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I sent my kids to a christian elementary school but choose to remove them from that environment when they reached middle school age. It's true that on average private schools do provide a better education for kids. I doubt that it has anything to do with religion. It's most likely due to a better teacher to child ratio. So I think it's a good idea to place them in a private school for their early education in order to get a good foundation of learning. However, that being said, there is a risk of what your child will be taught while in that environment. You have to stay involved in what they are learning and spend some time supplimenting those things that the school might not accept but you do. For example, my daughter was taught in a christian school that Dinosaurs didn't really exist. She knew that we believed that they did so she questioned the teacher further about it and was told that "God put dinosaur bones in the earth to make the earth appear older than it really is". It might sound funny to us but kids will accept an answer like that so you have to be careful and stay on top of what is being taught.
So I guess my advice to you is...Talk, talk, talk to your kids when they come home from school. Don't put down the teacher or tell your kids that the teachers don't know what they're talking about. Use it as an opportunity to educate them in the fact that many different people believe many different things. Then support your point of view with trips to the library and let your child make a truly educated choice.
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