private school for your children

I wouldn't say that. That certainly may be a factor, but it's not the entire story.

Kids who go to private schools usually come from a better socioeconomic background than kids who go to public school. The more money pumped into the system, the better the facilities / teachers / extracurriculars. Those all serve to somewhat motivate the private schooler to do well in school.

But then again, it's not like public school alumni don't go to college - a lot of it depends on the motivation of your child.

Some private schoolers don't go to college, and some public schoolers go to college.

 

Hispanic?

 

As someone who went to private international school in asia and boarding school in the states, this statement is true.

Kids aren't that elitist at that age.

 

Awesome, will try to get scholarships.

 

I went to Stratford...I dont think we had honors classes....but I went to private university. I'm glad my parents saved the money so they could spend it on college.

I'd rather save the money putting my kids through high school and pay up for private college.

 

No but I do love pickled jalapeno carrots.

 

Ironically enough that's probably as unlikely as your daughter not graduating. In larger cities where there's retail and service work out the gills at 16 because of all the single yuppies, you get minority grad rates like 20%.

 

Cheke, if you have the cash and can resist the urge enough for a "normal" childhood to limit his recreation and media distractions and have him live at the library and summer academic camps, I'd say do it. Just make sure you save enough for Kaplan SAT prep and that your credit's good enough to co-sign on student loans after high school.

 

I know a teacher at one of the Yes prep schools in the North side. She said many students there were 2-3 levels below their grade. The teachers worked very hard there to help them and the students who stayed with it did learn something by the time they graduated and some did move on to college but a lot of them dropped out long before.

Also don't believe the numbers the school give you. I think they claim some 80% of the students graduate but that is only the percentage of those who start grade 12. If you count from 6th grade, it's more like 30%.
(The figures I gave are from memory, it could be +-)

 

Our schools also report from grade 9 through grade 12.

 

The only private school I know over there is Northland Christian: http://www.northlandchristian.org/. I can't vouch for them to say they are good.

 

Just send them to public school and save all that for the kids college.

 

Save for both. Get an ESA and invest money in it to pay for private school and invest in a 529 for college.

 

My wife is Catholic and we are sending my daughter to a private, Catholic school. She went for pre-K last year and started kindergarten there this year. It seems like it is worth it. The school has heavy family involvement and I have talked to teachers at the public schools and they say you can always tell who started off at a private school (the school my daughter goes to only goes through grade 6). We have a couple of other private schools in the area that go from K-12 but they all seem to get the kids started off on the right foot.

 

I went to private school Pre-K - 5th grade. My parents thought that it would help me get ahead. When I transferred over to public school for 6th grade I was actually further behind and very anti social. The anti social part came from being stuck with basically the same group of 20 kids since pre-k I never really learned how to make new friends. I did not graduate with honors, but I did graduate on time.

 

The most expensive private schools (St. Johns, Kinkaid) are Ivy League and UT-Austin Honors (Plan II) factories. If you do AP classes at suburban public schools, you will be fine. I know there are good schools in Friendswood, The Woodlands, Fort Bend ISD, and Clear Lake.

 

I didn't take AP/IB classes, although I could, but I was lazy throughout high school. Made pretty good grades without pretty much any effort. But one thing for sure is that I wasn't prepared at all for my first semester of college as a result. I think I would have done better overall in college had I taken AP/IB classes in hs.

 

I spent a couple of months at Baytown Christian before transferring to Lee; just do a once over on those science textbooks, look at the math sequence and make sure there isn't more than one philosophy or world cultures class.