old, but kids can enter at anytime. They have 1 hour of English instruction in 3 yr. old to 3rd grade. In 4th, it becomes 50% of the day. In 6th some of the English is replaced with Spanish. My kids are tri-lingual, and I don't understand much.

Kathryn used to go to public school, and the older kids all graduated public schools. The reason we moved Kathryn (and we liked the education she was getting) was because she was bullied so badly her counselor recommended she be moved or she'd be depressed for a long time. It has been worth it.

The only problem we've had, other than the fact that around April of each year that 45 minute drive gets tiring, is that Lauren has never ridden a school bus and thinks she's missing out on something. So much so that she's asked to go to the local public school. Until she found out there would be 34 other kids in her class, and she couldn't call the teacher by their first name, and there was only 1 recess, and they didn't speak French there. And I quote - "then how do they learn math?" (it's taught in French)

[DopeyGirl]

Sorry about that, Rachel.

Was that Fr. immersion school in Freeport? If so, I know which one you're talking about . . . we knew someone who sent their kid there and HOLY COW THE TUITION for Elem. age kids!!!!!!!

I was a public school kid my whole schooling life . . . and Emilie is now a public schooler, however, at the tender age of 5 (almost 6) she is already asking if she can leave this school and go to one that teaches only spanish. We have been told there is a good chance of her going to a TAG (talented and gifted) school come 2nd grade though. It is run by the city public school district, but there is an application and approval process in order to attend that program. They test for TAG in Jan. of the kids' 1st grade year . . . so we should know this time next year if she is TAG or not.

Mike was a catholic schoolboy from Kindergarten through 9th grade (when he actually went to a seminary prep school ) then his parents pulled him out of there and put him in public high school for his sophomore, junior and senior years.

I think we turned out pretty good . . .

[Colexis Mom]

My kids go to public schools, as did I and my DH

[LBAK]

We have great public schools here so that's where we go.

[mrsmac2001]

Sorry you couldn't get the school you wanted. My son is going to public school. Not many choices around here and even if there was we couldn't afford it.

[Mel & Richard]

Rachel, my niece goes to a Montessori in Portland and I know my sister is really happy with the school. Her cousin goes there as well.

[Happymommy]

Aidan goes to public school (this is our first year-- he's in kindergarten), before that he went to a church run pre-school. Joe and I went to Catholic school for 12 years, so (except for kindergarten for us)-- public school is new for us, but I really liked the public schools I saw when I was student teaching and subbing-- so when we bought a house, we bought one in one of those districts (most of my time teaching was in catholic school as well-- so we're just getting adjusted to public school, but I'm really happy here). I still wasn't sure we were going to do the public school until Aidan was diagnosed with Asperger's (high functioning autism)-- we really had no choice at that point. Our catholic school wouldn't take students with special needs-- even though his aren't learning related.

I'm getting ready to register Danny into a church-run nursery school for pre-k next year-- then he'll also go to public school.

That being said, I went to a catholic grade school and a private high school for girls, and I loved going to those schools, and received a terrific education--- it's such a difficult decision.

[poohmaine]

We went to public schools (in Maine and Massachusetts) and our kids go to public schools. Windham has an amazing school system. There are some really great public schools in Maine. There are some really bad private schools, too. Why did your school close? Good schools don't close, they have waiting lists to get in.

I have several friends that went to the elite private schools in Maine (North Yarmouth Academy, Gould Academy, McCauley) and they said their parents wasted their money, they don't think they got a better education at all. In fact, most of them thought they were ill-prepared for college and the real world. So you never know.

Don't discount public schools.

[HiddenMickey]

We have a lot of school choices in our area; public, many private, several charter. We opted to start the kids out in public school and see what happened. We've been mostly happy with our choice 9 years later. We are happy to have had great teachers and kids who show progress all the time. If things had gone sour, we'd have taken one of the alternatives. In the meantime...we saved thousands of dollars by not opting for one of the private schools that many of our friends chose for their kids.

[krisk11]

Kelsey started out in Catholic school but I pulled her out of that and she has been in public school since 2nd grade. We like the public schools in our area much better than the catholic schools, they have much more to offer.

[JoanW]

We've done a blend of public and Catholic. Got the best of both worlds.

We did the local Pre-K Cooperative Kindergarten (2 teachers, 2 parents, 18 children). Very local, very fun and friendly.

Then they went to public Kindergarten through 4th grade. Class sizes there were large, 33 to 35 per class, with 4 classrooms per grade. There were 600 kids in the school which has K-5th grade. A new school was built, but not in time for us. Their enrollment is over 650 now.

We made the jump before middle school started because if we waited, there would not have been an opening. At St. John's, there were 60 kids in each grade, and classes were divided so there would be approximately 20 in each class. They offered programs for "learning differences" for kids with ADD/ADHD and other learning disorders. Perhaps only 4 or 5 for a reading and math class for that program.

And for high school, they attend a small all girls Catholic High School in Baltimore. They love it, I love it. It's very diverse in population, 125 girls per grade, and 100% of the girls go on to college. The local high school has 2600+ students. A little too large for us.

As for the cost, the tuition is as much as college tuition, so we don't take as many Disney trips as we would like until they graduate, but for us, it's worth it.

[DrDolphin]

I am a product of military base public schools and public schools - all over the world and country. I think I turned out pretty good. DNiece went to a Montessori school for Kindergarten and 1/2 of 1st grade before DSis and DBIL moved to Oregon - now she goes to public school. DNephew goes to a private pre-school. We really liked the education DNiece was getting at the montessori - but it was not an available option in OR for DSis.... so public school. She seems to be doing well.

[Belle*]

This is such a tough choice because it will really depend on your child and his personality and learning style. I went to public school for elementary school and private (prep) school for middle school and high school. For me, I was the type of kid who would have gotten lost in a class of 25 kids. Our student teacher ratio was 9:1. You don't get away with much with that! : Now, would I send Ryan to that particular school? Probably not since they've made some changes I disagree with. Would I send him to preivate school? It depends. So far, our plan is to have him attend public school or one of the magnet schools in our area.

For pre-school, Ryan has been accepted to a wonderful private school attached to the Children's Museum in our area. However, we also entered him in the evaluation & lottery for a program run through our public school system that is called a "Peer to peer" pre-school. It puts special needs children and typical children in the same classroom and encourages them to worrk together. The "Typical" (their word, not mine) kids act as mentors to the special needs children. I'm really hoping Ryan gets accepted to this program as I think it would go a long way towards helping him develop empathy, patience and respect. So if he gets in - I'm going to have a tough choice!

My advice is to make yourself aware of what all of your options are but don't get your heart set on any one place until you get to know Henway a little better.

[RobDVC]

I went to a private (Catholic) school.
My boys go to a private (Catholic) school.