With Your Last Bit of Energy - Prioritize

Coming towards the end of the school touring season here in the Bay Area, I am reminded how exhausting the school selection process is for families. If you are reading this blog - and you are in the middle of choosing a school for your child - take a deep breath, get yourself a cup of tea and relax for a moment.  After all the touring, sifting through online information, reading brochures, having endless conversations with friends and strangers - you are almost done and deserve a moment to yourself to recoup.

Do you want more than a moment though? Then I have a suggestion.  Use your last bit of energy to prioritize.

I understand the drive to see one more school, read one more article, or talk to one more person in this process, especially here in the Bay Area where we have a wealth of options.  As a consultant, I have seen 40+ schools in the East Bay Area this season - and there is plenty more to see. I deeply understand the need to be thorough, the intense drive to find the best possible school setting for your child because that is what brought me to my work in the first place. But instead of spreading yourself thinner, now is a fabulous time to prioritize.  Do less and get more from your school selection time. Sound too good to be true? Here is the plan:

If you have read this blog before, you know I am big on figuring out your key values in your school selection.  If you haven't before, now (meaning, yesterday) is a critical time to start.  If you know what are the most important aspects of a school setting to you (and your partner), to your child as a learner, and to your daily family life then you can start to eliminate schools based on those priorities. However, if you are trying to compare 15 schools on 39 different qualities...you are going to get real tired, real quickly, and possibly fail at the task.

(1) Start with figuring out what is most important to you in a school -  your must haves in a in school setting. You can pick a library and a librarian, or weekly Spanish class - great. Or you could pick a strong PTA, or a kind and thoughtful school principal. Whatever you pick -  pick three.  Yes - three. The most important ones. The ones that without them, you couldn't in good conscience drop your child off at school each day. The ones that will give you peace of mind and faith that something good is happening with your child each day.

(2) Then, think about your kid. What do they like to do? What are they interested in? What kind of teacher or teaching do they respond to? What kind of setting brings out the best in them? Wouldn't it be great if the school you selected had some of those qualities? Pick three. Pick the three qualities that, without them, your child might not see school as a great place to be everyday.

(3) Now delve into the practical. What can't you do as a family in choosing a school? Maybe you can't drive 30 minutes each way to go to school everyday. Possibly (just possibly) you can't afford a $20,000 tuition for private school next year. Maybe you need an aftercare program, and the school you love doesn't have one. Whatever your boundaries are - figure them out. Pick the two most important, the ones that without them in place, your family life would get pretty rough.

Now, with your last bit of mental energy, look at your schools that you have seen under the lens of these eight characteristics. Just the eight. Don't think about the amazing tennis program or the new recess playground, or the up and coming test scores...unless those qualities were one of your eight "must have" characteristics.

Now you can compare and contrast. In doing so, if you come up with a clear front-runner - wonderful. Focus your energies in getting into that school.  However, if you don't, you might have more digging to do in terms of school research.  But do your digging with your key eight in mind (pushing to the side the other 29 possible characteristics), so you can sift through information with focus, not frenzy.

Good luck to everyone in the New Year!