Private Christian Elementary School...help & advice (Raleigh, Cary: home, neighborhood)

[calitonc2012]

We will be relocating to the Triangle this summer and my son will be starting Kindergarten in the fall. We are looking at three different schools and would like to know if anyone has had any experiences (good or bad) with their children in these schools, how you liked the curriculum, teachers, environment, so forth.

The schools we are looking into are North Raleigh Christian Academy, Grace Christian, and Cary Christian. Once we make the final decision on the school for our children, we will decide on which area and neighborhood to live.

ANY advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

[goldenage1]

Originally Posted by calitonc2012

The schools we are looking into are North Raleigh Christian Academy, Grace Christian, and Cary Christian. Once we make the final decision on the school for our children, we will decide on which area and neighborhood to live.

Please use the search box. These schools have been discussed extensively by several people who were moving into the area, and there is good information.

[goldenage1]

Originally Posted by goldenage1

These schools have been discussed extensively by several people who were moving into the area, and there is good information.

This is especially relevant: https://www.city-data.com/forum/ralei...an-school.html

[Mikeheel]

Those are three excellent schools. All three promote missions as the kids get older and have their students involved in local community service. They have slightly different approaches to how they do school.

Cary Christian has uniforms and is a bit more formal, overall. They require a statement of faith by parent and child. The kids have to hand-write a lot of their assignments. Solid academic programs. As your child grows, you may want to know CC has a lot of honors classes but no teachers certified to teach AP classes. This is the least expensive tuition of the three you listed. K-12 on one campus with about 850 students overall. CC probably emphasizes the classical model of education more than the others. This appealed to us initially b/c we had home schooled with a classical curriculum.

North Raleigh Christian Academy is very large for a private Christian school with a strong regional reputation. They admit non-Christians but have a sound emphasis on the Bible and faith. Solid academic programs. They have honors classes and AP classes at higher levels. They are pretty strict about how they interpret and enforce their rules, but they are clear about them in advance. I'm not sure how many kids they have now, but I think it's around 1400 K-12 on one campus. This is about 1k-2k per year more than CC.

Grace Christian School is on the technology forefront with more smartboards than the others. They also have MacBooks for all students 5th grade and higher. They admit non-Christians but have a sound emphasis on the Bible and faith. They have a K-5 campus and a 6-12 campus. Total enrollment is about 500. They have honors sections within classes (so not separate honors classes) but they do have a number of AP classes. Grace is about the same cost as NRCA. They also follow a classical model for education; however, they are not as formal about classical as CC is.

I know families with kids in k-5 at each school, and they've all been very pleased. Our daughter just began high school at Grace. I don't think there is a wrong decision between the three. In terms of methodology and college prep (a ways off for you at this point), I felt better about Grace for how my daughter learns. But it really is a question of how your child learns.

If I were moving into the area new, I'd probably flip a coin between Grace and NRCA. There's nothing wrong with CC, I just felt better about the other two. If you move close enough for Grace or CC, you can choose between the two. They are only a few miles apart.

[calitonc2012]

Thank you Mikeheel! I appreciate your response. Raleigh has some great options for schooling, which makes this decision tough. We will be visiting all three next week and hopefully making our decision.

I also will continue to looks through posts but would like to hear more experiences others have had with these schools.

[Microjedi]

Hello,

Two things I would like to mention are that NRCA and Grace are very different in size. I believe NRCA has an enrollment capacity of 1800 students. Grace is barely a third of that size. Also, they are located on opposite sides of Raleigh, so it may affect where you need to live.

I coached at Grace last year and found the teachers that I met to be very nice. I worked mostly at the k-6 campus where the gym is (the 2 campuses are only about a 1/4 mile apart). The facility is nice. The upper campus (high school) has a different feel than your average high school.

Having graduated from a small Christian school a long time ago, I can say that size is an important factor. If you hope for your children to play athletics, the small school will offer more opportunity since there is less competition for the positions. The larger school will offer more options in the realm of sports since many smaller schools can't afford the other sports, or simply don't have enough students to fill their rosters.

You might also want to take a look at Wake Christian Academy near Rt 401 to the south side of Raleigh. I know the administrator and he is a very nice guy. I think Wake may also be less expensive.

Hope this helps. Good luck.