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smallsaver

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So I think we've decided to send DS4 to a Catholic school for kindergarten. I was raised Catholic but I am not particularly religious. My DH was raised Lutheran. Neither of us attended private school.

I'm rambling... So I would love any advice... Both related to private schools or just in general about starting school... This is my first in school so I'm nervous. Yes I know it is 9 months away!
 
Did you get all the info from the school yet?

Recalling posts from here and other boards....many/most REQUIRE mass attendance (I don't know how often you go), Or pay significantly more tuition?

etc...

Make sure you are able/willing to make those types of decisons before you sign up.
 
Best advice to you about Catholic school is that if you want to be classified as non-practicing, tell them up front. Otherwise there are all sorts of church attendance requirements.

As for them starting school, no great advice. They cry til you leave then they're fine :lol:
 
Dh and I decided to send dd to catholic school. We were both raised catholic. The real reason that we sent her though was school district boundaries. Alot of the kids go because of the boundaries. It is a little pricey and there is a lot of involvement. I do believe that it has helped the girls and I get through a real difficult situation. It is a nice community to be part of. The only sad thing we did find out recently was that the principal will be retiring.
 
General kindergarten advice. IF you are able to be a class mom or help in the classroom 1 day a week, do it!!

I didn't when my girls went and did with DS. I loved it!! Gives you a GREAT idea of what your child does all day and is a great way to make friends (for you!) with parents of kids your child's age (playdates!!)
 
It's not really significantly more tuition any more, at least not around here. Also, it seems non-practicing students get access to a bigger pool of scholarship $. Again, around here, plus our kid we were contemplating this for is an honor student and talented athlete (we were considering for high school).

Parochial schools have to attract enough students to stay profitable too. A lot of them have brought their non-practicing tuition more in line with parishoner tuition.
 
Our dentist is sending her DD to preschool in a Catholic school. They are always asking her to volunteer and etc. She doesn't want to tell them what she does for a living (because they will seek her out for $$$) but she does complain that they always are asking for something from everyone.

I sent my DDs to a public school because it is a National School of Excellence. I loved it there and didn't feel the need to send them to Catholic school. *shudder*
 
One of the reasons we decided on private school is because of full-day kindergarten. I work full-time. DS4 is in daycare so tuition will actually be less expensive... but yes it still stinks. We took a tour and let them know we weren't members. I believe the tuition is the same for all except for members that need financial assistance.
 
Our small school's tuition (about 100 kids total from K-8th) is double for non parishioners.

My kids really get into the religious part of their education and really like going to church. DS13 is in the chime choir for church and loves that too.

My DH was raised Catholic and I was raised Lutheran. When it came time to pick schools, we went with Lutheran.......then DH converted (pretty similar anyway).

ETA: Our tuition isn't crazy high yet (our school gives a discount for additional kids), but the Lutheran HS here is quite high. I was hoping DS13 would want to go to public HS, but lately he's really been talking about the Lutheran HS................might have to take out a loan! :surrender:
 
Fuzzysox said:
Our dentist is sending her DD to preschool in a Catholic school. They are always asking her to volunteer and ect. She doesn't want to tell them what she does for a living (because they will seek her out for $$$) but she does complain that they always are asking for something from everyone.

I sent my DDs to a public school because it is a National School of Excellence. I loved it there and didn't feel the need to send them to Catholic school. *shudder*
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I grew up in a great school district and I felt they offered more... My current school district isn't the best. We might reconsider the public schools for first grade and beyond depending on how we like the Catholic school.

There is another private school in town. The tuition is twice as much and it seemed very nice but they kept saying... And a parent refinished the gym floors, another parent bought the playground equipment, etc. It scared me!
 
smallsaver said:
One of the reasons we decided on private school is because of full-day kindergarten. I work full-time. DS4 is in daycare so tuition will actually be less expensive... but yes it still stinks. We took a tour and let them know we weren't members. I believe the tuition is the same for all except for members that need financial assistance.
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One of my dd classmates actually choose the school since the school distirct she is in didn't offer all day K. My dd was one of two kids that didn't go all day. She would stay for special days or one in a while. When I registered her I was told the second half of the day is lunch and social time. Needless to say I was misinformed and found out they had more in the afternoon. I will probably put dd2 in full time because of the price break it is $20 total for the year for her to go all day.
 
smallsaver said:
I grew up in a great school district and I felt they offered more... My current school district isn't the best. We might reconsider the public schools for first grade and beyond depending on how we like the Catholic school.

There is another private school in town. The tuition is twice as much and it seemed very nice but they kept saying... And a parent refinished the gym floors, another parent bought the playground equipment, etc. It scared me!
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It's common for our parishioners to do most of the work on our school and church. We have cleaning days where parents are asked to come help do some deep cleaning, painting, etc. The handy peeps fix stuff, do electrical, etc. Our church doesn't take any outside help or do fundraisers to get money from outsiders. Like our rummage sales and others are only open to parishioners.
 
mrsmom said:
It's common for our parishioners to do most of the work on our school and church. We have cleaning days where parents are asked to come help do some deep cleaning, painting, etc. The handy peeps fix stuff, do electrical, etc. Our church doesn't take any outside help or do fundraisers to get money from outsiders. Like our rummage sales and others are only open to parishioners.
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I don't mind helping out... I just thought it might be a bit out of my league.
 
we have only sent our 4 kids to catholic school--not because it was "catholic" even though we both are, for us it was about better schools, I also LOVE the community within the school--especially the HS ( which is far away for you :) ) At our smaller school we were expected to help out with sports concessions etc..if your kids were in sports, help out with class fundraising ( say 6th graders were running an event to raise money for xyz..) They wanted you to volunteer with school wide events --or with parent group major fundraising ( for us it is craft show) Personally that is where the sense of community comes from--it has totally gone downhill at my kids old elementary school from when my kids first went there--its so sad how lazy parents are these days.
 
I've done both Catholic grade school and high school and public grade school and high school. Honestly, I think the biggest difference is the money. The school has no money and they ask you a lot for it and plenty of people there have lots of it.

There is definitely more of a push for parents to get involved at the Catholic school and there's always something that costs money. Our school community had LOTS of money so most of the kids don't really want for much. We had the "good for their family, but that's not for our family" talk a lot. We were one of the families who didn't go to Florida every year for spring break.

It was nice to know all the families and teachers. I have a few things I didn't like about it and some stuff I liked.
 
I'm not even sure the public schools are that bad.. but kindergarten in 2.5 hours! That is about enough time to take off their coats and have a snack!

When we visited the private schools they seemed so organized and the kids were all well-behaved... At the public school, it was mass chaos and dirty.

I would LOVE to move... but my house is worth nothing...
 
skincarekathy said:
It's not really significantly more tuition any more, at least not around here. Also, it seems non-practicing students get access to a bigger pool of scholarship $. Again, around here, plus our kid we were contemplating this for is an honor student and talented athlete (we were considering for high school).

Parochial schools have to attract enough students to stay profitable too. A lot of them have brought their non-practicing tuition more in line with parishoner tuition.
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Not here..... Tuition is $5,000 per child for non Catholics and I pay $5,400 for BOTH boys for parishioner rate... Your home parish pays a subsidy for each child. And there are NO scholarships for non Catholics but there is a State of Indiana program for anyone. There are also scholarships provided by the church for practicing members of the parish
 
Smallsaver, if I were you I would definitely research the curriculum at some of these schools that are Catholic around here...some of it seems kind of weak and if you are paying I am sure you would want your child to have the best curriculum when you are paying for them to go there...we are not Catholic but I have looked into some of these schools just for the sake of doing so and was not overly impressed with the curriculum..many were just as weak as public schools...in OUR area anyway...I am not that far from you really.
 
kewpon addict said:
Smallsaver, if I were you I would definitely research the curriculum at some of these schools that are Catholic around here...some of it seems kind of weak and if you are paying I am sure you would want your child to have the best curriculum when you are paying for them to go there...we are not Catholic but I have looked into some of these schools just for the sake of doing so and was not overly impressed with the curriculum..many were just as weak as public schools...in OUR area anyway...I am not that far from you really.
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I'm not sure I'd be able to reasonably determine good curriculum from bad... They have all of these charts that say good things and then some people say that private schools suck at math and science and the teachers are the losers that couldn't get higher paying public school positions. IDK.
 
Reporter20's mom was my kid's kindergarten teacher at public school.....and was AMAZING at it. It was like a calling for her.

So, I think you can get an amazing K teacher at public school too.

She had a HUGE reputation in our area. One of my DS' BFF's mom had a baby the year they were in K. She sweated until he got into her class that she wouldn't retire before his K year.

Yep, she was THAT good.
 
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