Is The IB Program Right For Your Child?

What are private schools like anyway? Even if you're starting your private school research, there's a good chance you already have an impression of private schools. Perhaps you have read The Catcher in the Rye or A Separate Peace. Or maybe you saw Dead Poets Society or School Ties. These stories, while entertaining, offer a picture of private schools that is quite different from what you will find today.

Just as universities and colleges in the United States have evolved in the past several decades, private schools have also evolved. But unfortunately, while the perception of private schools is changing, there are still some lingering myths that can make you mistakenly think that you wouldn't fit in at boarding school:

Myth 1: You must be very wealthy to go to a private school.

Approximately a third of all private school students receive financial aid. Financial aid grants can represent a significant portion of tuition, depending on the school and your family's situation. Students now increasingly come from public schools and a wider range of family income levels. In general, boarding schools do their best to make their programs accessible to your family through financial aid grants, loan programs, and merit awards/scholarships. In the past ten years, the emergence of K-12 private school loans has also made boarding school education more accessible.

This video offers a look at the German International School

We parents want to keep our children safe from anything and everything. That's always our biggest worry. When I was raising our children, keeping my daughters safe meant showing them how to cross the street and how not to speak to strangers. But, fast forward to the 21st century, and keeping children safe comes with a whole set of digital challenges, besides the analog challenges of crossing streets safely. Smart TVs, tablets, computers, and smartphones can consume vast amounts of a young person's time when we allow that to happen. However, what concerns me most is the quality of the material available on all those digital devices. We don't want our children watching inappropriate content or playing violent games on their smart devices, do we? That's the rationale behind controlling our children's screen times. So, here are a couple of tips on making that happen.

Create healthy screen habits.

Children are curious. Insatiably so. They want answers. They want to explore. And they want to have fun doing it. Create healthy screen habits by configuring your child's smart devices to be tools for learning and exploration. That will open up vast worlds for them to explore. The kid who dreams of building a robot can find tons of information about robotics. The same with the arts, sports, literature, languages - you name it, her smart device will have it. The trick is to configure her smart devices so that she can only access the good stuff, not the

Planning for the future growth of your school in these uncertain times is a challenging exercise. The object of this essay is to give you some guidelines to help you and your trusted advisors plan for the next five years. I am writing this for small schools to help you understand the process that large schools with ample resources to hire consultants and strategic planners use to plan their future growth.

Include the following components in your Plan For Future Growth should have

1. Develop an overview of what you want to achieve.
2. Investigate the competition.
3. Examine your organization.
4. Develop an implementation plan.
5. Develop a marketing strategy.
6. Outline the risks your school faces.
7. Hold information sessions with members of your school community.
8. Track your progress towards your objectives.

Overview

Keep your overview brief yet comprehensive. It should explain the goals of your Plan for Future Growth. For example, if your area is experiencing rapid growth, refer to that as the underlying reason for building your Plan for Future Growth. Then write something like, "Anytown has had an influx of new families at a rate exceeding national averages. As a result, we aim to prepare for the demand for private school seats by adding one class to each grade over the next five years."

Include the important points of your Plan. The overview is a summary, not a detailed list of the things you wish to accomplish.

Investigate your competition.

First of all, know who your competition is. Use Private School Review to search for

I realize that many students probably won't read this article, mainly because I haven't published it on TikTok or Instagram. So, this is for all the parents, grandparents, and family friends out there who know a young person heading off to private school. Use these talking points to guide your conversations with that young person when the opportunity presents itself. If you went to private school, have fun embellishing these talking points with your own experiences. After all, you know what you're talking about. Gossip and misinformation about what goes on at private school abound. But you know the truth. You are credible, even if you attended private school thirty years ago.

Participate! Prticipate! Participate!

One of the best things about private school is that there are many things to do. Did you notice that I commanded you to participate three times? That's because a private school offers a balanced approach to your education. You have three very full plates! Academics, athletics, and extracurricular activities. And you can't avoid any of them. They are all compulsory. Each part of your private school education is kind of like one of those enormous buffets you see set out for brunch. You can't eat it all. But you can eat what you want. That's essentially the way things work at private school. Academics are pretty much set in stone, although you will make some choices in your high school years. As far as athletics and extracurricular activities are concerned, you