We enrolled our DS6 in one the "best" private schools for Kindergarten. I say "best" because I realize that was my perception, and now know that just because a school may get the highest test scores, it may not be the best fit for every child. Our DS had a terrible year. He had daily time outs or lost play time for being too loud, talkative and disruptive, and by the end of the year the wind seemed to have been taken out of his sails. DH and I understood that he needed to follow rules and directions, but when we read his end of the year report, it confirmed that it was just a bad fit. After some sleepless nights we realized that the financial sacrifice we were making wasn't worth it. We just enrolled him in our local public school for first grade. He's only been there for a few weeks but my DH and I just have a good feeling about it. The teacher seems very much on the same page with us, and has made herself very available. The biggest benefit is that I was able to cut my hours to part time so I can pick our DS up from school every day instead of him having to go to afterschool care. Now we can plan activities that we wouldn't have time for otherwise. We are also considering enrolling him in guitar lesson twice a week, instead of once a week. Time and lack of funds wouldn't have allowed this previously. We're considering home schooling at some point, and we'll have to re evaluate at that time since that will be a huge financial commitment. Although money is tight, we would have kept him at the private school if we had been happy. Like most families I think our sacrifices will vary depending on what DS needs are at that particular time, having to balance time versus money.
