grace versus the village school (Houston, St. Jo: private schools, university, moving)

[jenya56]

which one is more appealing? How do they compare?

[fnh]

A major difference is that the Grace School is a religious school while Village is non-sectarian. Also, Grace goes only to 8th grade while Village goes through high school. (It may seem far off but it will happen before you know it.) While the Village school wouldn't be considered 1st tier by many inner loopers, they will have at least heard of it and it is popular with the far west Houston crowd. Grace school is less known and I would wager many inner loopers have never heard of it. I know of it because one of my neighbor's children attend Grace and they are happy there.

[EasilyAmused]

I don't know the ratio's today, but for a time Grace had far more girls than boys. May of the boy families migrated over to St. Francis in Piney Point. I think it's a draw between Grace and Village. Village is more international. Grace feeds into Houston Christian High School, Village used too.

[westres1]

Grace is now equal or has more boys. Village is the St Johns on the west side and is an IB school. Grace is smaller and not as rigourous. Grace feeds into St Agnes, Strake and HCHS.

[Ellen Pitts]

Originally Posted by westres1

Grace is smaller and not as rigourous.

What do you mean by this? I am not even in the area yet, but looking to relocate. So I haven't visited the school but I have looked at their website quite a bit. It looks to me like they favor hands-on, activity based learning in the younger grades, which in my experience leads to more well-rounded, better educated kids who are ready for academically challenging environments in the upper grades. Are you saying that they don't do as much seat work/busy work and that makes them not as rigorous?

[EasilyAmused]

Originally Posted by pegotty

What do you mean by this? I am not even in the area yet, but looking to relocate. So I haven't visited the school but I have looked at their website quite a bit. It looks to me like they favor hands-on, activity based learning in the younger grades, which in my experience leads to more well-rounded, better educated kids who are ready for academically challenging environments in the upper grades. Are you saying that they don't do as much seat work/busy work and that makes them not as rigorous?

Grace has a reputation of not working at the same pace as some of the other prep schools. Good, but not as "rigourous" in course study as say Kinkaid, St. John's and St. Francis. I think they produce a well-rounded, grade level student. And that works for certain types of students and parents. But if you threw them in the mix with the above educated children, it might be an experiement of "sink or swim" for a while.

You seem, a little defensive of a school you only know by website.

[Ellen Pitts]

Originally Posted by EasilyAmused

Grace has a reputation of not working at the same pace as some of the other prep schools. Good, but not as "rigourous" in course study as say Kinkaid, St. John's and St. Francis. I think they produce a well-rounded, grade level student. And that works for certain types of students and parents. But if you threw them in the mix with the above educated children, it might be an experiement of "sink or swim."

You seem, a little defensive of a school you only know by website.

Thanks for the info. No, I'm not defensive of the school but looking back at my email I did seem defensive. Sorry. :-) I've just been involved in school in my current location who *thinks* they are rigorous when really they are working the little kids to death and not producing good results even with all the hard work. So maybe I was a little defensive, but not because of the school itself.

There is a really good school that was an experiment of Duke University and it went over incredibly well. It is primarily hands-on and I saw some similarities between The Duke School and what I saw on Grace's website. I would think that to some people TDS doesn't look rigorous because the kids are having so much fun. But they are actually being very well-educated and go on to the higher end college prep schools. If the kids from Grace are struggling in the higher end college prep schools, then that is indicative that it probably isn't 'rigorous.' I guess I was just questioning the definition of rigorous. Is rigor determined by the outcome or the daily activities?

[westres1]

Originally Posted by EasilyAmused

Grace has a reputation of not working at the same pace as some of the other prep schools. Good, but not as "rigourous" in course study as say Kinkaid, St. John's and St. Francis. I think they produce a well-rounded, grade level student. And that works for certain types of students and parents. But if you threw them in the mix with the above educated children, it might be an experiement of "sink or swim" for a while.

You seem, a little defensive of a school you only know by website.

I agree with the above other than the St Francis part. St Francis looks good and has alot of "programs" they love to brag about but their kids dont get into the best High Schools. Many more kids from Grace go to Jesuit and St Agnes as compared to St Francis. I know because my kids have attended both. As far as the Village School... it is a rigourous curriculum and they only accept the brightest and highest scoring students on the entrance exams. Grace only offers one foreign language and does not require Latin or a fine arts elective to graduate. While at Village,Kinkaid and St Johns those things are required.

[EasilyAmused]

hmmm. Well most of these schools aren't working "more," just at a higher level of work.Most private schools within the city are very hands on and have plenty of enrichment to make the day interesting.

Rigor: IE. grade level might be pre-algebra, said school "rigorous" school will be working on Algebra. No more homework than the grade level school,no more stress than the grade level school, just moving at a higher level that it's students are ready for. Science classes and History classes are the major differences in many of the schools.

There are many private schools in Houston. It's always best to find the one your kid fits in. Obviously a kid with an average IQ isn't going to do well working at a faster pace school.

[EasilyAmused]

Originally Posted by westres1

I agree with the above other than the St Francis part. St Francis looks good and has alot of "programs" they love to brag about but their kids dont get into the best High Schools.

hmm, I didn't know that. My siblings are/were very happy with it. But they are/were coming from the public system. They're the only private school that offers in-house dsylexia tutoring and they made huge strides with my nephew. He went on to Strake.