[Becky]

Trying to figure out kindergarten for my son and very much leaning towards a private Christian school..

[Marty]

If your public options are poor AND you can afford private school AND college then go for it. Having a private education for kindergarten is not worth your child having 100k of college debt.

[Stacey]

As I am now in the ‘paying for college’ phase, do not choose private if it will change how you can support a child in the college years.

You see lots of posts from parents who chose private, sacrificing their ability to save for college.

[Melissa]

We’re going to private for elementary and most like public for high school. I’d like them to get a bit more exposure to other perspectives.

I know that the local public elementary was doing projects 1 year behind my son when he was 1st / 2nd grade. To be honest, I just love the smaller classrooms and personalized experience that private school gives my kids. We toured both schools and chose based on interaction with principal, security posture, and classroom elements that best suited my kids.

Your best bet is to evaluate every year, it may not set you back as far as you think. Maybe the first few years are better private, then transition to public. Just so many factors to consider.

[Katherine]

Public school teacher here! And Christian here! Public schools in our area are not great, but I’d still 100% choose public over a private Christian school run by a single church congregation. In my experience, Christian schools housed by a church are typically not run by education experts, but rather by people who want to shelter their kids. Teachers are typically moms who aren’t experienced teachers, but rather well-meaning folks looking for some income that allows for summers off. The teachers typically get very little professional development to grow. If your kid is gifted and twice exceptional? The teacher probably won’t know how to deal with that. If your kids is dyslexic? The teacher probably won’t know how to deal with that. Is the class clique-ish? The teacher probably won’t know how to deal with that. If my husband and I privatize our not-yet-school-aged kiddos, we will probably choose a prep school where the school leaders have done serious studying on the topic of educational philosophy, not the local Baptist church’s affiliated school.

Note: I draw a serious distinction between Christians schools typically housed by and run by a single church and classical Christian schools run Independently of a single congregation.

I’d probably categorize the latter with prep schools in terms of quality.

[Joe]

I spent 12 years in private (Catholic) schools and, after that experience, chose to put our kids in (very good) public schools. In my experience, private schools have just as many problems with ‘values’ as public, possibly more so because families tend to be wealthier which makes access to drugs and alcohol easier.

We emphasized the home experience and our relationship with our kids.

Both have turned out very well.

[Author]

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