Choosing the right school for your child is an important decision to make. The school your kid attends can make a lot of difference in their academic career and life. But don’t worry. You’re not alone, as thousands of parents also struggle to come up with the best option for their young ones.
Fortunately, we’re here to help. Below, you’ll find our top 10 tips for choosing the right school for your child to ensure they get the best education possible. In addition, the suggestions in this article will help you better assess the potential schooling options and understand what your child needs. So, without further ado, let’s jump in.
- Tips to Choosing the Right School for Your Child
- Making the Best Choice for Your Child
Tips to Choosing the Right School for Your Child
1. Know Your Choices
Parents are sometimes unaware of the variety of choices they have to educate children. The most popular K-12 education options include:
Neighborhood Public Schools
These are government-funded schools run by school boards accountable to state board of education oversight. Transportation is also provided by the school district.
Charter Schools
Charter schools receive government funding but operate independently of the state school system. As a result, they offer unique flexibility and freedom not provided by public school districts.
Magnet Schools
Magnet schools are public schools with a specialized curriculum or method of teaching outside the normal attendance boundaries of a school. For example, magnet schools can focus on math, technology, business, art, etc.
Online Public Schools
Online public schools have classes online instead of in brick-and-mortar public school buildings. However, they often follow the same curriculum. Online public schools have become ever more popular during the coronavirus pandemic.
Private Schools
Private schools are funded through tuition and often include more parental involvement and higher academic standards than public schools.
Homeschools
Homeschooling is among the most customizable education solutions and can be designed to meet the unique needs of every child.
Alternative Schools
Alternative schools are educational establishments with non-traditional methods and curriculums.
It’s essential to further investigate each option above to make sure you make the right choice for your child.
2. Get to Know Your Child’s Strengths
More than anything else, you want the curriculum and the school’s environment to fit your child’s particular needs. Once you recognize your kid’s strengths, it’s important to nurture them by choosing an educational institution that will help them grow even further.
So, you may want to consider some of the following questions:
- What do you want your child to learn?
- Are there any specific academic difficulty levels or subject matters you’d like them to tackle?
- What is the preferred method of learning for your child? See if they have specific learning styles or challenges that may interfere with their learning in particular schools.
- What are the social needs of your child? For example, is your child open to communication with peers, or are they more of an introvert?
- What practical needs does your child have? This refers to scheduling, sports, extracurricular activities, etc.
If you want your child to learn a second language in primary school, you want to go for an option that offers just that. On the other hand, if your child wants to pursue the arts, look for a school focusing on that subject.
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3. Make Calls and Do Online Research
When choosing the right school for your child, the internet can be one of your strongest allies. For example, if you were looking for a new car or fridge, you could talk to your friends or look up your options on the web. This same process is beneficial for investigating schools.
Google blogs and websites for parents in your neighborhood or that of the school you’re interested in. Call your friends, relatives, or parents whose children attend schools you’ve cast an eye on. Gather as much information as you can to help you understand whether a particular school is right for your child.
You can also look for online school reviews, but remember not to put too much faith in them. Two negative reviews aren’t an objective reason to dismiss a school with more than 100 positive ones. In general, only a tiny percentage of people will leave reviews after all, so the results may not necessarily represent the whole school.
Use www.greatschools.net or www.schoolresults.org to find valuable and reliable school information on the web.
You want to learn about the schools’ policies and services as well. See if they offer any after-school programs, including tutoring, clubs, sports, or other types of academic enrichment.
If you’re looking to enrich your child’s academic potential, the Kumon learning program can help. They offer online and offline classes in math and reading for children aged three to 13.
There is a no-cost assessment to determine the perfect starting point for each of their programs, and they will offer a customized curriculum to fit your child’s particular needs. The platform goes beyond tutoring and helps your child develop critical thinking skills, foster a love of learning, and develop strong study habits.
4. Meet With the Principal
You may think talking with a school principal is out of the equation since they don’t have time to sit down with each parent. However, you’d be surprised to know that very few parents actually ask for this type of meeting. For this reason, you’re likely to get at least half-hour with them, which is just enough time to get an overall sense of the school.
Ask them everything you want to know about the curriculum, your child’s learning goals, and how the school can help them meet those goals. Then, you can go a step further and ask questions such as how the school trains, supports, and monitors the teachers or handles children’s behavior problems.
Finally, you can ask what’s expected from the child outside of school and how much homework is typically given.
Maybe you don’t want a one-size-fits-all approach for your child, and you should let the principal know about that. Instead, ask questions based on the specific learning needs of your child, as well as their temperament. The school may have specialists at hand who can help meet that need.
5. Experience the School Neighborhood and Corridors
Most schools provide tours for students and parents. This can include spending time in class, allowing the parents to experience the school atmosphere firsthand. When you go on a tour, you can observe how clean, orderly, and engaged the school setting is. Take notes of how you’re received by the administration and pay attention to student and staff behavior. Look for answers to the following questions during the tour:
- Does the staff respond politely to students?
- Do students treat each other with respect?
- Are the school corridors and the toilets clean?
In general, the hallways and playgrounds shouldn’t be too dangerous or overly regimented, allowing for plenty of information gathering.
You can also go further and drive by the school during the off-hours. This lets you know more about the local environment and see if you’d be comfortable with your children spending time there.
If you want a tried and true solution, Huntington Learning Center has hundreds of locations across the country. It offers tutoring K-12 and test prep programs, including SAT, ACT, ISEE, PSAT/NMSQT, Advanced Placement, State Tests, and more.
Their individualized programs will ensure your child gets the best possible education to help them grow, strengthen their academic skills, prepare for an exam, master new concepts, and build essential study habits for success in school and life.
6. Attend PTA Meetings
One of the best ways to ensure you choose the right school for your child is to attend its PTA meetings. It may be weird at first, but this is an excellent opportunity to meet parents, get their phone numbers, and see who else you could talk to.
So, if you believe a particular school would be a good choice for your child, don’t hesitate to attend a PTA meeting. Even if you’re not a resident of the area, you can become an active member, and other parents will be thankful for your participation.
Staff can put their best foot forward, but parents are usually more realistic and share different insights. See if the parents are happy with their children’s education quality at the school. You can also ask if the staff regularly assists the children with their needs and concerns and how involved the parents are with the school’s operations.
7. Make a List
Create a list of features the ideal school for your child should have. You’ll probably want to include features such as:
- Friendly and professional teachers and staff
- High expectations
- Engaged children
- Rigorous curriculum
- Strong parent-teacher association
- Parents are welcome
Once you have such a list, it’s easier to rule out options that don’t even come close.
8. Consider the School Location
School location is an important aspect to consider when choosing the best school for your child. It makes a huge difference whether the site is within a walkable distance or not. Will your schedule allow you to drive your child to school every day? If not, how far are you okay with your child going by bus?
Finally, maybe your child would prefer to be in school with their friends, or you want to take them to a school near your work or close relatives.
These are some of the most important factors to consider to ensure you choose a school with a location that will work for both you and your child.
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The program provides valuable knowledge about SAT, ACT, AP, PSAT, and other exam preparation and tutoring. C2 education also teaches students the importance of time management and helps them develop sustainable study habits.
9. Consider Parent Involvement
Parent involvement plays a crucial role in your child’s academic success. Therefore, you want to choose a school that allows and encourages you to be involved in the education process.
It’s relatively straightforward to investigate how parent-friendly a school is by talking to the principal, administrative staff, parents, or students. However, it’s essential that you, your child, and the potential school share the same goals and that you’ll have enough input throughout the journey as a parent.
10. Trust Your Instincts
Sometimes, the best advice for choosing the right school for your child is to follow your gut. After all, you should take the information about schools with a grain of salt. Nobody knows what’s best for your child better than you and them.
Maybe your neighbor will recommend the school they took their son to and be head over heels for the curriculum, or perhaps your cousin just signed her daughter into a school she says is the best for making little geniuses.
If you have doubts about any of those options, chances are, your child may not adjust well to them. If this is the case, feel free to look elsewhere.
Sit down with your child and discuss all the available options. Ideally, you want to go with the school both you and they feel comfortable with. After all, your school choice plays a massive role in determining your child’s future, so you want to choose the best one possible.
Making the Best Choice for Your Child
Choosing the right school for your child takes plenty of time and effort. It’s essential to consider various factors, starting with your kid’s interests, needs, and personality. And when it comes to the school, you want to assess the learning method and curriculum, how teachers treat children, the level of parent involvement, extracurricular activities, location, and more.
Ideally, you want to list features your ideal school should have and stick to them. Then, once you and your child both have a good feeling about a school that checks all the boxes, you’ll know you made the right choice.