School question

[SuzySunshine]

We, of course, don't have kids or know where we'll be when they are in school but we're not opposed to public or private, one gender, or mixed. I don't think we'll homeschool but I was jsut reading an article the other day about homeschooling is becoming so much "easier" for the parent because of online options. If we really felt like that is what we needed to do for our kids I wouldn't be opposed to that.

My only other issue with the single gender schools are the sports/activities. They should be equal regardless of the school/gender. I have a few female cousins that go to a female academy and they have NO sports due to a situation that happened when they crossed paths with the male teams of the male school a few years ago. That is going to far, IMO.

[madeintaiwan]

. 3. Our local high school is HUGE. It is a beautiful fancy campus that looks like a small college. It is very clicky and they have a huge problem with faculty turn over. There is also a drug issue. Although lots of schools around here are considering mandatory drug testing for all students. I have a huge issue with this but that is for another time.

Sounds like the HS my cousins went to in Chandler.

Our kids will probably go to public school K-8 and private HS too. It used to be a big debate for us. I was anti-private school primarily due the common stereotype of the rich spoiled kid. I went to public school and feel my education was great until HS. My mom still regrets not forcing me to go to private HS. I even took the entrance exam and was accepted but begged her not to make me go. I did very well in HS, great grades, AP classes, did well (not off the charts but well) on my SATs despite this my HS failed to properly prepare me for college curriculum and it took me at least two years to catch on. I ended up continuing on to do well but it was so frustrating bc I thought I was one of the "smart" kids. Looking back it all makes sense because I never felt challenged in HS. I did very well with minimum effort. DH on the other hand went to private school his whole life. He still boasts that next to medical school, HS was the best education of his life. It was way more challenging to him than college. He started college with enough credits to almost be a sophmore. He can't say enough about his HS. And he swears that if we live within an hours distance that DS will go there. The average commute for students is 1- 1.5hr each way. The entrance exam is a killer. Supposedly his school has big time private contributors and offer a generous amount of scholarships to families in financial need. Despite the high quality of education, it is not the most expensive private school in the region. So the student body has some diversity to it. With our experiences we have agreed that K-8 is not so much an issue as long as the school isn't completely crappy and is a safe environment. We can make up for anything that the school might be lacking curriculum wise. DS goes to public kindergarten and we LOVE his teacher and school. We'll see when we move.

Single sex education.. that's another issue. I used to be very against it but during an education class in college I had to debate the pro side which turned out be a great learning experience for me.

[madeintaiwan]

My only other issue with the single gender schools are the sports/activities. They should be equal regardless of the school/gender. I have a few female cousins that go to a female academy and they have NO sports due to a situation that happened when they crossed paths with the male teams of the male school a few years ago. That is going to far, IMO.

It's been awhile since I took sports and society but title IX should prevent such things. If the school receives federal funding there should be equal sports opportunities.

[SuzySunshine]

My only other issue with the single gender schools are the sports/activities. They should be equal regardless of the school/gender. I have a few female cousins that go to a female academy and they have NO sports due to a situation that happened when they crossed paths with the male teams of the male school a few years ago. That is going to far, IMO.

It's been awhile since I took sports and society but title IX should prevent such things. If the school receives federal funding there should be equal sports opportunities.

Oh I'm pretty sure they receive no federal funding, it is a private pre-vatican II catholic academy.

[DrWahoo]

When we were selecting areas to live, we went to this site http://www.schoolmatters.com/ to find out the quality of the schools around our area. So far we have been very pleased with the public school our daughter goes to. She went to a private montessori school for preschool which allowed her to skip kindergarten. He private school though it prepared her well academically , they were a pain in the arse.