School Criteria

I will try to cover all private schools that I can dig up information on that are within a comfortable drive of Arlington. I am focusing here on preschool (3s and 4s) and Kindergarten (K-8 where applicable) because that is the stage that we are at. I haven't looked at junior high or senior high schools yet. I will expand this blog as we approach those ages. But that won't be for a few years!

With that said, I think that Arlington and Fairfax (and many of the surrounding areas) have some of the best public schools in the country. They are consistently rated tops in high school surveys (Newsweek magazine for example). If I wanted my child to attend a secular school, the public school system would almost certainly be my choice.

Arlington County even has a Montessori preschool program. My child is pretty much ineligible to attend this program because DH and I make too much money... subject of another blog entry!

So, my primary criteria is that the school is non-secular. Or rather, Christ-centered. Although I did also look at Catholic and Jewish schools. Much of my disappointment was in schools that were within churches and were actually secular. I will expound upon that one by one. While I firmly believe that DS will get the majority of his spiritual education at home, I also believe that we need to model our priorities in every aspect of our lives.

I needed particular hours, as I work part time. I did not desire a full time program. Pre-care hours were a bonus. After care was not necessary, as long as the school day went past 1200pm.

Cost was also a primary issue. We are fortunate to make a good living, but $15,000+ per year programs are out of our league. I will list those programs, but I might not have much more than a link to their website, because I didn't look at them past the tuition. Many of these schools have excellent financial aid packages I am sure, but we won't qualify for them. You might. You won't know until you ask! For preschool, I looked for programs that cost less than our part-time live-in nanny did. So my cutoff was ~$1,000 per month. And since I really wanted to hire a housekeeper, my real cutoff was $600-800 a month.

After this, I looked at the educational model that the school followed. Who knew that there were so many! Montessori, Waldorf, Reggio Emilia, Classical... I will expound on these in blog posts as well. I had no idea. And this all comes down to knowing your child and where s/he might excel. Can s/he sit still for long circle and desk times? Is he an independent worker? Does she need social skills developed?