Fuck this stupid fucking country

[Aroura]

Public school usually gets a bad reputation.  I'll leave it at that, because there are so many things I could state that I just don't want to right now.

It's ok, I understand exactly what you mean.  Public school is better than none, and I'm glad they exist, but damn, they fail a LOT of kids.

German public schools are not that much better than American, at least for a foreign student. They were very rigid, focusing mainly on memorization and testing.  There was a great deal of bullying and misbehavior, where our daughter was actually minorly injured a couple of times. 

The international school has small classes, creative question based and hands on teaching, and a very nice staff.  We really like every teacher we met (5 of them now) and the principal, too.

@Jor, I do appreciate the advice.  I agree that being challenged is important. The issue was that she wasn't challenged, she was just unable to follow along at all.  For instance, in math she was fine, math is it's own language for the most part, so she could follow along.  But in every other subject she was put in; biology, history, geography and general science, she was unable to understand the language well enough to follow the lectures, read the homework papers, or take any of the tests. It caused her to start to develop the habit of just tuning out. Even 5 months of immersion is not enough to suddenly follow a 5th grade biology lecture.  It's not just her, I saw all of the poor immigrant kids having the same issue.

Of the two options....really the private school is the only one we are willing to do.  It's not fair. But life isn't fair, I know. :/

p.s. This has made me WAY more sympathetic to spanish immigrants in America.  I swear to you, I didn't think I was racist, but living it from the other side is an education unto itself.

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Also, thanks everyone for the advice, and for listening. Because I have such a thin personal support network, I'm very thankful for all of you!

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I think you missed that the Nazi Party was dissolved after WWII.

It has re-formed.  They just don't speak German any more.

You are wrong.  The Nazi party is alive and well over here in Germany.  They meet on Monday nights in the public square here in Dresde (and everyone knows not to bother them. The police are always there, but nothing has ever happened since we moved. They just chant and shout and wave their little signs and banners for a an hour or two, then go home).  They don't use the swastika anymore, but they are the new Nazi's.

We saw this old man attack an islamic fellow on the bus.  He started beating the muslim dude with his cane and saying all sorts of insulting racists stuff.  America does not have a monopoly on white power racists.

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In terms of education, the public school should be just as good as the private one (often, better)
The advantage of the private one seems to be that classes are in English.

Personally, I'd take the 5th grade repeat deal, with reviews that may get her to jump ship to 6th grade... so, ensure that she aces everything in 5th grade for the first few weeks and then... something cool may happen.
Can you ask them for the 6th grade curricula so that you may give her some pointers on what she'll be missing during the start of the year?

Thanks Poca, I think this is exactly what we will do.  They can't hand out their curricula, so we'll just have to see how it goes.

(I attended a private school from grades k-6, then public from 7-12, and both did fine by me.  Other's miles may vary).

I shouldn't bash public schools, but she did not have a good experience last year, or in American public schools for that matter, or I wouldn't have chosen to home school her.  But things have changed in America.  When I went to public school, it was still very education oriented, kids got individual attention.  I always actually love school.
Nowadays they really do force the teachers to teach to the test.  It's as destructive as can be.