[MotoSook]

I grew up in one of the worst towns outside of Chicago (Legion can attest to how crappy my gangland of a Aurora was/is...East Side!). The school district was poor as hell with almost no program that I would consider college prep. There was only one or two classes that I would say truely prepared us for college, and it was probably due to the desire of the two teachers we had. The rest was just to get us the basics. I honestly didn't know I was missing anything. I learned to learn on my own since my parents could hardly speak English back then. I ended up with two college degrees. My schooling was probably 10x worst than what you have for your kid Harddrive, but I had nuturing parents who encouraged me to take big steps and walk tall. They were poor hard working people, and I appreciated their situation. It was a major motivator.

Now with kids of my own, I live in the next town over and the school district is amazing! I really didn't know what I was missing growing up. If I had schooling like my kids are getting now, I'd probably be a nobel prize winner LOL! The stuff available to them at this school district is 3x more advance than what I was learning when I was their age. One of the kid's Chemistry class was nearly as good as my Freshmen college chemistry class at the U of I (#3 engineering school in the nation at the time I was there).

So the point to all this is, I'm not sure the early years of schooling are that critical. As some have stated, the parents and home life have more effect on how much your child will grow and learn. I honestly don't think the schools are teaching the kids anything worth retaining (not that they retain much anyway) until they are in high school. Even then, it's up to the individual student to soak up as much as they can. If they are not motivated to learn, the most expensive prep school won't help. Motivation does not come solely from the teachers and school administrators.

If you must, pay for high school. But elementary is a waste of money in my opinion. It's more about developing social skills and a sense of self at that age than about learning to solve high level math problems. I honestly think my wife and I are teaching more to our kids than their teachers. The kids come home confused about their school lessons, and we help them to understand it to the exclamation of "why didn't my teacher put it that way!"

Remember when you were in college and the chicks you would pick up on Friday night? Most were probably elementary ed. majors. Remember how airheaded a lot of them were? Yeah. I don't expect much from teachers at the elementary level. When you start going to parent teacher conference and cirriculum night you'll probably see some of those airhead hotties walking around in suit pants with a tucked shirt hidding their tramp stamps (some hide it better than others).

How much money will you pay in the next 6 years? How's that compare to the loss/gain of moving?