Preferably close in or near west side. I'm probably not sending my kids to St. John's or Kincaid, but I will probably need to go private for at least the first few years.

Bookmarked

You live in Katy or Spring Branch? Why private instead of public?

I think private instead of public is an obvious answer, let's not derail this. We need to find a school for the little griswalds

define "affordable"

Lutheran schools are relatively cheaper. Same with some of the Catholic schools.
Many of the private schools have their tuition easily accessed on their websites.

I hear good things about St. Thomas Episcopal School in the Meyerland area (not to be confused with St. Thomas High School on Memorial). I know folks that have graduated from there and seem to be pretty smart. Also some kids of friends are going there now (elementary age) and both kids and parents love it. I have no idea of the cost.

John Paul II is on the west side and is pretty affordable all things considered (especially if you're sending more than 1 kid there).

http://jp2.org/

John Paul II, Village School, & St. Cecilia are all relatively on the West side.

Have you reviewed HAIS? They even have a map of their listed schools. They also have a yearly 'open house' in the Galleria area where you can meet with school representatives all under one roof.

I realize that HAIS does not list every independent school in the Houston area, but they have most of them...

hth

My wife and I have researched private schools in the loop and the best price was Saint Anne's Catholic School on Westheimer and Shepherd. The school is for ages Pre-K through 8th grade so no high school. Annual tuition is less than $9K.

I went to Village School from 1-5. When I went to public school for 6th I was way ahead of everybody else.

Village , St. Thomas Episcopal , etc are the ghetto private schools....pony up and send your kid to St. Francis Episcopal

A friend's kids go to St Cecila and are really pleased

Memorial Lutheran School on Westheimer near Chimney Rock seems to be in the affordable range.

http://www.mlchouston.org/

A true hidden gem in Houston is Trafton Academy. Our son attended middle school there. Their focus is on mastering reading, writing and arithmetic, with other focuses on computer science. If you look at the facilities alone, it will not compare to the nameplate schools (although it is very clean and adequate), but the teachers and curriculum and PRICE are awesome. The private high schools love their kids: we know 8th graders who are moving on from Trafton to Kincaid, St. Thomas, Strake, Houston Christian, St. John's, St. Agnes, Emory Wiener, etc. from this year's Trafton class. Check it out: http://www.trafton.org/

Sending your kids to a public school builds character. Dont mess up your kids for life by sending them to a private school. IMO.

Kinkaid*

I second St Francis Episcopal, St Michaels, or Village. STFE and ST Michaels have great relationships with the private high schools inside the beltway. Also, now that Village has a HS, they can provide alot of services that they couldnt provide under the Moores. Traftan is a great school, but i can only remember at most 1-2 students that were able to transfer into Kinkaid for HS across almost a decade. Also, certain private high schools have better relationships with certain middle schools and will get 2x the kids in than other equally challanging MS.

What is your email OP? We are having an open house this summer that will have many representatives from many of the above listed schools in attendence as well as state university officials to help quash rumors in relation to how private school enrollment effects state university admissions & other interesting tidbits.

[This message has been edited by nnichols (edited 4/27/2011 7:30a).]

And sending them to private school teaches them that they are better than the common trash that attends public school

Just watch Jesus Camp and home school them.

St. Thomas More is a great elementary school. A little south I think for you but great school and good price.

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Sending your kids to a public school builds character. Dont mess up your kids for life by sending them to a private school. IMO.

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I half-agree with this statement. I went to private school until 8th grade, and then went to public high school. I was way ahead of most of my classmates because the academics were great at my middle school, but I wouldn't trade the public school experience for anything. I think starting with private school to get a good academic foundation is good, but going to public school later is better for real world experience. If I had stayed in private school, I would have been too sheltered.

My mom said that same thing and from my 100% non-private school experience... public school freaking blows and does a piss poor job of preping you for college. While college doesn't do all that of a good of job at preping you for a real work environment either, at least in college and work you don't have to put up and deal with pieces of crap that are forced by law to be there and ruin everyone elses day/attempted learning experience.

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My mom said that same thing and from my 100% non-private school experience... public school freaking blows and does a piss poor job of preping you for college

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Solution: go to a good public school.

Second Baptist is a little cheaper than St Francis and Kinkaid. Those are the three schools we will be looking at when the time is right but the cost difference ($3-4k/yr) won't be a factor. We are zoned to Valley Oaks Elem and Spring Branch Middle but want to look at all options.

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St. Thomas More is a great elementary school. A little south I think for you but great school and good price

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+1 I went there, my sister went there, my grandmother taught there and i still know teachers there

St. Francis is also an excellenct school (my parents looked at putting us there too). I was a year ahead of my peers when i had to move away from houston because of my private school education

now for my realistic response...dear lord CW, you know better- wrap it up.

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I hear good things about St. Thomas Episcopal School in the Meyerland area (not to be confused with St. Thomas High School on Memorial). I know folks that have graduated from there and seem to be pretty smart. Also some kids of friends are going there now (elementary age) and both kids and parents love it. I have no idea of the cost.

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Ask the rector where his daughter goes to school.

We've just gone through this as our child is finishing up eighth grade. We applied to Episcopal ($24k), St. John's ($22k), Christian ($18k) and St. Agnes ($12k). All 21 girls in our class applied to the same schools with some substituting Kinkaid for St. John's. One girl did apply at HSPVA as well.

All 21 were accepted at Episcopal and Christian. One got into St. John's and Kinkaid and she chose St. John's. Three got into St. Agnes -- we're not a Catholic school and one got into HSPVA. (Seems HSPVA is a difficult to get into as St. John's or Kinkaid.) I was highly unimpressed by Episcopal to the point that I would have sent our daughter to Christian rather than Episcopal. Christian could be a great fit for the right child but isn't as academically rigorous as the others. Waitlisted at St. John's but daughter really wanted to go to St. Agnes. So did my checkbook.

JP II is a great school thru the 8th grade. Almost all the 8th grade boys were accepted to Strake Jesuit this year.

Private school equals the perpetuation of the pussification of America.

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My wife and I have researched private schools in the loop and the best price was Saint Anne's Catholic School on Westheimer and Shepherd

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I have one there, and will have 3 there next year.

But its not the best price in ITL. As far as parochial schools St. Theresa (Memorial Park) and St Vincent De Paul (Holcombe and Buffalo Speedway) both cost a couple thousand less a year.

And if trying to get the best for your kids means "pussification," then so be it. Sorry you and your parents were content with drinking purple kool-aid and mayonaise sandwiches in the trailer park. Life is not fair sometimes.

[This message has been edited by BMX Bandit (edited 4/27/2011 5:20p).]

Question:

St Agnes or Duchesne?

Duchesne is higher academic wise.

You may want to think long term. Jr. high and high are usually much worse than elementary.

you might think you are doing "whats best" for your kids...but it doesnt always turn out that way. im not 100% against private schools. i just know from my personal experience of meeting many different types of people in college that i would not risk sending my kids to a private school. yes, its a big risk.

im not saying send your kids to the ghetto...but allowing your children to experience the real america will go a long way. if your kids are in the top 10% at a public school taking advanced courses while being involved...its a recipe for success. if you have the money, pay for tutors and private lessons and stuff like that so that you make sure that your kid is in the top of there class and not left behind with the trash.

I remember when I was in high school and the only difference between private and public (other than the uniforms and the expensive cars) was that private school student were doing way harder drugs since they could afford it. This wasnt a crappy school...it was one of the best catholic schools in dallas. Again, my personal experience. I wouldnt want my kids becoming blind to the world and thinking they were better than everyone else.