If your kids went to a private and transfered to public, if so in what grade?

[AnnieW625]

Dd1 (5th grade) came home last night and said she wants to the middle school where one of her best friends is going to go next year. Her friend is moving to that city in February (once their house has been built). Changing schools has never been on Dd1's radar (except us telling her we way be moving before she starts high school due to DH's job moving locations) but now that her friends move is closer this is becoming an issue. I told Dd1 that we most likely won't be going to that middle school because it is out of district and tough to get into and requires that you reapply every year unless your parents work in the city where the school is or you live in the district. We can't afford a larger home in that district (a 3/2 condo would be about the same price as our house in that district) so I told Dd1 no, but told her there are three other middle school options (two in our assigned district and another in the other district that covers part of our city, but we can easily transfer to). There are pluses and minuses to keeping her at her current school and having her go public. I like the larger feel of public school and the ability to meet and have classes with other kids, but Dd1 is so introverted and cautious that she could almost give up on public middle school after a week. (ex.:. last summer she went to a city beach camp and she complained endlessly she has no friends and the kids all sad bad words and weren't respectful.....these were kids from dual income families with middle to high income families....same demo. as the kids at her school they just go to public). She also has been talking about wanting to go to the all girls Catholic high school for the past year so I just find it really strange that she wants to go public, but I think it is more talk and wanting to follow the friend than anything.

If it matters in the friends' new district elementary is k-5 and middle is 6-8; this is the same in our assigned school district. The second district in our city is k-6 elementary, and middle school is 7-8. There are two middle schools that serve the elementary in the second district in our city so if I were to transfer Dd1 to that district there is no gaurantee the bulk of the kids from the 6th grade would go to the middle school she would transfer to.

[Zansu]

[I can't tell if you're asking a question ("What should I do about DD?") or just asking for others' experiences.]

Our experience: Both of my boys went to private K-4, and switched to charter in 5th grade. The charter starts at 5th grade, and enrolling in 6-8th is very difficult academically. If they had stayed at the private, it would have been through 8th grade, then switch to public for HS.

[StantonHyde]

DD will switch to public for High School. I think she would be really happy in a charter school but it is tough to get into--its by lottery. We tried for 5th grade (when it starts) and got a call 2 days before school started--by then we had already paid tuition for school, so no thank you. For DD--she dislikes the uniform, she dislikes the strictness of the school. The intensity of the academics/expectations is really high. But that doesn't seem to get to her. She really likes her friends. I think if one of her besties was moving to another school, that would be hard. She talks from time to time about wanting to transfer but then decides against it. On balance, her school is a great fit for her. But she will burn that uniform on her way to HS :-)

DS, on the other hand, will go to the Catholic HS next to his school. It is smaller, with smaller classes and they are good about giving accommodations for learning needs. (the public school is horrible about it) Plus he hates change, so he will be happier with more of what he knows.

[niccig]

DS swapped to public at 3rd grade. We felt it was easier to do then. He knew kids at our local school from sports teams, so that helped. He starts MS next year and the plan is to try our local school and see how it goes. He has a great group of friends that will be going and we'll see how he goes academically. HS, we don't know. We've got 2 options we can try to transfer into or go back to private. We'll decide later.

[llama8]

Most kids by us do not switch out of private school for public while in elementary unless their is a big change of life issue. A few kids may go to public for high school, but most continue on in private high school after 8th grade graduation. I intend to keep my kids in private through high school. I teach at a good public high school and feel that my girls, based on their personalities, would thrive better in private. I went to Catholic high school and it was one of the best and most influential experiences in my life and I want my girls to have that (if they want all girls or coed...either is fine. I went to all girls and loved it).

[SnuggleBuggles]

I changed from a Catholic school (k-8) to a public school (intermediate school 4-6) in 5th grade. I had a summer's long letter writing campaign to my parents begging to change because my BF was at the public school (turns out she was assigned to a different school despite same district). I loved my new school and was so glad that I wasn't new in jr high.

[annex]

We moved our DD from a small charter school with max 20 kids/room and only 2 rooms per grade, to a large public middle school (700 kids) between 5th and 6th. Like yours, she is/was very introverted. The 1st week was very hard - lots of tears about the locker combo, being late for class, etc. The saving grace was two of the boys from her charter school who also transferred to this school took her under their wings and ate lunch with her every day. She didn't make a new friend until about 1/2 way through the year, and that was facilitated somewhat by the counselor. Once she got the hang of it though she was so glad to be there instead of the charter - the elective choices are far beyond what the old school had, the library is better, the afterschool clubs, more technology, etc. There's also been slowly more kids finding her who share her rather obscure fandoms, which she didn't have at her old school. I'm glad we did it when we did - the school did a lot for the 6th graders to support them - but she wouldn't have gotten that support had she transferred in 7th or 8th. And now I think she will be able to navigate a large public high school - and is eager to see if she can find even more kids like her at them. So it's been a move we don't regret, at all.

[MelissaTC]

M switched from his Catholic school where he went K-5 to public middle school for 6-8. He is now in public high school. It was really the best thing we could have done for him.

[khalloc]

My kids will go to the local town public schools all the way thru. But when I was a kid, growing up within the city limits of Boston, I went to Catholic school in another town from K-6. most kids in my neighborhood of Boston went to private schools. Then in 6th grade you could take the test to get into the good exam schools that's are part of Boston Public Schools. So I did that and went to public school from 7-12th.

[jenmcadams]

My DD went to our neighborhood elementary school (public) through 5th grade and then applied and was accepted to a competitive admissions independent k-12 private school. She stayed there 6-8, but decided to come back to public for high school

DS went to a local GT Center school (public) through 5th grade and is attending same private his sister did for 6th grade. I'm not sure if he'll stay there or transfer back to public for high school.