Anyone moving to a new neighborhood would be concerned with the details of their new environment. Safety and economy are both major concerns among home owners, but to parents, an educational environment is just as important as anything else. We would like to offer our insight and a checklist of things to look for when choosing an environment that your child can learn and grow in.
The first thing to consider is your expectation of the educational system. What are some of the most important things you want your child to get out of a school? Do you want to send them to public or private school? Some of the most common things that parents want to know about a school are their accreditations, academic ranking, whether the school has a competitive or nurturing environment, distance from the home and transportation options.
Another important and often overlooked factor in choosing a school is your child’s feelings toward their new school. An unhappy child usually has trouble adapting and learning in even light-hearted environments. The size of the student body is also an important factor to consider because some children require a more focused approach to learning that they may not find at a largely populated school.
Once you and your child narrow it down to the schools that match most of your requirements it would be a good idea to visit these schools to see for yourself the type of environment your child would be in on a daily basis. Remember, every child is unique so you should do a bit of research before enrolling him/her into a school.
Just because a school comes highly recommended by your friends and neighbors it does not guarantee that your child would be better off there. Just because your neighbor’s child finds a school challenging does not mean that same school will challenge your child, especially if you are from a different city with different academic standards.
Once you have considered the many factors of a good learning environment it should be easy to choose the best environment for your child to learn and grow.