Anaheim,ca

Marties:
I teach at Walter Knott Elementary School in Buena Park and its an awesome school. Our API score is way about 800 and that is really good. The parents are involved and the teachers really care about every student. one way to find a good school near you is to look at the website, www.greatschools.net. They give you the test scores, parent commments and a whole bunch of other interesting facts about schools nearby. I had one of children at a Private school forher first 3 years and I really think the public schools did a very good job at teaching my children what they need to know to be successful and happy little people. If your home school isn't great look into intradistrict transfers and interdistrict transfers. Also there is a great preschool program through Buena Park parks and rec. I'm sure other cities and churches have fantastic preschool programs too that are very reasonable.

Hi M....
I've lived in Yorba Linda for the last 6 years. When we first moved to the O.C. I put my kids (I have 5) in public school. I soon found that I was not happy with the public school system here. One of my older sons had met some nice kids and they were hanging out at my house quite a bit. I'd hear them talk about their school and they actually kept saying really positive things about it and seemed to love it. (they were high school aged). I asked them about their school and based upon their report and a visit to the school I enrolled my younger daughter there because she was struggling in the public school system. She has learning difficulties and has been in resource since kindergarten. Anyhow....she was at this school for her entire high school period and was doing advanced calculus by the time she graduated and is doing GREAT in her first year of college. The school is a small private school in Orange. They teach preschool to high school. There are about 250 kids in the school. My daughter's senior graduating class had 15 students! The school is called Emerson/El Dorado (Majelix) and is in Orange. It was worth every penny for her to go there. Email me at ____@____.com if you have any questions.
S.

If you're in Anaheim 92801-92805 then the district is Anaheim Unified. If you're in 92806-92808 than you may be in Orange Unified. Look up the district office and call them to find out where your boundary lies and which school you're assigned to. Or, you can go to their websites and find the school boundary maps. Once you find out which elementary school your son would be assigned to, you can then go to the school website and download the school report card. It'll give a comparison as well of how that school does compared to California's average, so you'll know if they're average, below average or above.

Good luck!

I don't really have any experience with private schools but I will say this: with the state budget the way it is classroom size is about to take a huge jump. Smaller classes are what young children need.

We just moved into the area too and school is high on our list, I found a great website. I'm not totally sure of the address, try to Google "school performance maps ca"

I thought that the public school you send your children to was determined by where you live. Find out which school it is and then see what you can find out about the school district and school. You can sit in on a class at the public school and see what you think before you make a decision. We sent all three of my sons to a Christian school because we wanted them trained in Christian ethics and beliefs. It was expensive, but well worth it too us, although I went back to work to help pay for the tuition. It depends on the school district you are in and why you want to send them to a private school. Unfortunately, the budget crunch is going to hit the schools and they will probably have larger sized classes, but if the teachers are great and the students are supported well by the homes, then it would be OK.
H.

I live in Anaheim and my children are in the Magnolia School District. I purposely chose "this side" of Anaheim to stay out of the Anaheim school district.

My kids were in private christian school until 2,1 and 1 and I am very sad to say -- they were taught social skills, and Christian values - but the three R's were sadly behind public school. One of my twins was so neglected that he had to be held back to K when I enrolled him in public school.
I would investigate all your options, interview the principal and sit in on a K class before making up your mind.

Take a look at http://www.greatschools.net/ for information about all the schools in the area with ratings and comments from parents. It will give you lots of information to be able to compare those in the area.