Choosing the Best School Options for Your Child's Learning Needs

School wasn’t going well for my Kindergartener. Most spring mornings it was a battle to get out the door, followed by massive, puddle-on-the-floor meltdowns when she got home at the end of the day.

I knew something had to change for 1st grade, but how? 

I worked. My husband worked. And in 2008 my choices were: public school or homeschool.

Black and white options when my daughter clearly needed gray.

As a conscious mom I knew that it wasn’t the academics she struggled with. She was a highly sensitive child prone to anxiety and she didn’t have the social, emotional or interpersonal skills to get through a whole classroom day.

I was also acutely aware that this decision was a defining moment in my girl’s learning journey.   

My child was clearly showing that she needed to access learning in a different way, so we needed to find a compromise.

Which meant conversations where I actively listened with my 6 year old, her teachers, current and future, her principal, my employer, and my mom, a retired first grade teacher happy to be part of our hybrid learning plan.

We found our grey. 

Mornings in school learning the academic curriculum and afternoons with either me or my mom, working on social emotional skills by going out into the world to practice interpersonal exchanges. 

It was a short term temporary solution to prevent learning frustration and overwhelm from setting in as her core belief system.  

By third grade, she was back in school full time and thriving.  She could make it through an entire day and, because she was well regulated, available to learn while she was there.  

Fast forward to today and your options for schooling in a post pandemic world are almost too many to count.  

You can homeschool at home or homeschool online, You can unschool or learn in nature. 

You can go to a public school program or find a private school that matches your child's needs better like Montessori or Waldorf.   

There are a myriad of options.  But what matters most, is that you find the right learning environment for who your child is and how they access learning best. 

🎧Listen to the conversation I had with Kimberly Gawne, founder of Star Students, where we spoke about parents being empowered to make the best and most appropriate educational decisions for their child, including exploring homeschooling and alternative education options.