Bible.com Kids: Article Details

Education is no different. Today’s parents face an abundance of choices when deciding where to educate their children. This array of options can be both a blessing and a curse.

Choosing the best option for your child is complicated and can be intimidating. Unfortunately, just dropping children off at the neighborhood school without a second thought isn’t always the best choice anymore. Since choices do exist, it’s important that we become educated about them.

More choices usually means a more complex decision. But keep in mind that the first step to choosing the right schooling option for your children is to gather information. School districts report on their own schools so that parents can make an informed decision. Go to your district’s website and look for links such as accountability, school reports, school profiles, etc. You can even go to your state education page and find similar information.

One other site that will help you find, from a national perspective, how your state and specific schools rank is the No Child Left Behind initiative from President Bush. If your child is currently in a failing school, you can find out what your alternatives are.

Another way to find out what is available to you where you live is to do an Internet search under “schools AND [your city].” This will show you private schools, public schools, charter schools and even home-schooling organizations in your area. Quite a few have their own websites to help you get to know them.

Many of these choices have application deadlines that apply. Start your search early enough so you will meet those deadlines. Not all states have choice programs enacted, but those that do have rules for parents to follow.

Even if a school is devoted to serving the needs of a specific population, it must be open to all if space permits. When space does not permit, schools tend to use a lottery system for placement. Find out the rules of each school you consider before applying.

It does. Many of today’s schools are underperforming, and children’s futures are at stake. This is their one shot at a quality education. We need to take careful aim before we take that shot on their behalf.

There are cautions and considerations for every type of school choice. Count the cost before disrupting your child’s current school situation or choosing his very first school experience.

We all have goals for our children. We all have our own philosophy of education. Our actions are a result of what we believe. What kind of person do you hope and pray your child will grow to become? His schooling choice should nurture that goal and not hinder it.

If your child is currently enrolled in school, you can ask yourself some critical questions to determine whether or not it furthers the goals you have for your child.

Be grateful that choices exist. It may have seemed easier when there weren’t such choices, but it wasn’t always better. Some of our children have greater needs than their neighborhood school can meet.

Choices create competition, which raises the level of excellence. Choice is a good thing. One of the beauties of choice is that nothing is written in stone. You can always choose again if circumstances or the needs of your child change.

Public schools — Ninety percent of America’s children attend public school. Yet there are choices within this most common choice. Many districts have created “choice” schools within existing schools. For example, in one district with 10 high schools, one may be geared toward underachieving students, one may be for overachieving students, one may be geared toward pre-med or pre-law, and another may be for the arts. Districts that try to customize existing public schools are trying to meet the needs of children in their communities.

There are still some excellent neighborhood schools. If you live in a smaller community, chances are that your neighborhood school is adequate. Small schools have the advantage of a strong community and the ability to get to know their students and families personally. That is hard to duplicate in large schools and districts. More information can be gained from your district or county’s website.

Charter schools — Charter schools are publicly funded schools that meet the needs of a specific student population. Each state has its own regulations for starting and maintaining a charter school. Some states are more charter-school friendly than others. http://edreform.com/charter_schools/map.htm A good way to get a solid understanding of the charter school movement is to visit the U.S. Charter Schools Organization.

Charter schools have come under great scrutiny as their students take the state tests. Charter schools still have to meet state standards but have the freedom to choose how they do it. For example, a school devoted to the needs of highly gifted children is not obligated to use its district’s current curriculum. There are concerns that some charter schools are not “testing out” well. States that grade their schools are disappointed at the performance of some of their charter schools. On the other hand, many charter schools are effective, and their students test well. Keep in mind that performance on state testing does not automatically mean a school is a success or failure. It just happens to be the yardstick by which we measure these days.

A recent charter school twist is the virtual charter school. If you want the security of accountability and the freedom of home schooling, virtual charter schools may be the choice for you. Dr. William Bennett’s K-12 is just one example of such a program. K-12 has two aspects. It has created home-based public schools in California, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Minnesota, Ohio and Pennsylvania and provides K12’s curriculum, a computer and materials tuition-free! Schools in more states are coming soon. It also acts as a home-school umbrella school.

No matter the reason, it is important to research this option just as fully as you would a public or charter school. Not all private schools are created equal.

For some families, a private school education is just not financially feasible. Think twice if you are a stay-at-home mom and you’d have to go back to work full time just to cover costs.

University-Model Schools — Many parents deeply desire continued and active involvement in the lives of their children all the way through high school graduation, but they are frustrated. The reason revolves around the issue of time. In spite of the parents’ high ideals, real life is that in traditional classroom education, whether public, charter or private, kids are in class from 30 to 40 hours every week, then they begin their extra-curricular interests and social activities. Add in the busy pace of the parents themselves and it is easy to understand their frustration: “Yes, I want to have a close relationship with my kids, but when in the world is there time to be together?!"

Until the University-Model School (UMS) came along, the only alternative to traditional classroom education that was available to these parents was home schooling, an excellent option but difficult for many parents to maintain all the way through high school. UMS students attend classes only half the traditional number of hours, with amazing character development and college-preparatory results. The secret is the higher degree of parental involvement that is systematically integrated into the professional academic instruction done in a college-like format (Mon-Wed-Fri and Tues-Thu classes).

Educational research has proven time and again that parents are the single most influential factor in a child’s academic success. This is no surprise to students of the Bible who know that parents are at the center of God’s plan for the overall character development of children, including their education (Deut 6:5-7).

UMS not only attracts traditional school parents who believe in and long for closer family relationships as the foundation of their children’s education; it also draws home schooling parents who, though they have had that time with their children, are feeling overwhelmed with academic burdens as their children grow older. Indeed, UMS seeks to blend the best of home with the best of traditional education. AND, in most cases, it is only AND, in most cases, it is only one-third to two-thirds the cost of the other private schools in an area. For parents who value college-preparatory academics as well as a high degree of ongoing, age-appropriate input into their children’s lives, UMS is worth looking into.

Home Schools – You may already be home schooling or you may not have seriously considered this option until this very moment. Home schooling is no longer a fringe movement but a mainstream educational choice. When you have a 5-year-old, you have three valid educational choices: public, private or home school. Early in their academic lives, children benefit from continued interaction with their parents. Parents are their children’s first and best teachers

If your child has special needs and you aren’t convinced that the existing school system can accommodate him, home schooling is a good option. There is more support than ever, and children with special needs are the fastest growing home-school population. There are as many different reasons to home school as there are home schoolers. It is a very individual choice.

Your child’s needs are the pivotal pieces in your decision making. Family needs are also a big piece of the pie. What is your child’s preferred learning style? What are his or her gifts and talents?

Matching your child’s education to your child’s needs and learning style creates harmony. It decreases frustration and lowers stress levels for all concerned.

If your child is a strong visual learner who is also spatial and needs to move around as he learns, a traditional classroom with a lecture format for teaching will make him squirm. He will take in only snippets of information.

The better you know your child, the better able you are to make the best choice possible for him or her. We tend to put more effort into buying a house in just the right neighborhood with the right amenities (based upon our family needs) than we do choosing our child’s schooling.

Choosing just the right kind of schooling for your child is a problem to solve. We can examine the messiness of this problem by following a step-by-step process.

School Choice