Private school vs SAHM?

I know this is probably a good problem to have, since if we weren't fairly
stable financially, it wouldn't be an issue at all.

There is one specific school which, over the last few years, has been highly
recommended by quite a few people who have met DD as the perfect school for
her. It's a very well known, very academic private girls school with strong
fine arts and foreign language programs, wonderful facilities and staff,
and, well, basically _I'D_ love to go back and take some of the classes
they've offered. It truly sounds like a wonderful situation for a very
gifted little girl who loves science, music, and foreign languages.

But it's expensive. Very expensive. Even the application and testing fees to
apply are close to $1000. And while they have financial aid, I doubt
seriously that we're poor or photogenic enough to qualify.

Right now, we can afford for me to be home pretty easily, even with DD in a
parochial school near home. I do teach a couple of classes as an adjunct at
the university, but that's more for me than for money (I think I figured out
that my salary this semester will about cover my gas for my regular driving
around). I'm able to volunteer at DD's school (and I'm spending about half
the time she's at preschool at her parochial school volunteering in the
classes which don't have parent volunteers, and enjoying it), and I'm able
to be there after school hours (which right now are 1/2 day) for playdates,
music class, and the like.

Next year, if she moves to full-day K (still not sure whether we'll be
starting her in K at 4 1/2 on a waiver or waiting until she's officially
eligible), whether at the parochial school or our neighborhood public
school, I'd still have that flexibility. The public school will test her for
GT this coming summer with her current preschool teacher's recommendation
(her teacher did the paperwork, and they contacted me about it), and if she
qualifies, she would enter K early on a gIEP-but given the limited nature of
GT in our schools, I'm not expecting much more to be provided than allowing
her to enter school with a birthday after the cutoff and her K teacher
having a little more information going in, whether or not she actually has
resources to do it.

The parochial school loves her, and is willing to work with us, but has only
one class per grade, and while they're more advanced than the average in the
public school, I'm not sure that they'll be able to do much for DD
long-term. I've been volunteering in a 3rd grade class, and with 20 students
and relatively few supports, it seems like the teacher barely has time to
turn around, let alone to do much as far as individualization. The 6th grade
class is even worse-25 students, with a teacher who is teaching ALL
subjects.

Realistically, we could afford the private school, but it would require
either cutting new savings down to my husband's 401K at work, and cutting
the budget to the bare minimums OR my going back to work full-time (and
pretty much endorsing my paycheck over to the school). I strongly suspect
that it might take both, given that I know that the school tuition is
probably only a small part of the actual costs.

Oh, and the "dream school" is about a 30 minute drive away, compared to
about a 10 minute one for the parochial school or a walk of maybe a block
and a half for the public one. Moving closer to the "dream school" would
likely necessitate a larger mortgage payment (and that assumes we could sell
this house).

As I said, it's a good problem to have-but I can't help but wish DH would
get a magic salary increase or that Ed McMahon would appear with a giant
check-anything to take this from dream that might be achievable if we gave
up a lot to easily reachable.