Thank you guys for all of your input! I know it is totally an individual thing, but i sure like hearing what other people did/ are doing.
I'm still in group. I am testing Delta tomorrow, so might be getting into the Freestyle world (which is a whole new ballgame.)
But I have noticed that at higher Freestyle levels (my rink has group lessons up to ISI FS 4) the classes tend to be pretty small, sometimes only two students. So that would be like semi-private for the same price as group. I'm hoping to continue group as much as possible as I go through Freestyle.
Good luck WaltzJump - hope the test was successful!
Agree that it depends on a lot of personal factors, like how well you learn in group versus private setting and how fast you learn. I started with private lessons right from the start, and I am really glad I did. I did group lessons and privates concurrently when I started (I was going to start privates after the group session ended, but got impatient) and the group classes were definitely too slow for me, with too many adults and not enough coach attention.
For instance, the group coach taught crossovers by showing us a few times and having us copy her, and didn't explain anything about weight distribution or arm placement or anything like that. My private coach had me on the right technique from the start and therefore I learned very quickly with her. By the time my 10-week group session was over I'd passed Adult 1-4 thanks to the private lessons I was also doing. If I'd only done group lessons I think I would have still been stuck on two-foot turns at the end -- the group coach just didn't have that much time to go around and us adults were all in different levels. But I also learn pretty quickly and my group session was very crowded.
Fortunately, the coach in the group session i'm in is quite good at recognizing where people are and teaching different variations, and also correcting individual needs. The rink has a deal on the adult class, if you take both of the weekday sessions it is only about $20 or so more, so I think I'm going to sign up for that just for the value haha. I like the idea of taking both group and privates
I enjoy the private lessons and I'm working on preparing for the Pre-Bronze MITF so I think this has made sense for me. I actually kind of enjoyed the times when there were several of us in the Adult class-when I started there were 4-5 of us and then it just dropped off because it was nice having other adults.
I like being around other people too haha. Many of the women in the class have been taking it for a few sessions and they are all very friendly. Even though i'm younger than most, being in my mid 20s, I think it is a fun atmosphere!
Haven't started yet. My rink doesn't do testing for adults in the LTS classes, but I'm roughly working on ISI Beta/USFSA Adult 3 skills, very very slowly. The adult classes are very small (1-5 people, usually; lately there have been 2 of us) so I'm getting a lot of attention, and I don't think it'll be worth it for me to spend extra on privates until I can fit significantly more practice time into my schedule and until I'm much further along. I'm considering signing up for a second weekly class, though, just to force myself to get more ice time in.
I know what you mean on the second class! I don't think my rink tests adults LTS either, but my main focuses are my missing mohawks, stops and 3 turns. I seem to have a few of them but the others haven't come back yet. That is nice that your classes have been small! mine have been less than 10 people as well. This week i think there were 5! lol