There were a couple of things I wanted to answer but instead of doing it in the comments, I thought I'd write another post because nobody I know goes back to read the comments, right?
(feel free to correct me)
Costs
These vary so much from school to school.
Some schools only provide a snack and lunch, others provide breakfast too, some do only snacks as they only do half-day with aftercare (in this case you need to provide your kids' lunch which they will heat for you).
Mandy, I don't think you should compare our costs to US costs. It's just crazy. Some things are just not comparable :) because there is no way anyone other then the very rich would be able to afford R12 000 per child per month. No way!
The truth is that these are the costs where I live, Johannesburg. This is the most expensive part of the country. In other parts of SA, schools seem to be cheaper. I know if we lived in PE (where I'm from), I could send BOTH of mine to a full-day place for the price of one child up here. That is unfortunately reality. My mother is horrified at the costs up here and now understands why it's cheaper to get a nanny to look after twins than send them to daycare/ preschool.
Deanna, on the extra-murals. This seems to be consistent in most of the schools. If you want your child to participate in things like ballet, gymnastics, music, swimming, etc. then they have people who come in and do these activities in the afternoon but those costs are additional to the standard fees.
The one school (incidentally the one I love the most because of Christian values, etc but one of the most expensive) says that parents need to beware of over-scheduling their kids (I am firmly in agreement with this) and that their curriculum caters for a well-rounded child so extra-murals are not necessary until age 6. What do you think?
Four of the 6 schools give a discount for twin 2.
But LauraC, you are amazing. I would not be able to bring myself to pay those kinds of prices. :) What are the prices in other parts of the country?
Requirements
Some of the schools take babies from 6 months, others from 18 months and then there's one who wants them at 2.5 AND potty trained. Now I've not written about potty training on the blog (but I have commented here and there, esp on MandyE's posts) but I wasn't even planning to consider it til 3.
That's all I'm saying for now :)
Uniforms & incidentals
The school with the uniforms only insists that they wear the uniform on Fridays (kind of the opposite of work, where most big corporates do casual Fridays :)) because they go on "field trips" and so it's easy to herd all the kids together. As a practical and very frugal person, I can't see why they don't just say, "all kids wear red t-shirts on Fridays". Much cheaper!
As for the apron and so on, I know. It kills me. I bought non-fancy aprons for R20 each and the fancier versions were R50 each! But sometimes it's not worth the fight....
School visits
Yes, I absolutely plan to go do random, unscheduled visits :) to see the real action. This is one time where I like unscheduled :)
One of the infertility mothers owns a pre-school and I wrote to her since she doesn't read the blog, well, not that I know of. She said a lot of what you said but ended off with something like this: go visit them all because sometimes there is something that just clicks with you as a family. Nothing wrong with the other schools but one will just stand out and work for you.
Very sound advice.
Dilemma
I love, love, LOVE the sound of that Christian school although it's only half-day with aftercare. Also a woman I know (the mother of the girl who sat at our table at the wedding) teaches the class K & C would be in, and she is fantastic. Ran some of the children's ministry at my church for years.
But it is very expensive compared to at least two others.
I am the type of person that if I see value, I will MAKE A WAY. Like with the IVFs. But I really don't feel like spending all that extra money.
Because I will turn into That Parent if I'm annoyed about things.
My one colleague at work is spending a fortune (R80 000 a year) to educate one of their sons at a private school (that is a blog post for another day) and she found out that one of the teachers lets them sleep and do nothing in his class. She flipped out (understandably) and the school just did and is doing nothing. Now that would send me over the edge. Somehow she's made peace for the rest of this year (since it's not a major subject) but is pulling him out next year (this is not the only issue).Anyway, the point is.. the bond WILL be paid off this year. Hopefully end of August when I get my bonus. Look how positive I'm being but I told my boss about this goal and he was all, "wow, Marcia, that's fantastic" and I said, "of course, it does depend on me getting a fabulous bonus" and he was all, "hahahaha but seriously, it shouldn't be a problem". Yay!
But I wanted the no bond to free us up, not bond us to schools. I want to travel!!! Oy.
If you have more questions, please feel free to ask in the comments - I love to find out how things work in your side of the world. And sometimes "your side" of the world means Fourways and Sandton :)
Okay, have to go. I have the second weekend social arriving in 33 minutes and I'm still in pjs :)
About education - what are your feelings about government and private schools?
