Selecting a Kindergarten

My husband and I looked at several Catholic schools on the Northwest side. We chose St. Helen's School on the corner of Western and Augusta. They really care about each and every child. They are NAEYC certified in the education of young children. They encourage family participation, but not the extreme amounts that other catholic schools require. You also don't have to be a member of the parish. This is also a very affordable school. If you have any questions, let me know. My daughter is currently in pre-K and will be entering kindergarten next year.

Put your money toward a mortgage in a good neighborhood rather than private school tuition. You all benefit from the community and your child will attend better schools. Try the North Shore--easy commute to Chicago--Kenilworth, Winnetka, Glencoe, Wilmette, Northfield all go to New Trier High. Any kindergarten in those districts are the place to be. Housing is pricey but the communuty is superior and so are the schools (just look at the census and ACT data and the comparison is clear)

Check out the Northside Parents Association. They rate various schools and I know a lot of parents that have made their decisions based on that. If you want her to attend a public school outside of your district, you will need to open enroll. Many of the schools that accept students from outside their district do so on a lottery basis. So you will also need to apply to multiple schools. There are many magnet and gifted public schools throughout the north side, but your child will need to be tested. You can research all public schools via the CPS website, including how they rank on basic skills tests. Do spend some time ciphering through the gifted programs, to understand all the lingo, and which schools have an emphasis on what, so you can get her into a program that best suites her.

I am in a similar position and have been agonizing over it!! Would love to see the advice.

There are tons of good CPS magnet schools. You can check the CPS website and do a neighborhood search to see what's in your area. For each school you can view stats about the school's test statistics etc. I believe CPS has a "school fair" each year, too. One good resource is the Northside Parents Network (www.npnparents.org I think). They do a really good job explaining the whole CPS and how to get your kid into a good public school. You will have to "lottery" your child into one of the magnet schools and the lottery is done based on race. I haven't done it yet, but my impression is that you should visit several nearby magnets, decide on a few candidates, and enter the lottery for them all. Your child will likely be either accepted or will be given a waiting list place number. Also, depending on your daughter's birthday (summer?) you may be able to delay her kindergarten by 1 year or enter her into the pre-k lottery at the same time, if you don't get your first choice.

We are planning on using the public magnet school system for our son in a few years, and have already scoped out the good schools near to our house.

Hi T..

I have three children; one 16, one 14 and one 5. We have gone to both public and private schools and have excellent experienes with both. For the public, we live in West Rogers Park and my older two went to Hawthorne Scholastic Academy in Lakeview. Overall, we had a fantastic experience there. The education was excellent. I love the diversity of the students. And you can't beat the price! For us, the cons were dealing with the massive beauracracy if there was any issue. A few of the teachers were a bit old school (not as Barney as I like them to be). The drive for me was a huge drag and it is a bit tough for playdates when everyone is scattered. My oldest son now goes to Northside College Prep which is close by and an excellent school. My daughter is a freshman at Whitney Young in the west loop. They both take public transporation, as do all the kids. I love the huge diversity of children that they meet and the outstanding education they receive.

My little one goes to a neighborhood Lutheran school. I could have him in one of two outstanding magnet schools, but honestly, after so many years, I'm kind of sick of the drive. The benefits are very small class sizes, incredible flexibility and zero beauracracy. The education is very good, though I don't know if it's as good as the magnets. That said, after three kids, I can say that as long as it doesn't preclude him from going to a good high school, which this one does not, then that is fine with me. I like that his school friends are near by, however, there is such a small class size, there are not a lot of friends to choose from. He plays great with one other boy in his class, though long term, they don't have a whole lot in common. THe other two boys are really wild and he doesn't have much in common with them, either. And the rest of the class is all girls! Very girl heavy this year.

I would be very happy if I had a good neighborhood school, but our local is truly horrendous. THe one thing I would suggest considering is how great does the school need to be? The outstanding magnet schools have some of the parents thinking every school needs to be the equivalent of Harvard. Decatur is a gifted school that is also near my house and it has great test scores, but I wouldn't send my child there because it is way too rigid. It's all about maintaining the scores. Is it a positive and safe environment? Do a reasonable number of the graduating kids go on to the good selective enrollment high schools? Even if you don't want your children to go to public high school, you will know that the education is good enough to get them there.

I hope this helps!

M.

Are you in the city? We live in the city and there is no way on earth we are sending our child to CPS schools. The elementary school in our neighborhood is so-so and the high school is atrocious as far as course offerings and graduation rates.

Even if he were deemed 'worthy enough' to one day attend one of the magnet high schools (which are outstanding), they are all too far away from our home. I don't want to deny my child the opportunity to participate in sports, arts, or other extracurriculars at those schools because of a transportation nightmare (and public transportation is completely out, too). I also feel it will be important for my child to have friends in relatively close proxemity to us instead of being spread out all over the place.

As long as we are living in the city, our child will be going to private school. We have many choices of great schools that leave me confident that he will get a good education.