Lilah never said only $20,000. This is what she said.
Then a few posts later, the “only” was added but not by Lilah.
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If he “went back” it would be to New Zealand.
Former private school kid and private school instructor here. Probably not going to tell you what you want to hear.
Private high schools are expensive for one reason - they cater to the wealthy, elite crowd. Yes, there are scholarship students there as well, but they are usually the ones who raise the school’s GPA. Private high schools with riding programs that cater to the rider showing on the circuit are even more exclusive when it comes to riding and showing. Lessons, shows, shipping, training - all that adds up really quickly and the school isn’t going to fund it. If the base tuition is $75K, expect to add another $20-25K for the riding and showing at that level, more if you want to think about qualifying for any finals.
You say you don’t live near hunter/jumper barns - so learn from the barns that are near you. Go work for them as a weekend employee and do whatever is asked. You’ll learn more about horses than you realized you didn’t know and have something to put on a resume. You might get to ride the variety of horses you say you don’t get to ride now - open your mind to more than hunters and jumpers. I learned a ton when I worked at a combined driving barn. at the race track, legging up polo ponies, at a yearling sales barn. And all I ever wanted to do was jump - but I opened my eyes and ears and took every opportunity available.
You say you can only take a lesson once or twice every 3 months - so video tape your lessons and your riding at home and study what your instructor is working on and watch your videos to see if you are doing it correctly. Watch lessons on YouTube - lots of great videos out there by top level instructors. You can learn even when you can’t take lessons every week. You want more lessons - learn to drive the truck and trailer and take yourself if you are old enough. Don’t depend on your parents to drive you everywhere.
You can only show 3-4 times a year - so make those shows count. Plan out ahead of time what you are working on accomplishing at the shows and set goals for each. Not just winning - learning and improving. Prove that you are teachable and people will notice.
You don’t like your current school - research online schools and prove to your parents that you can handle the academics well enough for them to think harder about that boarding school. As someone who’s been to a top boarding school (with a great riding program) I can tell you that the academics will have to be your top priority and horses second. A boarding school education won’t get you far in the horse industry unless you back it up with a college degree in business and not equine management. Yes, you will have fun in the boarding situation and make good friends, but there are also many lonely hours and a lot of very hard work. College was easy after high school!
Jobs aren’t going to make you the money you need in the time you have. That’s just a fact of the economy. Focus on what you can improve in your riding, life, education, and forget about the rest.
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My two cents: aim for a D1 equestrian team and set the fancy boarding school aside. Very high bar, may not happen, but seems a more obtainable and worthwhile goal than the boarding school. You can work towards a college degree. Maybe a couple other kids vying for spots will not be ultra rich (most will be rich, at least, unfortunately). I keep up with girls on the Texas A&M, Georgia, and Auburn equestrian teams through my barn. All were extremely hardworking, two came from generations of horses and trainers, but one was a pretty normal kid who showed just one horse per season in the children’s (but with success at indoors, etc.) and went to a normal school, rather than a fake show circuit school or fancy boarding school. Fancy boarding schools are not for everybody. You’ll need a college degree to have as many options as possible in the future and its great you live in Texas for A&M!
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In support of OP’s interest in getting her education outside of Texas, I can vouch for her claims that there are huge discrepancies in the quality of education at public high school across Texas, my home state, and where I live now. And where I and all of my relatives and many close friends were educated.
The best public schools, in highly affluent communities, Highland Park in Dallas, Westlake in Austin, Carroll north of Ft Worth, and several others in those cities and Houston, are the equivalent of any of the best high schools in the country, public or private. Because they are so well funded by the parents.
Although theoretically tax funds are spread among all high schools in Texas, in actual fact the wealthy parents make sure that the top high schools have all of the extras. Students get the rich and broad experience that colleges value. The curriculum is often the equivalent of what students will encounter in university.
The rest – good luck. A a lot of suburban high schools are quite good. But there are thousands of high schools in Texas. A great many are located in tiny rural towns and have student enrollment in the low hundreds, not the thousands. And/or in less advantaged neighborhoods, as they say.
Conditions in those schools are haphazard. They often have limited course offerings and supplies. Some are losing a accreditation, or hanging onto accreditation by a thread. That is a very difficult situation to be in. and it isn’t unusual in a huge number of Texas high schools.
I had the great good fortune to attend high school in a college community that, at the time, had one of the better high schools in Texas. But that high school as well has suffered over the years. It is no longer the standard that it once was.
From what OP says about her hometown circumstances, quite likely it is going to be important to her best future opportunities to get a high school education somewhere else.
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Personal experience of the quality range of Tx high schools …
The small city where I live now has four high schools, and their ratings range from ‘eh’ to quite good.
The two tiny rural under-10k population towns that are 30 miles to the north and 30 miles to the south, have high schools that are regularly on the verge of losing accreditation. It’s frequently a question if the school is worth saving, but they’re just isn’t anywhere else for these kids to go. There has to be a high school.
My brother’s kids went to a small rural Tx high school (far from here) that sometimes can not field enough players to put 11 on a football field. If a player flunks out midseason, they have to call up a substitute player from the middle school team (special rules allow). The high school curriculum is narrow. Most graduates do not go on to college.
All brother’s went to university. They AP’d out of some freshman college classes, but they also added some extra early college courses to make up for things they did not have the chance to do in high school.
My sister’s kids went to one of the best wealthy high schools in a major Texas city. Their junior/senior curriculum looks like that of a university sophomore class. Their football team “plays to win” and is regularly in the highest division state championship playoffs. They have a high percentage of graduates go to college, and always some in the ivies, elite private colleges and bsu’s.
Sis’s kids AP’d so many courses, they were practically sophomores when they started college. They had also received extra coaching camps and traveled a good bit in the course of their school athletics.
That’s the difference. The differences absolutely do matter to college admissions because of the depth of the high school curriculum, or lack of it.
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I, too, was the product of a good public school. Years, decades even, later I kept running into things that I learned in high school that no one else seemed to know, or know how to do.
It really prepared me for life, in college and life in general.
If the OP can supplement their local high school with online, studying on their own, perhaps community college courses, great! If not, a more affordable private school, with or without horses (you’ll have your whole life to do horses; high school is finite and a pretty necessary foundation for the rest of your life) may be better for you.
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Hi @LilahEquestrian .
I wanted to share a few thoughts with you that others touched on… but maybe didn’t go into great detail about.
First off, I’m horrified and sorry for you that your small school denied you the opportunity to take Algebra 1. That’s a big deal, and you SHOULD be outraged about that. I have a daughter who ran into a problem with reduced math curriculum offerings in our small school district last year… and in her case, they were trying to eliminate the entire accelerated math track (part of the issue was that there were so few kids district wide who wanted to pursue it). The school seemed to just not want to staff and support an entire Pre-Algebra class given that only one kid in her grade wanted to pursue it.
I refused to take “No” for an answer. I found an excellent online program that is accredited (accreditation is important) called Flexpoint Virtual School - it’s used by many military families who move around frequently- and had my daughter do Pre-Algebra with this program over part of the school year and the summer. It was very well organized, very easy for her to navigate on her own, there was support from a teacher, and it was self paced, so my daughter was able to work through the curriculum quickly.
Here is a link to the virtual school. They offer plenty of other classes as well, and they really are an excellent virtual school.
The local public school was annoyed that DD was doing an accelerated track on her own, but they gave her a placement exam during the summer, which she got a perfect score on, and they then relented and allowed her to do math with kids a grade or two ahead of her (they moved her up to Algebra 1 early). There will come a point in high school where she may need to do math through a local community college if her base high school stops offering Calculus (this is likely to happen… again… small rural school district that has trouble staffing), or if she does not do a magnet program through the state (we are fortunate to have great magnet programs in our state). If/when this happens, we will go through a local community college so that she can get the classes she needs and wants to take.
So here is a thought for you , OP. Maybe you should sit down with your parents, look hard at what it takes in terms of specific credit hours and classes to graduate early in your state, and see if you can put together a plan of doing a few online courses from something like Flexpoint Virtual School, or maybe doing some summer classes at local community college (if your base high school will give credit for dual enrollment- I bet they will)… and see if you can get done with high school by 16 or 17. It’s possible to do this with a lot of focus and hard work.
If you could work hard and do that, and continue riding your mare at home… then maybe your parents would support you taking a gap year to go do a working student position in a major program when you are 17?
It will be hard work to graduate early. But here’s the thing…. If you aren’t in Algebra 1 yet and are starting high school, I hate to tell you this, but you are going to be pretty behind in terms of academics at that private boarding school you are hoping to attend as well… and it might be hard to ride or show much if you are pretty far behind academically, and trying to catch up. It might be easier for you to do self paced academic work at home, with your parent’s support, and use summers doing some dual enrollment with a community college, and just push to get done with high school early.
Another thing… I have an older son who is currently in high school and does half his classes at a local community college via dual enrollment. This has been a very happy thing for him, and allowed him a break from some of the kids at our small rural high school who were small minded jerks. He’s made new friends, and found himself much more interested in his schoolwork. He also sat down with us (his parents), and identified a path through required courses and various dual enrollment options so that he will graduate with a full Associate’s of the Sciences degree by age 18. In our state, the public universities do accept credits from the local community college system, as well as associate‘s degrees, so we will save a lot of money and he will be 1.5 to 2 years ahead when he starts college. It might be useful for you and your parents to sit down and look at the rules in Texas when it comes to community colleges, dual enrollment, and recognition and credit given by the major public universities… especially given your interest in Texas A&M.
There are plenty of people on these forums who know of very good working student programs where you could apply to be a working student for a full year after you had completed high school, as well as programs to avoid. If you want to start a separate thread on that, it might give you a lot to research and think about in terms of how to best achieve your goals. If your ultimate goal is to do jumpers at a high level, and to run your own program, there is more than one way to get there. Big Eq and hunters are VERY expensive these days. I would encourage you to also consider going to do a working student job for a full year for an FEI eventer in Area II. There are many, who often need full time working students, and will offer you living accommodations and likely board for one horse. You would learn a lot about the fundamentals of flatwork, conditioning and high end sport horse management in a program like this. Additionally, most top FEI eventers do work with specialist top show jump coaches. If the program you worked for knew your goal was eventually to make it into the jumper ring, they could and would help you make connections and open doors for you.
Anyway… just trying to give you some food for thought about a different path to get you:
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Out of the small local high school you are currently in, which sounds like is limiting and frustrating for you.
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A way to work towards your goal of riding professionally at a high level, but on a track that might be more affordable than doing Big Eq.
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If you could graduate early, or set yourself up to get an associate’s degree in high school, or streamline your path through your degree in your state public university system… it will save you lots of time and money. And that means more time for riding, and more money to support your horse goals!
Last bit of advice… I strongly recommend considering a general business administration or accounting degree in college, instead of equine sciences. Most horse businesses are just a specific type of small business. If you have more refined business skills at running a small business in terms of how you manage cash flow, and are organized in terms of planning to market and grow your small business… you will be MUCH more successful than many other equine professionals. Seriously! Also… a business degree will give you something to fall back on if you eventually decide in your twenties that you want to just be a talented amateur who owns and shows one or two horses, and works a regular day job to pay for it.
Anyway… there you go. Just a few different thoughts for you. And… I’m sorry the kids at your local school and the whole situation is miserable right now. Keep your chin up.
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This is a very good point. I took Algebra 1 in middle school - 7th or 8th grade, I can’t recall. Could have been earlier. I went to a small private school, but the local public schools were on a similar schedule (and were large enough to offer accelerated and AP options if you wanted).
OP, everything Virginia Horse Mom said is spot on - and dual enroll/online supplemental classes are going to cost very little. Certainly less than $20k-$70k, and if you play your cards right you can do both horses and academics. You’re well-spoken and clearly have some drive, that will serve you tremendously if you can focus on academics and fit the horses in around them!
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Sadly, there has been a relatively recent trend with public schools across the country to delay the start of Algebra 1 to 9th grade. There are many reasons for this trend, and there were some good intentions. But the result is that many capable kids in public schools are now significantly behind their peers who are in private schools.
Also, the delay with the start of Algebra 1 impacts kids’ abilities and adequate preparation in terms of pursuing AP classes in specific sciences in high school… definitely Physics, but also Chemistry. The kids just don’t have a strong enough math foundation to do those AP sciences during high school. And… add to that certain more advanced electives related to certain business related classes and other AP courses like AP Computer Science and AP Macroeconomics.
Anyway… that’s all a sidebar. But if the OP is one of these kids who has been delayed and blocked from starting Algebra 1 in 7th or 8th grade because of public school policies or curriculum limitations… she will have a very challenging time academically her first year at an elite private school, and have to study hard to catch up.
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The duck is going on with Algebra being taught in 9th grade?! Pre Algebra was standard for 6th grad with Algebra I in 7th 20 years ago.
This is about as bad as the fact that I know a lot of liberal arts colleges and universities have to have “remedial” writing classes for freshman who have never had to write more than a paragraph in their life. My college roommate was one of those folks who had to go through that.
SMH I try not to get dismal about the future but lord this is frustrating to learn.
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That is insane. I was not mathematically-minded at all and algebra 1 was standard fare when I was in 7th grade in 2001. (I, admittedly, went to one of the very good Texas high schools named upthread.)
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This is interesting to me. Of all the life things I learned during my high school and college years, I cant attribute my high school facilitating many of them. I went to the best high school in my district and to a smaller private college (with horses of course!)
High school was means to an end (college/a good job) for me. My main community was my barn friends during high school. We all went to different schools, I met my high school BF through one of them and he went to a different high school than me. I had friends at my school and was involved in show choir/theater, but my world always felt so much bigger than anything that was school related.
My parents are very grounded people and their guidance was more valuable than anything I got at school. They also set me up well to learn how to do things like budget…though I wish they would have hit harder on investing but I digress. They also let me make bigger decisions for myself after talking through pros/cons/consequences etc.
Looking back, I feel like I got a lot more Life Education during those years than my peers and I served me extremely well. These days…it doesn’t seem like teens are getting much real life prep, and the life they have to plan to live in now is a lot more complex than mine was at that age.
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I believe that poster was talking skills like Excel, math, writing, research and source vetting, etc etc. Hard skills vs soft life skills, hard skills that this thread has drifted to (also Algebra 1 in NINTH GRADE??? Good lord. That plus the abysmal reading/writing skills of some of the younger people I meet makes me… sad).
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Germany & Japan teach algebra in the eighth grade. Preparation to learn algebra starts well before that.
Chinese students start learning concepts in kindergarten that help them with math proficiency, and eventually algebra.
it’s a stereotype that Asian students are much better at math than are American students. It’s been suggested that the difference is not native proficiency, but the educational systems they come from. Not just the amount of time spent on studies, but also the methods of teaching.
It’s alarming that the interest in slowing down the introduction of algebra in American public schools is because students (gp) aren’t ready.
I completely understand OP’s interest in significantly improving her own education, not just for riding purposes.
There are some fantastic suggestions of alternative paths in this thread. It would be useful to pin up the information and suggestions in this thread somewhere, for future reference by anyone.
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My high school offered algebra in 8th grade. I was going through a difficult time and I’m terrible at math. I failed it and repeated it in 9th grade, and did well. But math’s never been my strong suit, and on my SATs my verbal score was 200+ higher than my math score. I went to a liberal arts school and FWIW, I have a MA from an Ivy League institution, which I’ve never really used.
Every student is different. There’s a clusterfuck of advice going on in this thread, but unless you know the specific school the OP is applying to (is this a “finishing school”-type place, or one with a pipeline to admissions departments at elite institutions), the finances of her parents (is this truly just rearranging money they’d spend elsewhere or will this enormous tuition bill be a genuine pinch), and the quality of her school (I disagree that you can judge an ENTIRE school program based on when they offer one particular course), I’d urge the OP to discuss this with her parents, and perhaps book a consultation with an independent college consultant (which is one of my gigs, incidentally) to discuss her goals.
OP, you say this is your dream school–but what is your dream? To get into a good college? To be a pro rider? Do you just dream of the ambiance of the campus and the lifestyle, or do you have a very specific goal of how you want to use this education?
I do know some families who elected to spend money on prep schools and hoped their kids would get scholarships to college–it’s not a choice I’d usually advise but some do.
$20K is a lot of money to most people. $50K even more so. It’s not something most people can earn via a summer job, and the suggestions people are making aren’t really realistic OR would require you to devote your summer not to riding but to working full-time.
Having a nice enough horse to lease out for $20K is itself a massive privilege. Think about where you want to be in four years and go from there, versus how cool it would be to be at the school in one year.
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I’ll take the liberty of addressing this ( plus the similar comments from @Tha_Ridge and @fivestrideline ), and do my best to explain the background of this very specific issue in k-12 mathematics education, which is a very serious issue nationwide these days, and the subject of intense debate and discussion amongst many people.
I will sincerely do my best to present the issue in an even handed, apolitical manner. I will admit upfront I am not a professional educator, and that it is often a very political issue.
I’m putting lots of caveats and disclaimers in here, because I have discussed the issue on the CE forum before, and I admittedly have strong opinions on it. But I will try and just give background information on the topic here, since a few folks asked, and the OP brought the issue up, as she is being denied the opportunity to take Algebra 1 in her public high school.
So, I will start by saying that the topics of accelerated academic tracks, and differentiation between classrooms (honors and AP classes, versus regular classes) has been hotly debated and discussed in education for the better part of 50 years. There are multiple arguments for and against both.
A few trends with mathematics have become more and more apparent over the last 20 years. First, the economy is moving towards being more STEM oriented, and current students who pursue STEM degrees tend to earn more, and have more job opportunities - as a group - than those who pursue other degree paths. Of course there are exceptions, but this is the general trend. Second, given general economic opportunities for people skilled in STEM, and a growing teacher shortage in the US given that teachers are generally not highly valued and compensated in this country, it has become very challenging for many school districts to find and retain highly skilled math and science teachers. Especially when it comes to teachers who can teach high school courses like Calculus and Physics and AP Computer Science, etc. Third, there has been a trend away from assigning much homework in elementary and middle school, for many reasons. Fourth, there has been greater awareness and analysis of issues related to systematic racism and equity when it comes to K-12 education, and curriculum offered, and how students are tracked and differentiated, and the long term impacts of tracking and differentiation in middle school on many students.
To add to that background, many educators who specialize in mathematics began identifying issues roughly two decades ago when it came to students having a strong grasp of arithmetic and basic algebraic concepts. These math educators have postulated that there is not an adequate foundation when it comes to these core mathematics concepts before some students proceed along accelerated math tracks so that they can get to Calculus in high school, and then pursue STEM degree programs in college. There is evidence that the lack of a strong mathematics foundation harms these students in the long run. So these educators postulated that there was a case to be made for slowing down all students when it comes to middle school mathematics, emphasizing basics more, and delaying the start of Algebra 1.
It has been common over the last 20 years for new curriculums, or significant changes in widely adopted public school curriculums to be rolled out in California and Texas first. These are very populous states, who seem to lead the way on some of these big issues in public education. In 2014, San Francisco Unified School District rolled out a new policy and curriculum that resulted in all students waiting until 9th grade before taking Algebra 1. For students who wanted to take Calculus in high school, there was a later path involving taking Algebra 2 and Pre-Calculus in a compressed manner later on, so that they could get in one year of Calculus by 12th grade. There was hope that this would result in improved mathematics performance later on, improved equity in terms of which students were pursuing advanced mathematics by 12th grade, and hopes for improvement in a few other educational outcomes.
Over the next few years, multiple other states moved to copy this model and adopt similar approaches to mathematics. Virginia was planning on adopting a similar track in 2021, but Virginia had a change of political administration at the state level, and decided against adopting this math curriculum approach statewide.
Anyway… fast forward to 2023. Educators in California really looked at the impacts of the mathematics education curriculum change they made back in 2014 (Stanford did a comprehensive study). And decided the outcomes were not actually what they had hoped for. In many respects. In fact, some outcomes have been quite negative, and many parents with high achieving kids have sought options outside of the public schools for their children. Recently, San Francisco Unified Schools has decided to go back to offering Algebra 1 in 8th grade for interested students. The issue is still under discussion. Simultaneously, there is a major lawsuit pending involving the issue, alleging harms by the decision to denying so many kids access to advanced math in the public education system in California. I think the lawsuit might be specific to the San Francisco district, but I am not positive.
Here are three 2023/2024 articles on where the issues now stand, especially in San Francisco (where this delayed approach to Algebra 1 started) for anyone who is interested in reading further.
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I think it’s reasonable to look for a school that will be better for you academically. But to find that plus a riding program limits your options. And then these schools where the kids do the juniors, equitation, and jumpers at the A shows and who are supported at Devon etc. are still paying their own way. Occasionally, depending on the program, they might get a ride on a school horse but that’s going to be more common at 3’ and under. And even if the school lets you use a horse, the horse show costs are all on you. The school is not funding any of these shows. If you can afford one horse at home and 3-4 shows a year, you won’t be able to afford to leverage a riding team at all outside of perhaps at home lessons and IEA if the lessons are not an extra charge. Most juniors don’t have a string of horses for the hunters, jumpers, and equitation. Those that do are either basically pros (such as working for their family training business and doing online school) or their family buys these horses. You may get the opportunity to ride other horses at any school or barn that does the IEA thing, but realistically, what you want is not something this school will provide to you. You must fund it yourself, on top of the high tuition costs. For that reason, even if you can make this school choice happen, your goals for what it will do for your riding and competition experience are not realistic, unfortunately.
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You really sound like you picked up an extraordinary amount of life/adult skills during high school years, because of your non-school world.
I was referring generally to knowledge and writing, researching, problem-solving, and mostly communication skills learned in high school that stood me in such good stead in later life.
The life/adult skills picked up in that period I have to attribute to having horses at home. Yes, I was the horse-crazy one, but my father believed the whole family should be able to ride, so we had an ever-changing assortment of motley bargain-priced horses and ponies, always four or more, that I took care of by myself.
This variety of equines (one summer-camp “horse” we took for the winter really looked like a mule; I called him Dunkey; when you got on, he’d just stand there, if you persisted, he’d back up, if you persisted he’d give teeny little hops, if you persisted, he’d be fine; turned to be very well trained western) and taking care of them taught me self-control (the huuuuuge lack I see in others of all ages), seeing a job through, compassion and caring for others (of all species) no matter how you’re feeling, self confidence and self sacrifice, problem solving, understanding and working with all kinds of personalities, work-arounds when your initial idea (or the conventional wisdom) didn’t work, and so many other skills for all stages of life.
It really helped that we were in a rural area on the edge of a big city, giving access to so much culture, multi-cultural experience and sophistication and life on higher levels, coupled with the down-to-earth real-life experiences of farming, manual labor, closeness to nature and its foibles.
Extensive horse showing (local, but pretty high level of competition) taught an awful lot more life skills.
And competition in school (I was on the math team) helped with exposure to the outside world.
So, high school helped a lot, but there was so much more going on in my life during that period that augmented/combined with the school experience itself.
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Yes. I think it’s tricky to compare US curriculum for what we call Algebra 1 with other countries sometimes, because many other countries cover many more core concepts much earlier in elementary education. If that makes sense. Also, other countries don’t all subscribe to the specific Algebra 1 - Geometry- Algebra 2 mathematics progression that most of the US does.
Anyway… it can be hard to make apples to apples comparisons. But most other developed countries emphasize mathematics more than the US, and students are frequently more proficient in mathematics at younger ages.
I personally think that’s great, and wish we did a better job with mathematics for all US students.
I have had my kids in different districts over the years. The prior district we used to live in was very diverse. There are many students whose parents were immigrants, and many in our schools were from Korea and Southeast Asia. It was undeniable that many of these kids from immigrant families tested into an accelerated academic program with respect to mathematics in second grade. Sooooo… though I know there are certainly stereotypes… there is also quite of bit of actual demographic data concerning test scores and sorting of students onto accelerated tracks… and that data often aligns with stereotypes. I think one major factor though is that these kids’ immigrant parents came from countries where mathematics was heavily emphasized in the educational systems, and the parents did a lot of independent instruction with their young kids at home to emphasize mathematics. And… the test scores for this population were quite high. However… since this early tracking later leads to placement in highly competitive STEM magnet programs in the state… some people have been focused on the lack of equity and diversity in these follow on magnet programs when looking at demographics of participating students. It’s a very challenging and sensitive issue.
I wish we just threw more math at all kids! But… I’m passionate about it. And English! They all need to read more books. Lots of books. 
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