Our twins are in 8th grade in a public school (their 9th year in the public schools) - we have agonized over the public/private question for many years now. We've repeatedly considered privates (our kids both have test scores that would be at the high end for the local gifted private), but the two (public/private) have different strengths/weaknesses, and the public is way cheaper.
I feel that this decision really comes down to the individual kids and the local conditions, so what applies for us in our city may not be directly applicable in yours. On the plus side for our public schools: 1) although their gifted program is not great overall, the schools are generally decent, 2) there are *some* really excellent teachers, 3) the middle school our kids go to offers Algebra 2 as a regular class, 4) due to their bigger size, the publics have a depth of resources/class offerings that privates can't match, and 5) short commute (school is 1 mile from home). There are many downsides to the publics that others have pointed out and that we have also experienced, but our kids have had some pretty amazing experiences there too.
For us, having twins is an additional factor. The two have a need for having their own circles of friends. The privates we could consider have one classroom per grade, so they would have to be together and with a relatively small cohort for most of the day. Their public school has over 250 kids in their grade and both have found some really great friends there.
When they started kindergarten, I set aside some money for private school tuition, confident I would need it in order to switch schools mid-year. We've continued to add to the fund and now have a sizable amount for college.
Last edited by amylou; 11/26/13 09:21 AM.
