Anyone is a "good school" area?

[Calizzy]

We started homeschooling while living in Southern California in a fairly bad school area. It was an easy choice to homeschool. We have since moved and live .3 miles from a pretty good school, academically speaking. I am having a harder time justifying all the work that homeschooling requires when a decent school is right around the corner. I still have issues with standardized testing and the secular influence of public school, but when academics are ok I feel like I am doing a TON of work for soemthing that the school is doing just as well.  Is anyone else homeschooling even through you live in a "good school" area?

[Guest]

I am in a good school district now, and when I began hsing, I was in one of the best (by stats and reputation) in the country. It was the second-most-often objection raised by others - "WHY would you homeschool when you live a mile away from one of the best elementary schools in the nation?!" But, actually, this didn't tempt me at all, because my reasons had to do with school itself, not how "good" or "bad" the schools were. (Though I am sure if the schools were known to be terrible, it would be one more reason to homeschool, and would be a reason that others understood.)

 

I had a multitude of reasons I did not want to send my five-year-old to any school. Whether they were good or not was moot.

[Guest]

P.S. i meant to say, though: YMMV. Do what makes sense for your family.

[waa510]

Not currently, but I did a couple years ago. The school got a great score on GreatSchools and its reputation was certainly fantastic (helped with re-sale quite a bit so I'm grateful). The thing is, though, I quickly learned that reputation isn't everything as all the neighborhood moms would gripe to me about X, Y, Z aspects of the school. The academics weren't as solid as people had assumed they would be. Separate reading/math groups and G/T testing and placement didn't happen until 3rd grade in the county. I didn't want a sit-around-and-wait approach to my kids' schooling. Getting a feel for the nitty-gritty of what the experience would actually entail from the mouths of moms who had only incentive to tell me how great it was (so the negatives were probably much worse or pervasive than even the stuff I heard) gave me the confidence to keep on keeping on.

 

I'd evaluate why you're homeschooling. Did your original reasoning have to do with only the then current school system? Is there something about your schooling now that you could simplify so it doesn't seem like fruitless labor? Have you talked to neighborhood moms to get a sense of what the school is *really* like? Does the school feed into a good 'next tier' school? Sometimes the elementary is a dream and the middle/high is a nightmare! Make sure you aren't just end-of-the-year weary and seeing the school through rose-colored glasses. 

[LisaKinVA]

We started homeschooling while living in Southern California in a fairly bad school area. It was an easy choice to homeschool. We have since moved and live .3 miles from a pretty good school, academically speaking. I am having a harder time justifying all the work that homeschooling requires when a decent school is right around the corner. I still have issues with standardized testing and the secular influence of public school, but when academics are ok I feel like I am doing a TON of work for soemthing that the school is doing just as well.  Is anyone else homeschooling even through you live in a "good school" area?

 

Define "good school" and what that looks like at elementary, middle, and high schools?

 

For my kids?  Not  through middle school (unless we could do something selectively).

 

At the elementary and middle school level, California has implemented a fairly rigid math program -- there is no acceleration of math allowed through 6th grade.  In 7th grade (generally) the only path to accelerate is doing Algebra 1 over 2 years, and beginning with Geometry in 9th (or, you can double up on math in 9th or 10th).  With very few exceptions (one in southern CA), this is it.  My oldest three will all complete at least through Geometry prior to 9th, with one completing through precalc and one through Algebra 2.  My youngest two have just begun to really accelerate math, and will probably also be through at least Geometry by 8th.  

 

Then, you have the added layer of the testing, teaching to the tests, and busy work which seems endemic of these schools. 

 

By the high school level, I'd probably be more inclined -- simply because the avenues to tailor learning expand a lot more.  

 

FWIW, I loved the schools I attended in CA back in the day (well, except one).  But what I loved about them is now a part of history.

[MEmama]

Yep.

 

During elementary it didn't feel weird because I knew DS wouldn't be allowed to work at his level there.

 

Middle school has felt different to me, though, knowing there is more flexibility in class options. He knows a fair bit about it as he plays various sports for the school.

 

He has decided he wants to go to the high school, and honestly I think it's a great choice. Ours offers plenty of high level courses and the Latin teacher gets rave reviews. Everything I hear about the school from parents and students is really positive. Keeping him home would feel like reinventing the wheel, which I would gladly do if he wanted or if we felt it would be beneficial. But in our case we are fortunate that the HS seems to be a solid choice (and of course he can always change his mind).

[Guest]

I live in one of the best districts in the state. It had no bearing on my plans to homeschool, and I picked homeschooling as my plan long before I actually had kids, and the value of the district wasn't something I discovered until several years after moving here. It wasn't anything I thought to look into since I knew we weren't going to use the schools anyway. I just really liked the area and house.

 

Yay for my resale value, I suppose :lol:

Edited June 9, 2016 by Arctic Mama

[DawnM]

I live in the top rated school for the greater city area here.  I homeschooled until this year.  I still opted for the lower performing charter school this year for my middle son.  And even though it ended up being way too far to go beyond this year, it was a very good transition year.

 

However, my 2 younger kids will go to school in the Fall, at the local top rated school.  I think they will be fine.

 

But for YEARS I dealt with the, "WHY would you HS when you have that fantastic school right there?"  

 

And I didn't want to get into the fact that a large reason I homeschooled was because I had a special needs child who needed me home and needed me to homeschool him, and I refused to have some kids on a school schedule while one homeschooled alone.  

 

BUT, living in this school zone is one of the deciding factors for us to NOT move just yet.

[MotherGoose]

Yes, one of the best in the state. My reasons for hs were my Dd being an advanced reader, I didn't want to send her to all day k, and I wanted her to have plenty of time to play. Now that we've been doing this awhile, I still like having time for her to play, like taking vacation when we want, and well, I'm glad I don't have to do the waiting in carpool thing. It's nice to know its an option if needed though. However, if I'd known I'd be homeschooling (bought house before we had kids), I'd have considered buying a few miles away across the county line for greatly reduced taxes, etc. oh well.

[Carrie12345]

I think our zoned elementary school is a good school.  My oldest went for a few years.  Most of my kids would probably have done fine there, by typical standards.  But I'm not really interested in typical standards.

 

I have considered specialty charter schools for my older kids, but decided against them for location reasons.  Our district is enormous and the travel time would be insane.

[catz]

I live in a state that has some of the best public schools and highest ACT scores in the country.  There are excellent private school options too.  But if you have a quirky, asynchronous, out of the box kid, that doesn't help you much.  That is why we continue to homeschool.  If my kids want to attend high school, we can definitely work something out.  My oldest did not however. 

[TammyS]

Well, I don't live in a good school district.  I moved from a mediocre district to a really bad one, actually, in part because we knew we were homeschoolers and didn't care about the district.  It allowed us to buy a nicer property than we would have been able to afford in a better district (we are actually about 15 miles from the closest high school, the town that it's in is pretty awful, but our rural area is very nice).  But I'm pretty anti-industrial schooling and hate the whole "school is for career" thing, and I'm anti-government involvement in schooling, so I would never send my kids to public school, regardless of how good the school itself is.  For me, even the best of government schools don't meet my vision of education, because I believe the purpose is completely different.  If there were a good classical school in my area, and I could afford it, I would give that serious consideration for middle/high school, but even then I wouldn't say that I would absolutely use it. 

[Katy]

We almost always live in great school districts because we choose them for real estate values.  I went to a "great" school district.  I still think teaching to mastery at the child's own pace is better than school. 

 

If public schools went to a system where kids could work to complete mastery at their own pace and have a wider variety of subjects, languages, and extracurriculars than I could easily offer at home, I'd put them in school.  If they were more athletically and socially inclined than academically oriented, I'd consider their wishes regarding putting them in school.  But for nerdy, academically oriented kids?  Homeschool is better.  For my nephew on the spectrum, homeschool is better.  For a different nephew who's social, athletic, & not academic?  Private school is better.

 

I seriously doubt you're going to get any judgment here for doing whatever is best for your own family.

[Guest]

We also live in one of the top rated districts in the state. We actually moved here for the schools. Oh the irony. I've learned to be careful what you wish for. The very things that make a school look great- super high test scores, no poverty level, affluent neighborhoods- all come with a price. Here that would be insane amounts of pressure over testing to the point of obsession, lots of rich kids with drug issues, no diversity- I mean NONE, and parents who would rather spend money than time on kids and the school. The last gives the schools an immense amount of power to "do what we feel is right for your kids- please stay out of it" and so many of the parents happily do. I mean the test scores are high- They must be doing something right! Nevermind the other baggage the kids are coming out with. The fact that the teachers were giving incoming sixth graders talks on coping with cutting, anorexia, and bulimia (without parents knowledge) said a lot of the issues they're dealing with- with 11 and 12 year olds nonetheless.

 

Anyway- my advice would be to look a little deeper than the appearance of a good district on paper. I guess I am glad we didn't know better as it led us to homeschooling, which we love and has changed our family for the better. But- for your case I would say look into the counterpart of everything that produces these results. It's not always worth it. If we have to go back to public school in the future we would be moving into a more diverse and less test driven district. Assuming non-test driven districts exist in this state any longer.....

[mom2scouts]

I'm in an area where all the schools are rated "Excellent with Distinction" and I pulled my youngest children out to homeschool. My older kids went from K to 12 and I watched the quality of education go down over the years. Since my children are widely spaced, it's a perspective that most parents never get. My real reason for homeschooling was a stressed out child and little accommodation for young advanced students, but I've discovered plenty of other good reasons. Apparently, fights aren't all that uncommon although parents don't hear about them. One teacher was discovered by students on a porn site and another teacher was soliciting a 14 year old online. The top in the state, high income school down the road has a huge drug problem and the other local high school has had two students arrested for murder. If, for some reason I couldn't homeschool any longer or my kids wanted to go to high school, my children would still get a good education. We're just enjoying the benefits of homeschooling and plan to keep doing it for now.

[Bambam]

We are in a 'good' school district - the one people who are not zoned for this district, they pay to have their kids in these schools.

However, talk to a student in the school, and you will hear stories of fighting, drugs, etc. Their test scores are good (STAAR), so I think that is what is defined as "good".  It does not sound like a good environment to me regardless of test scores.

 

 

Edited June 9, 2016 by Bambam

[73349]

We have adequate to good public schools, and likely access to excellent private (and a chance at excellent charter) schools.

 

But the basic strengths of our homeschooling - individualized curriculum, effective use of time, one-on-one teaching, maximum recess/minimum testing - those schools just cannot do.

The strengths of the best schools - expert teaching, group activities - are easier for us to access via research and outsourcing.

[J&JMom]

I live in a school district where our assigned schools are all ranked '9" on Great Schools.  I pulled my two boys after 2 and 4th because they weren't working with my special needs youngest to my satisfaction.  We still homeschool because we enjoy the lifestyle and to avoid the drama that is middle school.  We plan on our oldest to return to high school because of the opportunities it offers and because I am too lazy/cheap to homeschool high school. But, if my boys' educational needs aren't being met at high school, then you bet I'm pulling them again. 

[xixstar]

My sister just asked me if the schools are bad where I live -- not at all. We have good schools. She seemed confused. Our choice to homeschool is not based on the schools.

[elegantlion]

Our choice to homeschool was not based upon the school either. When he was in late elementary/middle school, we lived in a good district. We are secular homeschoolers, so it wasn't about influence, it was about other things. Lifestyle was one, a perk more than a reason. My then-dh worked long hours and because we homeschooled ds could stay up late and actually spend time with his father without thinking of early morning starts - we generally schooled late in the morning or afternoon. 

 

Another factor was at that age ds's ability spanned about 4-5 grade levels. He would have probably been remedial in one area and accelerated in another, a traditional classroom would not have been able to accommodate those variances like homeschooling. 

 

We also traveled more in that time. School can be quite particular about attendance issues. One school allowed ten days, so throw in a vacation and a few sicks days and he'd be in trouble. Summers were then-dh's busy work season, so we preferred to travel during the spring or fall. 

 

We wanted to cover academics in a different way than the public schools. It was shortly after we moved there that we discovered classical education and used a modified version of that through the rest of his education. Public schools were not covering some of the subjects we wanted to cover either, no one was doing Latin. 

[Dmmetler]

I moved from an area with struggling schools (which I taught in for a decade) to one with better on paper schools, and then, by the middle of K, realized it just wouldn't work. DD was too big an outlier in many ways, and while the school had a lot of nice features, it wasn't good for an asynchronous learner.

 

I had assumed she'd go back later, and if she really wants to do so for high school, It would be for social and extracurriculars, and we'd try to find classes and teachers where she'd at least learn something new or in a different way in some subjects (like taking a completely different foreign language), and take full advantage of dual enrollment.

[MaeFlowers]

On what basis is it considered a good school? I would visit the school before trying to make any decisions. It still may not meet your standards. This is what happened to us. Ds was in ps. After kindergarten, we moved from the worst school in our county to the "best". Seeing what "best" meant is actually what pushed dh into finally agreeing about homeschool.

[poppy]

I live in a great school district.  GreatSchools score of 9 AND a really good community / experience there. It avoids the pitfalls. Not too competitive, plenty of differentiation in the classroom.

But my daughter has a communication disorder plus dyslexia plus a few other issues that make it really hard for her to be in a peer environment 6 hours a day.

I'd send her with no hesitation if it weren't for her individual needs.

[bettyandbob]

Good school district doesn't mean it can serve each individual child well.

 

What are your family's goals? How are you working towards those goals?

 

For us homeschool was a year by year evaluation of each child's needs. We took into account what our family could provide and what was available in the local school. We evaluated whether if enrolled a particular child would have obstacles either academic or social.

 

YMMV

[BlsdMama]

We're in a good district with an excellent public high school.

 

1. I can still do better.

2. I can individualize more.

3. I don't want them to have a strong peer group dependency or look to peers for behavior or put myself in a situation where peers take the place of family while family gets only an hour or two at night.

4. I don't do homework at night.

5. Most importantly I homeschool for relationships.

 

 

Because of these reasons, the quality of my local school is not relevant to our decision to homeschool.  

 

[Wheres Toto]

We're also in one of the best districts in our state.  The high school in particular is outstanding.

 

We homeschool because my son is 2E - advanced/gifted but also has some issues, mostly social and behavioral that boredom with the work would make even worse.   We always figured we'd give him the option to go to high school since it's one of the top in the state, we have actually experience there with my oldest, he would be able to work at the level he needs to in individual subjects, and he is "out growing" some of the worst of his issues. 

 

But, while B&M high school is an option, we will not force it and ds has absolutely no desire to go to school, at least so far.  More than likely we will be homeschooling through high school, at least for him.

[wapiti]

Great doesn't necessarily mean great fit.  Only you can evaluate fit for yourselves, only your family can weigh the advantages and disadvantages of homeschool vs PS for your particular student.  For academics, make comparison lists, look at schedules and course offerings, see if you can find out the types of colleges recent PS kids have been admitted to, look at the AP course list to see if they have anything your student wants, if that's relevant.  The non-academic angles can be a little harder to compare without personal experience with the school but talking to a lot of parents can go a long way, parents of students attending the school and especially parents who chose against it, if there are any among your neighbors.

 

There have been long discussions over on College Confidential about some pressure-cooker regular public high schools (NJ maybe?) that likely qualify as "great"; however, they do not sound like they'd be a good fit for my kids even though we're looking for rigorous academics.

 

We chose our school district when we came from another state, but the kids were little and I didn't know much; still, we probably wouldn't choose differently.  Even with "good" schools, it wasn't long before we were looking at alternatives at the elementary level (square pegs/round holes 2e :)).  Fortunately, our district does have a number of charter schools that involve different styles, philosophies, etc.  Even with lots of choices, at one point I was hs-ing one of my kids.  We have one in a private high school, three in one charter middle school and two in a different charter elementary (the fit changed for us between elementary and middle :tongue_smilie:).

 

We have a quite good public high school.  We generally prefer the private one, but it might not be the best fit for all our six kids.  We will decide case-by-case.  This fall we have two eighth graders and we may decide to send them to different high schools for fit reasons *sigh*.

Edited June 9, 2016 by wapiti

[Jean in Newcastle]

Even the best schools can't provide a flexible truly individualized education.  And they can't provide the family homeschooling lifestyle that we have.  And they can't provide the kind of socialization that I want for my children.  YMMV.  Homeschooling is definitely a job for the primary homeschool teacher.  If you don't want to do it or don't feel like it is the best for your kids, then don't. 

[Ewe Mama]

We used to live in one of the worst school areas (Cleveland, OH) in our state. We moved into one of the best school districts in our state. Only under very extreme circumstances would I consider enrolling any of my children there. Drugs, teen pregnancy, bullying, teaching the standardized testing, no flexibility, are all things I have heard teachers discussing regarding the schools in our area. It speaks volumes when I know that several of the teachers and their spouses homeschool their own children.

 

I totally agree with everything BlsdMama said in her post.

[AK_Mom4]

We live in a very good school area. We make use of the school resources (band classes) but DD15 chooses to homeschool.

 

I don't find it difficult to justify the work for homeschooling because DD is thriving, as did her brother before her. Homeschooling is an educational option for us that works well for my kids.

[shawthorne44]

Not in our current home, but our last home was in a school district that was highly desirable.  I wasn't tempted at all.   Socioeconomic status is the best indicator for academic success.  So, I'm not particularly impressed by good school stats in a school with middle to upper-middle class kids.  The school district has the pick of teachers, they don't accept applications except from teachers that have been invited to apply.  They have plenty of money to spend at the school.   The Senior High School is nationally respected among people recruiting high school kids for academics or sports.  Yet, I noticed that the four nearest grocery stores to me each had a different tutoring center in the same parking lot.  If the schools were truly that great, why are there more tutoring centers than schools in my immediate vicinity?   it isn't just near me.   I hadn't noticed at all until a friend of a friend bought an existing tutoring center in the same city but not near me, so they were on my mind one day.   

 

That our new locations has schools known to be bad is an advantage to me.  There are more homeschoolers and the property taxes are lower.  

[Janeway]

Our schools rank very well. But have you looked at what the rankings are based on? How much is spent per student, student test scores...neither of these make a better school. There is way more to quality than test scores. Someone just got rude and in my face about how great our local schools are and said "the test scores speak for themselves." Umm..the test scores do not say "this school did it" no..they say that child did it. And there are many factors, including all the tutors that the parents pay. The demographics do a lot too. Our local high school has a large Asian population. And average house price is pretty high here, comparatively. Wealthier people tend to be successful people and successful people tend to have successful kids. That is not a cut and dry rule, but it is true.

 

Going to that school is not going to change our income, our DNA, or anything else. I do not think my children would do better at the local school. I see these parents spending tons of money on tutors, after the kids waste all day at that school. The teachers are mediocre. The people running the school seem, well, not that bright. They even have teachers teaching subjects they are not certified to teach. But others are dazzled by the ranking. The ranking says very little. The ranking tells me where the local house values will go.

[SamanthaCarter]

Moving to one next week. I think I'm going to need a support group. "Homeschooling-moms-who-have-to-listen-to-how-good-the-XXX-schools-are" support group. Already I've been taking a lot of "oh are you going to send them to school now that you will be in XXX district?"

[AimeeM]

I guess it would depend on whether or not the status of your local schools determined your homeschooling in the first place.

 

Ours did - and it didn't. It impacted the decision, but by no means was it the only consideration.

 

We actually live in a fantastic elementary school district. You'll notice everyone around me shipping kids off to charter or private, though, once middle and high school hit (the zoned middle and high school are terrible).

[Slojo]

I do. We actually moved into a good school area even though we intend to homeschool into the foreseeable future for a few reasons:

 

1) We may not homeschool forever, and we wanted the "send them to school" option to feel easier, and not fraught with concern.

2) I am a big believer that good school district areas also come with good other amenities that are super-beneficial to homeschoolers -- i.e., parks and rec programs; enrichment programs; sports opportunities; and library programs. That seems to hold true. So while we do not use the resources of the schools, we do use all of those other resources.

3) the other factor for us is that the school needs not only to be a great school overall, but a great school for black boys. When you factor that in, the number of schools that fall into that category drops dramatically. I think all parents need to understand if a school is going to be great for a kid like their kid. Some schools may not have the rankings of the top schools, but end up being great for certain kids. I've heard from parents here that the schools are great for stand-out kids/high achievers, but actually not so great for average kids or kids with special needs. They kind of get lost apparently.

 

It is a reality of this country, is that kids who attend well-resourced schools also tend to get all the other amenities as well. Totally not fair, but that is how this country works, for the most part. I would be happy to see a family that would love to be in our district "take our kids' spot." I know our district is better than others, and that there are families who would love to have the choice. We are fortunate indeed. But like others, I have a slight bias against the way that education, in general, is delivered, even while I can recognize that some schools are delivering it better than others. 

[Guest]

The Senior High School is nationally respected among people recruiting high school kids for academics or sports.  Yet, I noticed that the four nearest grocery stores to me each had a different tutoring center in the same parking lot.  If the schools were truly that great, why are there more tutoring centers than schools in my immediate vicinity?   it isn't just near me.   I hadn't noticed at all until a friend of a friend bought an existing tutoring center in the same city but not near me, so they were on my mind one day.   

 

 

 

Around here a great number of the parents spend several thousand dollars having their kids take prep courses for the ACT and SAT- it's a right of passage so we have tutoring/test prep centers everywhere you turn. It's extremely lucrative from the looks of it. A friend of mine paid $1500 for her son to take a three evening SAT prep a couple of years ago and was told by the other moms that that was cheap. 

[Tita Gidge]

Our school district has consistently ranks in the top 3 in our state. Every year the same three school districts (one the town over and one on the other side of the state) hold the top 3 spots, just their order flops around. I have kids in homeschool and kids in public school. It really just boils down to each kid.

 

If I homeschooled because of a lacking school district, and then I moved from that district, I would absolutely re-evaluate my efforts. If that is one's primary reason for doing it (homeschool), it makes sense to! If your student's needs can be met in an equally or better situation, freeing you up for other roles/responsibilities, it's silly NOT to consider all options. You may still end up deciding to homeschool, but the decision would be made having taken everything into account.

[Alice]

We live in a district that has schools that are consistently ranked in the top in the nation (for whatever that's worth). More importantly I know most people around us are very happy with the public schools here. We also have a wonderful small private school about 5 minutes from our house that many of our kids friends go to. Once in fact we were out for a walk and ran across one of the classes at the school at a local creek on a field trip. We had to wave and quickly turn around because I realized we were a huge distraction from the teacher as half the class was waving and calling out to my kids and talking about us. :) 

 

I ask myself this same question semi-regularly or when homeschooling is tough. The answer for me is that we choose TO homeschool, we don't choose NOT to do other school. The difference is that our choice to homeschool has more to do with our enjoyment of learning together, the flexibility for our family, the lifestyle we enjoy, the ability to design our own curriculum and course of study, etc than it has to do with rejecting anything school elsewhere has to offer. 

[raptor_dad]

Not our zoned school, but the public school DS7 attends has a great schools rating of "10". It has excellent art, music, gym etc pull outs. Since their scores are high and there is little testing pressure, he has pretty regularly gotten 2 or *more* recesses a day in K and 1st. The school has opted out of the district curriculum and use Singapore Primary Math which the PTA funds. It is a completely amazing public school. I feel vaguely guilty at how much better it is than our zoned school and the public Montessori magnet 2 blocks from our house we wanted DS7 to attend.

 

That being said, DS9 has been home schooled since K when that public magnet near our house was a spectacular failure. 

 

Public school was the right choice for one kid and home schooling the right choice for the other.

[Suzanne115]

We moved a little over 2 years ago to an area with a really good school system.  The high school is in the top ten for the entire state.  My daughter, who I have taught at home since K, does not want to go.  She will start high school in the fall.  My rising first grader really wants to try public school.  I may let her in a few years.  Right now, she is too young to make that choice and I am not ready to let her.

 

 

Suzanne

[Miss Tick]

I haven't been seriously tempted by our highly-ranked schools, but like Alice, I chose to homeschool, rather than not to use the available school. One thing I have heard a few times recently is that the stress levels of the students are very high, school-induced and home-induced I assume. Anyway, I don't think that is captured in the rankings, but it would be something to consider with respect to your kids. Mine would probably be okay, but it would be something I would watch for.

 

Nothing wrong with opting into the system if it works for your kids, though!

[Arcadia]

My kids assigned elementary and high school are good enough to send my kids to if we have a medical and/or financial crisis. The middle school not so because of behaviour issues rather than academics.

Still the assigned public schools aren't a good fit for my kids and people would only ask why we didn't put our kids in those highly ranked private schools. They never questioned why we didn't put them in the good but not great assigned schools.

[Guest]

We lived in a great school district.  Top rated, on every list, gifted/talented/special needs included.  

We lived on a street with 12 elementary aged children.  FOUR went to the public school.  On our street, we had 8 elementary schools represented, including 3 public, 3 private and our homeschool.  

 

Why did the OTHERS not go to the great and fabulous, top-rated public schools?  Each householder was paying ~$4,000 of their property taxes (about 50% of about $8K) for public education.  The least expensive private elementary school represented was $8,000 a year.  The top was $18,000 a year.  For ELEMENTARY.  Here are some of the reasons they gave:

 

1.  Bullying.  The number one reason.  The rest are just listed in the order they came to me. 

2.  STILL a comparatively inferior education.

3.  Lack of classroom control.  (Teachers were wearing microphone headsets in their own classrooms of 30 kids...  I was *never* in a class of fewer than 32 kids when I grew up, and the teachers didn't need microphones.)

4.  The snooty factor.

5.  The long-term plan to get the kids into a red-hot private high school so one could get into a red-hot college....

6.  Family tradition  ("Three generations of our family have gone to the XYZ School.")

7.  Lack of access to gifted and talented programs--there were only so many slots, or it was not the right kind of GT (do more work faster -- other private schools offered "Let's go deep" or other interesting programs.)

8.  Preference for educational approach:  classical, Waldorf, Montessori.  

 

 

For us, homeschooling was not our first choice, but it became our choice when we saw that our son was overwhelmed even in a classroom of 16 kids, that he was bored stiff (very brisk in his ability to learn) and a few other factors, including that he just hated it.  I saw him square his shoulders every morning, just to go to school.  At age 6.

We did what was right for our kid.  OUR kid.