St Cecilia or other private school in Irvine?

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ST0408

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I am searching for an elementary school for my son and are debating between public and private, and montessori or traditional school.  I favor more on private at this point after reading other posts on this forum and as both my husband and I are working full time, we will have to put our son to after school care as well.  So, thinking private school would be better choice for us as private school seem to pay attention to student's behavior more than public. 

I've visited St Cecilia and I really like the teachers and students there.  Students seem to be very happy with the teachers and they are very respectful of others.  But what disappointed me a bit is they are following the CA state curriculum.  I thought private school is always ahead of public school.

Can anyone give me any insight about public or private?  if anyone has any experience with St Cecilia or you would recommend other private school in Irvine/Tustin area?

My son is in Montesorri Pre-K now, he seems to learn well there.  And I like how they teach the kids too.  But I also heard things like Montesorri kids tend to have problem following instruction in class after they move to a tradtional school later on.  Can anyone give me some advise on this as well?

Many thanks.
 
My kid started with the Montessori near UCI and then transferred over to the one in Northwood. The transition to first grade in public was really difficult due to the same problem you addressed.
 
it is a really hard decision to make.  i like montesorri, but i think i can keep him there for kindergarten, but beyond that, it would be too expensive to keep him all through elementary school.  so, how long did it take your kid to adjust?
 
My kid was in the principal's office every month. The teacher cited my kid as a problem student. The teaching methods are so different between Montessori and public school. My kid went into shock during the transitional period. At Montessori kids get to participate freely anytime with questions and answers where as in public schools this behavior was considered rude and interruptive to the class decorum. The school psychologist spend more time with my kid than her spouse. Kids from Montessori get all the attentiion from teachers and assistant whereas in public school kids should stay and sit quietly among 40 kids in a classroom.
 
But I assume your kid doesn't have any problem, it is just he has to adjust to the new environment, right?  Really hope it doesn't affect your kid's motivation to learn.  That is really discouraging for him.  and that's what he got from montersorri, to explore, to learn.

Thanks for sharing this with me.  I guess this is another question I need to ask when I interivew different schools.

 
that is very sad though.  he probably can do better than that.  have you thought of putting him to private?  Another reason why I like St Cecilia is their tuition is very reasonable too.

I went for a montersorri elementary education night last night.  OMG, I love that.  I really wish I am able to keep my son in montessori, but the tuition is like a mortgage payment.

by the way, do you mind sharing which school your kid goes to?
 
This is a true story in Irvine.  A soon to be divorced Indian parents were unhappy with a "B" grade their son got from an AP World Civilization and he needs discipline. He was taken out of a local Irvine school and sent to a military boarding school in Carlsbad. Competition is fierce and receiving a "B" grade is a shame. I could not imagine the long term psychological self esteem this kid will have. He is not alone for not being the smartest of the class.
 
Check you pm

ST said:
that is very sad though.  he probably can do better than that.  have you thought of putting him to private?  Another reason why I like St Cecilia is their tuition is very reasonable too.

I went for a montersorri elementary education night last night.  OMG, I love that.  I really wish I am able to keep my son in montessori, but the tuition is like a mortgage payment.

by the way, do you mind sharing which school your kid goes to?
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irvinehomeshopper said:
This is a true story in Irvine.  A soon to be divorced Indian parents were unhappy with a "B" grade their son got from an AP World Civilization and he needs discipline. He was taken out of a local Irvine school and sent to a military boarding school in Carlsbad. Competition is fierce and receiving a "B" grade is a shame. I could not imagine the long term psychological self esteem this kid will have. He is not alone for not being the smartest of the class.
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Oh trust me, when I had any kind of "B" I would hear about it from my parents as well.  I actually did get shipped out from a Huntington Beach high school to Mater Dei because of it.  I actually found Mater Dei to be easier than the unnamed Huntington Beach high school.
 
From Edison to a private school in Santa Ana?
No wonder you are street smart not like your neighbors likely get run over by a bus. Is that the reason there are so few buses in Irvine?
 
irvinehomeshopper said:
From Edison to a private school in Santa Ana?
No wonder you are street smart not like your neighbors likely get run over by a bus. Is that the reason there are so few buses in Irvine?
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Wow, you are good I did go to Edison.  Yeah, Mater Dei almost in the heart of Santa Ana...it would definitely scare off a lot of Irvine parents.  We had all kinds of stuff happen out there....a drive-by shooting around the corner from the school, high speed police chase through the neighborhood, numerous robberies, etc.
 
Come to my campfire and you may learn a few things about stereotypes and it will actually help you as a realtor to know about your clientele.
 
So USC - were you a football player?

We debate public vs. private school. My wife went public growing up and I went private. We both ended up at the same university so I am not sure there was that much of a difference.  Parents so freaked out about grades should transfer their A+ students to a "lesser" school so they can be the A++ students. OR they need to focus on non-money sports if they want their carbon-copy overachievers to stand out

Fencing/crew/cross-country/volleyball (libero?) are all good starts.

 
If Irvine parents want to their kids to go to a private Catholic school in Orange County... don't they usually go south?

As for private elem vs. public elem, since I am going through that transition, what IHS says is correct in many cases but it all depends on the public school, the teacher and the age of the student.

There is only one private Montessori school that I know of in Irvine that goes past 1st grade and it only goes to 3rd. From 4th on up you either have to go public or a different private school outside of Irvine (I find it strange there are no 4th Grade+ non-demoninational private schools in Irvine that I know of). There are two Catholic schools in Tustin (St. Cecilia and St. Jeanne DL) and there are more in South County. There are other religion-based private schools in Tustin (there may be a Jewish one in Irvine).

We liked the Montessori program but like all schools, different ones have different systems and methodologies even though it's based on the same pedagogy.

If I could travel faster than the speed of light, I would probably keep my kids in private until 3rd grade (or higher)... there's more things to worry about in public school than just the API scores.
 
LAtoOC said:
So USC - were you a football player?

We debate public vs. private school. My wife went public growing up and I went private. We both ended up at the same university so I am not sure there was that much of a difference.  Parents so freaked out about grades should transfer their A+ students to a "lesser" school so they can be the A++ students. OR they need to focus on non-money sports if they want their carbon-copy overachievers to stand out

Fencing/crew/cross-country/volleyball (libero?) are all good starts.
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Yeah I played football out there (didn't start because they had some many good players on the team).  Mater Dei tuition was about $4k/yr excluding books and uniforms but that was actually NOT cheaper than my UCLA undergrad tuition which was about $3,500/yr.  Today I think Mater Dei is over $10k/yr.
 
I find it funny that private high school tuition is the same cost as UC or Cal State tuition.

But I guess that's why they are only lower/mid-tier colleges.
 
irvinehomeowner said:
there's more things to worry about in public school than just the API scores.
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Now that would be a detriment if the kids in Irvine Public schools learn to buy fake LVs from Canal Street or Los Angeles Street instead of SCP.
 
irvinehomeowner said:
If Irvine parents want to their kids to go to a private Catholic school in Orange County... don't they usually go south?

As for private elem vs. public elem, since I am going through that transition, what IHS says is correct in many cases but it all depends on the public school, the teacher and the age of the student.

There is only one private Montessori school that I know of in Irvine that goes past 1st grade and it only goes to 3rd. From 4th on up you either have to go public or a different private school outside of Irvine (I find it strange there are no 4th Grade+ non-demoninational private schools in Irvine that I know of). There are two Catholic schools in Tustin (St. Cecilia and St. Jeanne DL) and there are more in South County. There are other religion-based private schools in Tustin (there may be a Jewish one in Irvine).

We liked the Montessori program but like all schools, different ones have different systems and methodologies even though it's based on the same pedagogy.

If I could travel faster than the speed of light, I would probably keep my kids in private until 3rd grade (or higher)... there's more things to worry about in public school than just the API scores.
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There are private Catholic grade schools sprinkled throughout Orange County, I know because some of my friends at Mater Dei went to them.  There's two or three in Huntington Beach and I think there are two in Costa Mesa.
 
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