How do I choose a school for my young child?
Navigating the overwhelming variety of public, private, and alternative school options leaves parents questioning whether private tuition is worth the cost or if kindergarten can be skipped entirely. This confusion makes it difficult to decide where to enroll young children without second-guessing the choice.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Keeping children at home for kindergarten
- 2Sending kids to local public schools like everyone else
- 3Opting for a local play-based outdoor or nature kindergarten before applying to private schools for first grade
- 4Staying put in the current high-performing district despite burnout and high workloads
- 5asking questions at school open houses
- 6asking about vaccine requirements
- 7Using a relative or friend's address for enrollment
- 8Applying through official district transfer lottery systems
- 9Moving to a smaller home located within the better school district
In their words
Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.
“Maybe this is silly and y'all can tell me your perspective but my sister has offered to let me use her address to transfer my son from LAUSD to LBUSD next school year (1st grade).”source ↗
“if I do this aren't I feeding into the problem? I'd be taking enrollment away from my home school and affecting their budget.”source ↗
“Teacher of 20 years, 18 of which in a (former) award-winning district in a blue state with unions.”source ↗
“It’s to the point where I have 5 preps and am just mentally drained at the end of the day.”source ↗
“Am I crazy to want to jump ship? Does anyone have a success story of making a move mid-career, with or without a pay jump/decrease?”source ↗
“Honestly have been reading up on waldorf and i am a bit worried, but I also hear that it depends on the teachers.”source ↗
“We are a science loving and atheist family. Anyway, what questions should I be asking to make sure the school isnt one of the weird ones?”source ↗
“how far are you willing to go to give your child(s) a good education?”source ↗
“I left a high performing district in the Boston area for a new district in rural northern New England. The work load, stress and amount of classes I had to teach damn near made me quit teaching.”source ↗
“Now raising my kids in the U.S. i am overwhelmed by various school options.”source ↗
“Do I really want o shell out $26k per kid for a classical academy kinder? can I skip kinder at all since all they do apparently there is learn shapes and numbers and some letters and my kids do that at home anyway?”source ↗