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It's very easy to get side-tracked as you work your way through the process of choosing the right private school for your child. That's because there are so many considerations for you to ponder. Consequently, you can detour into many sidebars as you explore schools online. Now, there's nothing inherently wrong with getting side-tracked. Indeed, you may find answers several levels down from the top page. Just make sure that you get yourself back on track after scanning that granular information. So, I will show you how to stay focused and organized while you look at schools.

First, develop a shortlist of three to five schools for you to explore in-depth and visit to confirm your findings. This shortlist will generate lots of observations, evaluations, assessments, and questions. So, make sure that you have checked all the boxes listed below.

1. Location

The location of the schools on your list is essential simply because travel these days is never easy. For example, getting your child to school can involve driving her to school and picking her up at the end of the school day. Or you may be able to contract with a transportation service to handle that. Or you might want to carpool with another family.

Review the logistics involved carefully. Ideally, you don't want to be more than a 20-30 minute drive from the school. So draw a circle 3-5 miles out from your residence. Use the search engine on this website to find

How to Keep Teens Safe While Traveling Alone

Traveling in uncertain times is a challenge for most of us adults.So, imagine how many dangers, real and imagined, a young person will face when she travels alone.

• Increased Anxiety: Teens may face heightened anxiety due to the uncertainty of travel conditions, such as changing health guidelines and travel restrictions.

7 Reasons Why ²ÝÁñÉçÇø School May Be The Right Choice

We parents who send our children to private school have a lot in common.

• Most of us want our children to think critically, analyze information, and read widely.
• For example, Nancy and I wanted to stretch our girls academically. That's why we sent them off to private school.
• Those poor kids never stood a chance because my late wife read to her daughters almost from birth.

Nancy was a voracious reader. She read real books made out of paper, not books on an iPad or Kindle.

• She had earned an honors degree in French language and literature and Spanish language and literature.
• She attended private schools in New York City. Academic excellence was simply a given from her point of view.

I was passionate about music and made a career in church music as an organist and choir director.

• I mention these facts about us because I know your upbringing and educational experiences have shaped you and your views.
• Those will shape how you plan your child's schooling at every level.

Many of us also have public schools that are considered very good or excellent.

• In our case, we were fortunate to have excellent public schools.
• However, we didn't like the large class sizes and the limited curriculum that they offered.
• So those were among the reasons we started looking for other options

Mistakes Everybody Makes When Choosing ²ÝÁñÉçÇø Schools

Because you and I are not professional educational consultants with an intimate knowledge of private schools, we often waste time and make mistakes as we search for a private school for our children.

• For this article, we will be discussing private K-12 schools that do not focus on special requirements, such as therapeutic schools and schools for students with acute special needs.
• Read When Should You Consider A Therapeutic School? and When Should You Consider A Special Needs School? for suggestions about choosing those schools.

Here are some of the pitfalls you and I tend to encounter as we look at private schools.

1. Only looking at ranks
2. Thinking you can't afford it
3. Waiting until the last minute to submit applications
4. Thinking that schools are elitist
5. Not visiting schools
6. Not preparing adequately for the standardized admissions tests
7. Not hiring an educational consultant

1. Only looking at ranks.

I know what you're thinking. You want your daughter to attend a highly-rated school, the best school, a top-ranked school.

• Trust me. I get it. I wanted the same things for my daughters.
• However, here's the hard truth: rankings have very little to do with finding the best private school for your child.
• Find schools that fit your requirements and her needs as best as possible.
• You are looking for schools that fit her best. She will