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We are debating it...mainly because our zoned public school, while very good, is very overcrowded/lacks a lot of the resources private schools have and as of right now, there is no guarantee LO would even get in there. If we did private, I would want to do it for elementary and middle and switch to a city public/specialized school for high school.

ETA preschool will be private because public pre k is very hard to get into. And of course the downside for private schools is the cost, and it's also very difficult to get into private schools!

Right now J's in a private preschool because the schedule is more accommodating than the public preschool - they have an afternoon session from 1pm-5pm, where the public school is like 9:15-11:45.
They also took him in at 2.9 years and not "if 2.9 by September 1st".

I'm not sure what we're going to do when he's ready for Kindergarten but we have a few years to think about it.

We moved to a good school district so LO will go public but my parents sent me to a private high school. There were more classes, activities and better equipment at the public high school but it was not safe.

I am a teacher but think if I would send my DD to public school or not!
My only reason is public schools try very hard to main stream all students which in many cases is good, but with extreme behavior issues I think is not!
I have seen and been involved where the situation is well not ok!
I believe private school would not allow such behavior and it would not be tolerated as long as it is in public schools!
But in my district public schools to me education wise ROCK

Our public school is very good, but we may send the girls to private for high school for better resources. DH went to boarding school and had so many incredible experiences and has lifelong friends with influential connections that have served him well into adulthood.

DD1 is going to a private preschool in the fall...It's the pre-K feed for a private school, but she will go to public school once she gets to kindergarten. We live in an area with phenomenal public schools, and really high real estate prices, so when we built our house, we paid more than we would have somewhere else, but we looked at it like we were putting the money toward our property instead of toward tuition, as opposed to paying less to live in a less desirable school area, and then paying a ton for tuition bc our LOs would have to attend private school. So we decided to kind of pay it forward by investing in the real estate where our kids could attend public.

DD is going to the private preK just because I know it's an excellent program and I had put her on the wait list when we first moved here...She finally got in, but it was my first choice so I didn't really invest too much energy looking at other programs bc I knew this one is the best.

We tried to get him into private school this year. The reasons where that I was working there so our schedules could match and they have a programming/robotics curriculum throughout. Which he shows a talent and interest in ( nurtured strongly by us). We are moving to a new town and haven't found a non religiously affiliated private school for him there.

@.twist.: are charter schools not free where you live?

@Mamaof2: Nope. There are annual fees. At least for the one I'm looking into.

If we stay where we are we will need to enter the charter lottery or go private. The alternative would be to move to a better school district out in the suburbs. Not a fan of either choice at the moment.

We are choosing a private school for its more rigorous curriculum.

We bought a house in a neighborhood with two consistently highly-rated public schools (one K-5 and one K-8). We're walking distance to the K-8 and assumed our kid(s) would go there. However, as DD is growing up and I'm looking more into educational philosophies, I'm becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the public system (not public school generally or the teachers themselves, just the laserlike focus on standardized testing and lack of exploration, individuality, and sense of wonder -- especially at young ages). I REALLY would prefer to send her to a play-based kindergarten, at least. After that, I think the best school for her would depend on her personality and abilities. It would kill me to have to take her all the way across the city for school instead of down the street if we decide to go private, but I guess we'd do it if we need to...but we wouldn't be able to afford two kids in private school so this is really only a consideration if we decide to be one and done.

I'd seriously consider it if DH was on board. Of the 8 young people in my family that went through the NYC public school system, I am the only one who graduated college. One of us is still in school, one has turned into a permanent college student, and the rest dropped out at various points. Somehow all of this is not enough to convince DH how much the system sucks, so my backup plan is to do a big rearrangement of my work hours when DS starts school, and try to give him an education myself. I don't see it working very well though - it already seems like he's one of those kids that needs peer pressure to be motivated.

Based on where we live currently we'd do private since the public schools aren't that great. Although there is one suburb we could move to that has a good school system where we'd do public.

In a perfect world I'd do public since I believe in the system, but it just doesn't make sense based on where we currently live.

DS was in public for kindergarten - it's a good school but he's advanced and bored. We're on a waiting list for a private school.

I work in public schools so a variety of reasons we'll probably go private. I like the idea of raising children with religious education. Second, I feel like as soon as children get into 3rd grade here they only focus on reading and math because that is what is tested on state level. Rarely science until 5th grade (when it's tested) and you can pretty much forget about social studies.

It makes me super sad, so I'm hoping we can afford private.

I am a public school teacher but am planning on sending DS to private school for a few reasons. I am philosophically opposed to the amount of testing that occurs in my city's public schools. The tests are not developmentally appropriate, they are stressful for all involved, they take away from real learning and the high-stakes tests serve no instructional purpose for students. I also don't like the conformity and rigidity of public schools here. We are lucky to have a few affordable independent schools in our area (including a Sudbury school), so unless we experience a bad financial turn, private school is the route we're taking.

@looch: I went to an IB high school and LOVED it. Honestly, I felt like I learned more in IB than college

@BandDmommy: Nope, I'm in Sydney, Australia. There are levels of private schools here, and I suppose you could say the one I teach at is "top tier" - $40000+ tuition/year and like I said, insane name recognition. I would consider sending my son to a lesser private school, but luckily the public schools in my area are very well attended and have lots of parental participation (something that is sorely lacking at the school I teach at).

I guess in the end, unless the public schools in one's catchment area are really truly atrocious, I don't see the point in paying to send kids to schools that fundamentally are not that different.

@FannyMae: And that's bad because? Sorry, not calling you out, but someone will always be in the minority, and what's wrong with learning from friends with different cultural backgrounds and who speak different languages?

My girls will go to private school because they have specific needs that aren't addressed very well in public schools around here.