Pick The Right School For Your Child: Do it Right!
Feeling Stressed About Finding the “Perfect” School for Your Child?
Feeling overwhelmed by having too many options for school? First World Problem. If you’re reading this article, consider yourself fortunate for having the luxury of choosing schools.
Yet, picking the “right” school sometimes feels like trying to make the right dinner choice at a restaurant when you’re starving and everything on the menu looks downright delicious.
Dr Dad: Use Your Jedi Powers & Balance the Force
Who knew the prophetic Star Wars storyline of the Jedi bringing balance back to the Force could help you in your quest for the right school?
For High-energy, Free-Spirited Children: Provide Structure & Organization in Their Lives!
Do you have a high-energy, eager to learn, creative, artistic and independent-minded free spirit for a child? You might be very tempted, as were we, to find an open-play, “creativity based” school? Dr Dad recommends doing the exact opposite.
When your child enters school and needs to sit in his or her desk for most of the day, teachers may interpret their adventurous spirit and energy as being overactive or hyperactive. While there seems to have been a rise in the number of cases of children diagnosed with ADHD, we surely would not want to steer our children into being misdiagnosed. Some kids simply need to learn to have structure and organization in their lives.
When our child moved on from one activity to the next every few minutes, we put on our parent goggles and told ourselves that our child was bored and not adequately challenged. Wrong.
We ended up choosing a Montessori School and have been extremely pleased with the results. At our parent-teacher meeting, we were told that our son needs to work on finishing activities or jobs, cleaning up and putting things away. Seriously, you want my toddler to clean up and put away his own stuff?! Well, we worked with him at home to reinforce what the teachers told us would need improvement.
Our son now can stay focused and work on “jobs” (Montessori teachers don’t like you to call it play or toys, FYI) for extended periods of time. He is proud to clean up and put away his own stuff. We’re happy. More importantly, he is happy. We still take him out to parks, zoos, child gyms and do art projects because it is our job (and not the teachers’ responsibility) to make sure that our children have the right harmony in their lives. For us, the balance was restored and the Force is now in check.
Private schools, academic programs, and Montessori like schools with structure can be something to look into if you want some peace and order in your kids’ and parents’ hectic lives.
For “Shy or Introverted” Type Kids: Promote Independence, Leadership, and Creativity!
What about the shy & timid kids? First of all, Dr Dad recommends never ever labeling kids in that way. Don’t tell other people that your kids are shy and quiet in front of them! Your children trust you and if you label them a certain way, then that will likely become your own self-fulfilling prophecy.
If your child’s temperament seems to be on the quiet side, then by all means, let them roam free and learn to thrive in an open-play style school. Kids who already are highly structured and organized probably would benefit from a more creativity based, open play atmosphere that can maximize their creative or artistic side.
If my wife or I were not both full-time working parents, we would seriously consider Co-Op Schools. If you are reading Dr Dad: Tips, I am pretty sure you are highly invested in your kids. These schools or co-op programs build a sense of family and community as every parents is required to be “actively involved” and participate. A co-op program may be a good alternative to those who want to spend more time with their children but not able to or want to engage in “Homeschooling.”
*Bottom Line: find a school that would benefit or fit your child rather than a school that suits you, the parent.*
Dr Dad: Tips for Evaluating Schools
- Budget Restrictions: If you live in a big city, you have a lot of options. Of course, your budget can limit those options. Choose a school that fits within your budget. Tuition costs for private school really adds up fast! Consider living in a neighborhood with a high quality public school system as an alternative to private school.
- Check School Reviews: Do you check Yelp before you eat a restaurant? Do you read Amazon reviews before buying something online? Yup, don’t miss out on this essential step in finding the right school for your child. Consider this absolutely essential, as good schools earn their reviews. Those without quality reviews from other parents at that school should be considered major red flags. Be wary of schools with negative reviews or no reviews.
- Judge the School, Not Their Website: In addition to checking reviews, be careful not to be fooled by a fancy website. Though tempting, don’t automatically assume a school is better just because they charge more tuition.
School Tours: Tips to Maximizing Your Experience
- Tour the school: Tour the school, feel the vibe. If you’re not sure, tour it again at a later time. You wouldn’t buy a house after just going to a 30 minute open house one time would you?
- Bring your list of questions to the tour: Most quality schools have a tight schedule and may not have as much time as you would like on the tour. Be prepared so you don’t have to call or email them back multiple times after the tour is over.
- Don’t just talk to the tour person or main administrator: Make sure to talk to the actual teacher who would be teaching your child when he or she is enrolled. Some of these schools have long waiting lists and the teacher you like may not be the teacher teaching when you finally get that call that you are next on the waiting list.
- Don’t be shy, talk to other parents: If you see any parents while you are on the tour, approach them and get a feel of their experiences with their own children. Ask them what they liked and what they feel could be improved.
- Some schools have very long wait lists: sign up ASAP and pay the deposit or hold fee. It is not unusual to be on different waiting lists for multiples schools.
