Introduction
As a parent you wonder how you will pick the best school for your child to attend?
You have three choices as a parent; public, private or home schooling. Even if you are paying tuition for a school, the deciding factors are always important.
In Volume 1, I will go over the three types of schools, public, private and home school. I will break them down into sub-categories and explain each one to you and then go over the pros and cons of each type of school. Hopefully this information will help you in deciding what type of school you want to send your child to.
In Volume 2, I will go over the Four Steps in helping you decide what school is best for your child by listing the questions you should be asking and the factors that go into making that decision.
If you're determined to have someone else teach your child, then the age long debate of private school or public school will cross your mind on more than one occasion. So many factors come into play when making this decision. One of them being finances. That is, your financial situation. Then of course deciding on what is best for your child.
Some wonder how can we possibly compare two things that are so different? It’s like comparing night and day or oranges and apples. How can we compare two different things that are so obviously not held to the same standards?
I went to private Catholic school for my years of education up until the ninth grade. My first eight years were a co-ed private Catholic school, then I attended an all-girls private Catholic school, then I went on to a public co-ed high school. I've seen the differences in the amount of education that is emphasized. When it comes down to it, you get what you pay for.
It’s like buying a more expensive car. It looks better, runs better and is sharper and probably has more whistles and bells on it. But, if you go the economical way and buy a car that is not so expensive, it will still get you places where you want to go.
Well, it all depends on how you go about doing it though. There are many public schools out there that offer the same kind of education that a private school would. Take into consideration the schools that offer honors courses or advanced placement courses. A lot of public high schools offer college prep courses. It depends on how serious you and your child will be taking their education and not just “go through the system” to get it over and done with. This is your child’s future you are talking about and it should mean the world to you.
My son is in the 4th grade at a public elementary school. He is Autistic, so he is in the category of a special needs kid. Even though it is a public school they have a great special needs education for him. His class is small about 9 – 10 kids and his teacher is very hands on and cares about her students. He has had her for several years and the teachers before her were just as amazing. I am on a daily contact basis with her in my son’s progress.
Not only do I keep in contact with her on a daily basis, either through e-mail, notes in his book bag, telephone conversations or texting on my cell phone. But, I also have his IEP’s (Independent Education Program) that we have.
What is an IEP?
Every child who attends public school and is in the special education program for special needs, must have an Individualized Education Program (IEP). Every IEP must be designed individually for that special needs student. It is a document that creates the opportunity for parents, teachers, related services personnel, school administrators, and the student to all work together to improve the educational results for a child with disabilities. Every IEP is the cornerstone of a quality education for every disabled child.
The general steps in determining the special education process is:
- The child is identified by either the teacher or parent as needing a special education and other related services.
- The child is then evaluated.
- The child's eligibility is then decided.
- The child is then eligible for services.
- The IEP meeting is then scheduled.
- The IEP meeting is then held and the document is written out with goals for the child. The teacher and parent work together on setting the goals and reaching them. Each teacher and parent get a copy and any other related service workers involved.
- All services are then provided for the child.
- The child's progress is then measured and reported to the parents.
- IEP is then again reviewed at the end of the year and the child is then re-evaluated to determine if goals were met and to set new goals.
Most parents have toured both kinds of schools at one time or another, or like myself, had attended both. Most people have a bias opinion because of their experience or experiences, good or bad, with either public school or private school.
The common theory of many is that private schools offer superiority in everything, therefore justifying the high tuition costs.
Then there is the argument that public schools provide more experiences in real-life or in other cases, they have advanced development in specialty programs in the science or athletics departments.
After attending both types of schools, I can see where the argument is. I was into sports a lot, even though the private school I had attended had a small sports program, there were still available sports for us girls. Soccer and volleyball were it. The boys had soccer and football.
You can read the rest of this story from any of the major book sellers, or also at http://www.vincestead.com or http://www.fun2readbooks.com You can also listen to it in Audio.
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