Simplifying the School Search

Soon after learning I was pregnant with my first daughter, came the many wonderings and worries about childcare and schooling. The options felt dizzying: home-based to city-run, baby-signing to multilingual, along with specializations in music, art, sport, or yoga. How can parents make sound and sure school decisions for their child? For some parents, the convenience of the nearby local school is the logical choice. For others, top priorities might include a school’s innovativeness, approach to teaching, or crucial supports or resources (for example, for students with disabilities). Additional considerations abound, like single sex or co-ed; boarding or day; secular or faith-based; and schools with co-op, STEAM (science, technology, engineering, the arts, and mathematics), and maker spaces. Such myriad options can feel like both a blessing and a burden. Sure enough, once our family secured daycare, we then had to start preparing for what pre- and grade school she would eventually attend: public or private, Montessori- or Waldorf-inspired, half- or full-day. Homeschooling was never far from our minds. Waitlists, subsidies, registration fees, and deposits added further pressure. For insight into this journey, I asked three Canadian educators about how, as a community of parents, guardians, and carers, we can slow down, simplify, and empower ourselves when contemplating scholastic pathways for our kids.