Reasons to Think About Your Child's Next School Year Now

Parents can now choose from a wide range of schooling options for their children. This allows them to decide on the school that best addresses their student’s needs, which may involve switching schools to find the right fit. This could mean switching from one brick-and-mortar school to another, enrolling in a private school, or making the jump to homeschooling or attending an online school. Whatever the reason, now is the right time to start thinking about your child’s next school year.

The following are common issues that cause parents to consider a change in their child’s education:

Not getting enough individualized attention. Teachers with large class sizes often have to stick with a once-size-fits-all approach to ensure all curriculum is covered, and are unable to speed up or slow down for individual students. This is an unfortunate trend, as class size can have a big impact on students’ achievements. GreatSchools tells us that “researchers have found that gains in achievement generally occur when class size is reduced to less than 20 students.”

Advanced learners who become bored in class. Gifted children can often zoom ahead of other students in one or multiple subjects. If they grasp a concept well before the rest of the class, they can often be left bored and frustrated—sometimes causing them to act out.

Students struggling to keep up. When teachers aren’t able to address each student’s unique needs, students can fall behind as they struggle to master concepts. Without getting proper help, they may become frustrated and stop paying attention, or, even worse, eventually drop out of school. In fact, every 29 seconds another student gives up on school (National Center for Education Statistics).

Bullying. One out of every four kids will be bullied sometime throughout their adolescence, which has several detrimental effects. Being scared to come to school and distracted in the classroom can lead to lower grades and under-performing on tests.

Many parents have cited these issues as the reasons why they chose to enroll their child in an online school. While the transition to a virtual school can be challenging, families are often able to resolve and move beyond the issues that led to the change. Parents have also reported that the longer children are enrolled in online school, the greater their success. Parents often cite more confidence, higher grades and test scores, a greater ability to pursue outside interests, and being accepted into some of the finest colleges.

Now is the time for parents to re-registering or enroll in a K¹²online school for the first time. Knowing that your child’s education plans are secured will give you peace of mind as you head into the summer and prepare for the new school year.

Read one parent’s perspective of why her family keeps coming back to online education.

Image credit: Brad Flickinger/CC 2.0

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