We visited Queen of Peace School earlier today in an opening effort to judge whether or not it’s worth spending rough $4200 to send Jonah there for kindergarten next year. (True education cost is $6500; we’d get a break as a parish family, though there’d be plenty of fundraising during the course of the year.)
Undeniably, it has its merits:
- • Class size is 25 or less
• School size is under 175
• It’s a mostly Macintosh-based school (in fact I’m doing their server install over Spring Break)
• There is a strong emphasis on community
• There is a strong emphasis on the education of the whole individual
• Advanced students (and based on what we’re seeing Jonah would be among them) can work ahead at their own pace
• Students learn Spanish K-6 which, while they wouldn’t leave the school as fluent speakers, would go a long way toward having our kids tri-lingual by the end of high school
Both the public schools in our area—we’re actually right on the border and can choose either one—are well-regarded, and, it must be noted, a lot less expensive. Queen of Peace School is a full-day kindergarden, running 8 AM to 3:15 PM, which most public schools are half day, 8 AM to 11:15 AM with the paid option for the second half of the day.
We’re hoping to check out the local elementary schools soon—the Queen of Peace School registration deadline is May 1, but parish family pre-registration starts in two weeks—so that we can do a comparison.
Of course finances may ultimately trump intentions because unless I’ve missed it in the literature, there is no tuition break for multiple kids. $4200 a year is a doable proposition, but what of two years from now when Elisha joins the fun? $8400 isn’t exactly chump change. And the head reels at the thought of three kids at Queen of Peace School: $12,600 a year for three straight years.
So we’ll see.