Virtual Parent Workshop: Picking the Right School for your Child

Are you feeling overwhelmed trying to find the right school for your child? You’re not alone — and this workshop is here to help.

In this session, we’ll guide you through key questions to ask, red and green flags to look for, and how to align your school choice with your family’s values, your child’s learning style, and long-term goals. 🧠💡

🎥 Whether your child is starting preschool, elementary, or switching schools, this workshop will give you clarity and confidence in your decision-making process.

🗣️ Leave a comment below: What’s your biggest concern when picking a school? We’d love to hear from you!

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:08

Hi, and welcome to the next parent workshop. We do these workshops um once a month, or at least we try to. We do them here in person and then uh we do it virtually like we're doing right now. And after that, because this is recorded, we will go ahead and post this onto YouTube. So if you can't make the in-person and you can't make the virtual, then you can still get the content on YouTube. Um, so if you want to just do the YouTube workshops, go ahead and subscribe to that, and uh, and then you'll get notifications uh when we have new videos that um we post onto YouTube. Um also because this is recorded, we're gonna go through the whole presentation. Um, and then at the very end, I will turn off the recording, and that way we can have more of a dialogue when it comes to the questions. Um, because I do realize that this um can be sensitive and personal and private whenever we do these parent workshops. So I'll go ahead and get started with um today's workshop, which is picking the right school for your child. So picking the right school for your child, and uh this is Waterfront Academy. And in this presentation, we are going to uh go through understanding your child and family priorities types of schools, what to ask and what to look for, matching values and mission, finances and practical logistics, private school application tips. Oh, I forgot a P there, um, DC lottery tips, homeschool, and QA. So Waterfront Academy is a dual immersion Spanish and English Montessori school in the Catholic tradition. We've been doing this for over 10 years. We have our primary program, which is uh preschool 3 through K, elementary, which is first grade through sixth grade, and early adolescence, which is seventh grade and eighth grade. My name is Melissa Rohan. I am the founder and president of Waterfront Academy. Now I do want to say that in this particular workshop, what's interesting that you may not know about me is that I'm actually a big fan of all the different kinds of um schools, even though we are Montessori and even though we are private, I am going to really try my best at being non-um unbiased in all of this information. So what you probably don't know about me, or maybe you do, is that um I was on a charter school board for several years, and I ran for public school board here in Washington, DC. Um, and then I started my private school. So I have seen a lot of the different things um when it comes to different types of schools. So I do have a lot of um uh experience and and knowledge in the in this. Um the only one that I don't have a lot of knowledge on, but I am going to briefly talk about is on homeschooling um because I think that's also um an important um it's an important school to pick from uh to pick to it to pick for your child. So um I am going to talk about that as well. I'm also a fan of homeschooling. So let's go ahead and get started. So um before you really dive into picking the right school, I think it's really important to have a North Star in guiding your decisions for your child and for your family. And so that's when I think you and your spouse should sit down and talk about what those priorities are. Talk about the priorities as a family and talk about your pri uh and talk about what your child's needs or uh needs are, right? Um, and so that is going to be different from family to family. One thing that we do see over and when I say we, I want to say specifically me, but I feel like I've had these kinds of conversations with my colleagues, and so we have seen um is that a lot of times parents make the mistake of picking a school because their next door neighbor said, Oh, my child goes to the school, it's great, you know, you should enroll your child, and um that's not really uh it doesn't generally work out well for the family if that's how they're picking their schools. So I do think it's very important to be informed, and um, and part of that is doing the work ahead of making these types of choices. Um, and so keep in mind that um, regardless of where you go to whatever your choice of school is, your child is going to learn, right? Because that is part of brain development. Your child's going to learn. Now, what they learn and how they learn, and at the rate that they learn, that is going to be decided based on the school and environment and um a whole mix, the the potpourri of uh of events that are happening at the same time is what's going to make that those distinguish distinguishing um things. So things to think about um is that really you want to make sure that the right conditions are there for your child. And so things that you might want to think about when you are trying to figure out priorities is um making sure your child has plenty of opportunity for movement, that there's plenty of opportunities to be outside, to be in nature, um, the the quality of the food that they will be eating is good. Um the the environment is calm and nurturing, um, and also uh low screen exposure, low to no screen exposure, especially for the youngest children. So these are some things to think about. Um now Dr. Montessori, she um did this really wonderful chart. You can look it up, just put um Google planes of development, Montessori's planes of development, and it really talks about the different stages of um uh human development. And the first six years is called the absorbent mind, and it kind of like peaks at three and then kind of comes down, and then the next one is the reasoning mind, which starts at six and goes up and then comes back down, so it goes up and it peaks at nine and then comes back down for um 12. And so you'll see these cycles um for every six years, and then it peaks at that third year, and um, and it really is the peak is really kind of talking about when is the most sensitive to learn different, you know, the most sensitive to learning different things as well as like some characteristics that really are very prominent at these peaks, right? Um, and so with the absorbent mind, they are going to absorb absorb so much uh learning just by being around it. So their environment is very, very important until the age of six, and the um and the people that they're around is very, very important, and they're very sensitive to learning language at this point. So making sure that their language-rich environments would be really important. So when you are choosing um a school for your child, understanding what their sensitive periods are and what their characteristics characteristics are of the of the plant of development they're in is going to be important. Um and so, generally speaking, um, and I think typically speaking, in a Montessori environment, this is something that is a big part of the way that each of the classrooms are designed. But you can also find these if you're if there's not a quality Montessori environment in your um or school in your community, these are some of the things that you can look at, okay. Another thing to consider is nature versus nurture. This is um everyone talks about that, but I would argue it's nature and nurture, right? So obviously it's important um that uh to understand um where the child is coming from um and their nature. Um that is a lot of it having to do with just biology, right? Um, and then nurture is I would say equally important, almost more important in some respects. And um, and so being in an environment that is going to basically put fuel on that learning fire is really, really important. Um, so some of the things I might look for is like I said, that calm environment so that the child is safe, because a safe child is going to be able to learn, right? Um, and you're gonna want to see an environment that maybe doesn't have too much, too much sensory going on. That would be like the low screen usage, right? And because uh less distractions and they can have more focused work, and more focused work means better quality of work or and learning going on, right? So um sometimes specifically when it comes to um an adolescent, you want quality adults in to model what it looks like because they're transitioning from childhood to adulthood, and so you want those quality adults in their life, so that would also be part of that nurture in this nature and nurture. Um, so there's a lot of really great things to look for there and to discuss ahead of time with your spouse so that you guys are together on picking the schools and looking through with a critical eye at the different pros and cons of each of these schools. And then just general family priorities, things like is it a priority? You know, if you have um uh if you are as a family culturally different than the community that you're in, maybe you want to find someplace that meets that culture so that um you're strengthening those uh family traditions and culture um that you would see in a different space. So an example would be if you if you are um Ethiopian and you move to Washington, DC, you might want to be in an environment that has a lot of Ethiopian, so that there are these cultural things that are just become that are the norms in Ethiopia, but you're here now and you want to be able to really nurture um those traditions and norms uh with your children, and it just keeps those family ties and bonds um intact. Um, or you know, if they're a language thing, so um, and language often is tied to culture, and so you might want to pick French or German or in our case Spanish as part of a priority of your family. Um, maybe it's religious, right? So maybe um you're Jewish or Muslim or Catholic in our case, or you know, there's non-denominational schools as well, Christian schools as well. So you might want to pick one of those schools. So these are types of things um you might look at, um, or maybe you uh really strongly believe in Montessori or um uh classical uh education, or uh I mean there's so many. So there's a lot of different uh things that you can pick from, and so that would help with narrowing down those choices when you're looking at everything and how important that priority is to your family. Um, and so here's another one. Uh diversity would be um a nice one too, right? So maybe you want to make sure that the school that you're going to is very diverse. Um so uh or academic, academically rigorous, right? So I I have all these nice little notes here for me uh to share with you. So that would also be something to consider ahead of going to visit these schools, um, and it'll really help in uh having that compass or North Star for you to um in in making choices and decisions for your families and for your children. Uh finances, that's important. Um so there's a few things that you can think about. So ahead of time, just okay, how much money do we want to put towards this, right? Now, just because you're going to a public school or public charter school doesn't mean that you shouldn't have these conversations, right? Because there's still things like um uh lunches, transportation, um uniforms, school materials. Um, there's a lot of different things that you need to be um thinking about, um even if the school that you're going to does not have tuition. Same thing with homeschooling. If you're going to if you're going to do homeschooling, you're going to need to purchase all the curriculum. You might want to join some groups and co-ops, and so there might be costs associated with that. So ahead of time saying this amount of money is what we are going to put it aside for the education of this child. And that way you are keeping that in mind. Also, um, oh, I on here I also have uh extended day or aftercare or extracurriculars, right? So these are all part of those that finance um conversation that you should be having with your spouse to kind of um outline with reasonable expectations of what it looks like moving forward. Okay, obviously, when you're talking about private school, that's also certain that's certainly part of the conversation, and I think most people would expect that, but just keeping that in mind. Um private schools have other fees in addition to tuition. Um, there's also financial assistance a lot of times or scholarship programs that help with um the the tuition financially. So there's um a few different types of schools that I want to discuss today, um, which I've just briefly mentioned public schools, public charter schools, private schools, and home schools. So let me kind of talk a little bit. A public school is a school that is run by your school district, um, and there's a you know, obviously every school different school district is very different. Some of them um you can lottery in outside of your um area. Um and so in Washington, DC would be an example of that, where you have your neighborhood school, but you can go to other DC um schools if you um submit it into the lottery, the annual lottery, and you might be able to get into a different school. Um, so being um clear on what the neighborhood school looks like um would be a good uh idea because you would automatically get enrolled there if you're over the age of five. Again, that's a DC rule. It's different in every diff in every in other areas, but in DC, um three and fours are year olds are not guaranteed, five-year-olds are, um, and uh in your neighborhood school. So knowing just what their wait list looks like and things like that would be important. Um, and then public charters, these are private in in um in organization. There we are. It's private in organization, but they do have a charter or a promise with the state government. Um and in that charter, there's a lot of things they are um they promise to do. So one of those being offering free education to um residents in the state or area or district, how however it's in DC would be in within DC. Um, and then they are going, and because these are and then the and then the DC promises to pay per student X amount of money and um of tax pay, and so these are tax dollars that are going to the public charter schools. And um, and I I again every charter school is very different because they are private, um privately organized, um, but I would imagine that um they do get grant money, they get um public and private, they get um donations, private donations, um, and corporate donations. Um, but I would say that the largest um amount of money that's coming into the charter schools, and I again this is me imagining this is broad breast generalization, are going to be from tax dollars on the per head um number. Um, and so there's it's a lot more nuance than that. This is just again very broad brushed kind of um understanding of what a charter school is, and then you have your private schools, um, and they are some of them are independent, some are not. Um, and um but and some are nonprofit and some are not. Um, and but they do run um independent of uh of the government. Um they are almost a hundred percent uh tuition based. Again, not always, some of them are not, and they work off of um uh a lot of grants and donations, they do a lot of fundraising. Some of these private schools um also will have a sliding scale. Um so we've I've seen that. There's a lot of really inventive things that the private schools do to um to continue to run. And then there's the homeschool option. This is also uh really wonderful option. There's more uh homeschoolers happening now than 10 years ago for sure. I think the latest number I saw, not and this is nationally, not DC. I don't know what the number is in DC, uh, but I think I saw it was just under 30% of students are being homeschooled right now. That number is just really, really big. Um and um so it's kind of interesting option that uh that I wanted to talk about. So that would be the parent usually teaching the children um at home um or some someplace like a home, um and uh by parents, and it's um very exciting, I think, uh option. So some of these uh options have strengths, or they all do, they all have a lot of strengths, and they also all have a lot of limitations. Um and so I would really um when you are talking about your family priorities, I would also go ahead and go through all the pros and cons for your family for all of these options, right? And consider them. Just consider them, even if it's a minute of consideration, just consider it for the fun of it. Um, and maybe you might find something interesting that you wouldn't really have considered before. Um, but just kind of like um, yeah, just in your head, just go ahead and spitball it for a minute and see how it goes, right? See where it leads you. Um, another thing to think about is that, like I said, with the leadership part, that um it changes based on the kind of um program you have. So that's a really important consideration. And school uh culture will also change, and that's not just a Among public schools, charter schools, private schools, and homeschools, but yes, for sure. But it also changes between the different schools. So that'll and we'll talk a little bit about that. So when I did this in person, I gave everybody a um a little chart of like observations and questions to ask. But just when you're when you do, after you do your um your your family priorities, and you then decide, okay, these are the schools that I want to tour. All right, you should do the tour. But here's another thing that I see is that um parents will go in blindly and they're like, okay, children, teacher, four walls, ceiling. All right, what am I looking at here? Right. So I feel like you need to be a little bit more prepared in going into this, um, into these tours, which is kind of why I put together a little checklist of questions to ask and things that you should try to observe, right? So um tour questions. Um, what's the daily schedule? Uh, what does discipline look like at the school? Are there supports available for learning if your child needs it? Or maybe you don't know if they need it yet. And what if that need were to present itself? Um, what's the family communication like? Here's an important one. This one, um, I don't ever, I don't, I don't know if I've ever been asked. No, I have been asked it. I have been asked it, but I don't get it asked as often as I would like. So I actually will give the question to the parents on the tour and say, hey, uh, I wish more parents would ask this question. Um, and that is, what's your teacher retention like? This is a really, really big question because the way that they answer it is going to tell you a lot of information about the school culture and the supports that the teachers have. Um when you have a high turnover, there um it's the teach it means that the teachers are really worn and aren't getting the support that they needed uh or need, excuse me. Um, and so it's it's a it's a flag. It doesn't necessarily mean it's a good school or a bad school, but it is a flag. Um, and so it should be considered. Um, when you are on the tour, some things that I would really, and I already mentioned this, I would want to see calm and focused classrooms. So um you don't want to necessarily see children running around, you don't want to see children climbing on furniture. Um, but you also want to make sure that it's not um aggressive in nature, right? Like um, those would be really big flags. Um you want to see engaged children, you want to see respectful adults and respectful children, both, um, especially in the way that they interact with each other. And you want to see uh the leadership visible, right? These are things that you really want to observe. Um and so I would just let me just say um don't feel bad about asking the hard questions, ask the hard questions. I love when parents ask me hard questions. It means that they're really considering it. It means, and when I say considering it, considering their child their children and their families, and they're imagining what it would look like for their family in our environment. And that's important. We're I will say, as you saw at the very beginning, we're a very niche school. So I know that we're not going to be perfect for every family. I get that, like that that's a given for me. We are so niche. Um, but it's so that's why to me it's extremely important to know that the parents are really wondering can I see myself and my family in this school that is so niche, right? But it's not just our school because we're not unique in this. If you even at the public schools that are your neighborhood schools, the the whoever's giving you the tour, whoever's getting the interview, or whoever you're asking these questions to, they want to know that it's not you're not you're not going to the school just because you got accepted or just because so-and-so said something to you that this was the school to go to, your neighbor. Um, but you are actually actively engaged as a parent and actively interested. Um, so it's really nice to hear the hard questions. So don't be embarrassed to ask them. And quite frankly, like um we want to be open and honest anyways. And it's it's you know, we're we're gonna say things that you aren't necessarily interested in, but it's at least it's a truth, right? And uh, and you can make um decisions um with those truths. Um and so also, which then brings me to the next piece about trusting your instincts. So um if you're taking the tour, and again, every school does this differently, so it's not like universal in any way. So some schools will just give you like a big group tour on certain days, and you either go and take the tour or you don't, or they might you know, um schedule an individualized tour with you. Either way, there is zero way at all for um for the teachers or the leadership to stage anything. Like even if they try, it's gonna look staged. Cause I mean you just can't do that with the children. And so, um, so if they do try and stage something, you'll see it, you'll you'll know. Um, and uh, but pretty you're more likely going to see really a very uh honest snippet of what a day looks like um at that particular school. So um, and so trust your instincts. Obviously, bad things happen. I remember when I first opened up the school, you know, back in it would have actually this was back in 2014, and a child had dropped a glass bowl or or something, and so the in the the glass kind of shattered. And and in my head, I heard this happening. I was in the other room, um it was the way that we had operated our tours at the time, and and in my head, in my my heart just sank and I was like, oh, that's it. This family is not going to come because the child shattered the glass. And uh, but it's funny because the very next year, so they did come to our school, and the very next year I was talking to the parent, and I don't know what brought it up, and they were like, Oh, remember when we did that observation and the child um accidentally broke the bowl. We were so impressed because we know that things happen, especially when you've got children involved. We were so impressed about the way that the teacher handled the situation, and it was not stressful for anybody, it wasn't stressful for us, it wasn't stressful for the child, it wasn't stressful for the for the teacher. It was just like, okay, what did we learn from this? Now let me help you clean it up, and and then they just moved on with the lesson, and it wasn't that big of a deal, and so um, so you know, trust your instincts. So things do happen, obviously, right? Like we're working with children here, and so um it that's what happens, but you can in those moments you can also see how people react to those things, and that's also very telling. Right. Matching values and missions. This is actually again, I feel like I'm coming back to this over and over again, but it's super, super important um because it's really going to um if you have that north star ahead of time saying, Hey, this is what we want for our family, this is what our you know, what we want for our child. And obviously, if things change, the the North Star can can change a little to the left or to the right, if we if you need to adjust to accommodate something that you learned, any new information you might learn, but or come, you know, so going back to your values and mission as a family is probably a good thing, and just say, hey, are we still on board with this? Um, but before you make the decision, you've taken the tours, you've already figured out what you want for your family, you know your child better than anybody else, obviously. So now we're gonna sit down as a family and we're going to discuss um these different options. And, you know, does it does the school reflect your family values? That, you know, yes or no, really. Um, what kind of adult do you want your child to become? And this is important um as far as like do you, you know, we want to make sure our children learn independence, we want to make sure our child loves to learn, we want to make sure, you know, in into you know, adulthood, right? Um when they get older, it might be more nuanced. Um, it might be we want our child, our child is expressed an interest in becoming a veterinarian. So maybe you find a high school that um has some kind of zoology or biology or I don't know, uh some kind of um interest that would fit that um expressed um passion from your child, right? So there's things that you or if they're into music, right? Maybe you go to a school that or find a school that is has a lot of um music education. Um so these are things to think about, especially, you know, when they're younger as well as when they're older, on what kind of adult do you want your child to become, or what kind of adult does your child want to become, right? Um and long-term thinking, this is really important when it comes to schools that have a very specific path. Um, so if you want your child to go to X high school, then work your way backwards, right? And like, okay, in order to get into this high school, we're gonna need to go to this middle school or this elementary school or this preschool. So long-term thinking. Um so and the reason that's important is because again, just because your neighbor says this is the school, this is a great school, you should put your child in the school, their long-term thinking is going to be obviously different than yours, just like their family values are going to be different than yours. And so you do need to, you know, and your budgets are different too, right? Like there's so many differences between you and your neighbor, like the outside of like um having great play dates, like they really shouldn't be involved in this aspect of your family decision making. And I don't and I say that and I want to make sure I don't think that they're being malicious at all. I think they're genuinely trying to be hopeful. I just, you know, say thank you and figure out what's good for you. But also, like if you think of it as like, hey, my child needs to be in a school, the school has an opening for my child, box checked. Like, that's not really the way to go into this, right? You need because it's only it's very that's gonna, it's it's not sustainable. It's only gonna be a very short-term solution to the I don't want to call it a problem, but the um whole um uh continuum of your child's education, right? So short-term solutions, just they're not, it's just not gonna work. The finances and the practical logistics. So if you're looking at the private schools, I would make sure you consider all costs and the look at the true costs and then compare that to what the budget you kind of already created for yourself. And yes, obviously with budgets, you can move things around so that you can fit it within your budget, but you need to be really honest in this particular um exercise because it needs to be sustainable for at least a year, if not more, right? And obviously things happen. Um people lose their jobs, uh deaths happen, it's part of life, right? Um, so these things happen. Um, so if you have the true costs and you were making a decision, an honest decision, considering sustainability, knowing that life has, you know, it's up hills and valleys, um, then you should be okay. Um but uh just I I can't stress that one enough. Um, a lot of private schools will actually have um an insurance program, a tuition insurance program that's part of the package. Some of them sometimes it's elective and sometimes it's not. It's um a requirement. Um, but that's that is also something to consider. Um and then like this is another big one. I've seen this as well. Um consider family schedule, commute, and school calendar. Um, especially if you have multiples, uh multiple children. Um, you know, having I get it why parents will put one child in one school and another child in another school, and I think that is commendable because it you really are making considerations for each child, but you also need to consider that the child, the children do need to arrive to school on time. And so you need to consider um commutes between the different schools and um how the children are gonna go to the different schools, your family schedule, right? Like if both parents are working, uh who's gonna drop and who drop off and who's gonna pick up? Are you gonna do extended day? Like, right, and then school calendars. Um, if you do have children at multiple different schools, um they are likely to have different calendars. We um we don't all, we're not all on the same calendar. So the public schools have their calendar, the charger schools try to mimic the public school calendar, I think a lot of times, but they can't always. And so their calendars are different, and then the private schools they have their um uh priorities when putting together the school calendar as well. So all these school calendars are going to look different, and making sure you understand what that school calendar is, because as um as you know, and you know, whatever you're doing for work, you have your own calendar. And so making sure that you can try um to be um your expectations are reasonable when considering those calendars. Um, I would can say I can say as a personal note, this year was um, I have two children in two different high schools, and um this is the first year where that's happened, and then I have my other child here at the school. So this year for Easter we had uh three different calendars, and so you know that was a very interesting experience. Um, so just keeping in mind that you know these things happen, and um and so you so you understand that before you make any kind of commitment that there are these logistical things to consider as well. Um, especially if you're deciding you you start out with 10 schools, narrowed it down to four. These little logistical things might be the make or break between a few of these different schools to make the decision clearer. Some practical tips on private school applications. Um here in Washington, DC, all those applications go live in October. Um, that is not true in other parts of the United States or in the world, but it is true here. So you should start around then um for the upcoming school year, okay? Um, and then those tour dates, they start in October and the shadow days. If your child is older, they will do a shadow day. Some of the private schools will also uh require uh some kind of testing or student interview, um, a parent interview, these are all things, then financial aid, those also um start opening up. I would say a little bit later than the applications, um, but just again, that's a private every private school is a little bit different, so you would need to be clear on all of that ahead of um well ahead of ahead of January, I would say, yeah, in DC. And again, different in every you know, different in every area of the world in the United States specifically, um, but in DC, that is pretty much the uh standard. Now, so start early, make sure um you put together uh some kind of a spreadsheet that has the list of all the schools and um all the due dates, all the requirements. Make sure you have all of that in one space so that nothing gets left behind because that will make or break your um ability to go to that school. Tour multiple schools and different kinds of schools, um that's really important. Um again, those tours dates are um scheduled through the school. Um, so it's gonna be different, but I would say generally speaking, there is usually a lot of them in November and a lot of them in January. Um, so just again, that's just been my experience, what I've noticed, my observations there. Um, when it comes to shadow days and testing, I should add, and testing. Um, I would really again, it depends on the age of the child, um, but I would really talk to your child about that and do a little bit of coaching, okay? Um, because it is important. It's not everything, the whole package. They I I would say private schools will get the whole package, but when it comes to shadow days, um, just make sure you understand what the um dress code is and what some of the norms are. And again, um, you'll probably get some kind of an email that puts all of this together for you. They'll probably do some kind of an interview with your um child and make sure that the child understands that this is going to happen, so it's not a surprise because um a child that just looks at you blankly like uh a deer in headlights uh isn't giving the school a lot of information. Um and uh and so just make sure that they understand what it looks like what to expect. Um, same thing with the testing, just make sure that they understand what kind of the testing it's going to be. And then for financial aid, um, go ahead and put an application, it doesn't hurt, um, and uh and see how it goes for the DC lottery tips. So um all the charter schools and public schools are on my school DC. Um, so I would go ahead and rank them in your true order. And I say this because when it comes to the lottery results, you're only going to get one school. You're not going to get multiple schools. You only get it one school. And um, and so you either accept it or not. And you might be next in line in the wait list at a different school, but you won't be able to get that school. If you are already promised to the first school. So I would not put anything in there that you're not willing to say yes to. And again, charter schools and public schools are all on the same list. Another thing to consider is that or to think about is that three and four-year-olds are not guaranteed into a lot of the uh neighborhood schools. So making sure you understand that and when you put that into your um D, your application or your lottery uh form uh list priorities, go ahead and think about that. Um also know that like some people will have preferences to some schools. So if it's a neighborhood school and you live within the bounds of that neighborhood school, you will have a preference to be picked for that school. Um and you can use that to your advantage if you understand that. Another one is simple uh siblings. So if you currently have a child at that school, you will be um your next child, the sibling will be also um a preferred um student to that school. Um so if you have two or three preferences, you're gonna be higher up in the list for that particular school. Now make sure you understand all the deadlines and understand the wait lists and how they move up. Um and but yeah, I would do your true ranking, not just throw things in there because you don't want to be stuck with a school you would never say yes to and then lose out on a school that you really wanted. So, homeschooling, there's a lot of reasons why people do homeschooling. Um it's extremely flexible. Um, so for children who um are moving through the curriculum really quickly, you can go quickly with them. And so, which is something you would see in a Montessori school as well, but it at homeschool, um you can be part of that. Um you can make sure that your values are aligned. Um there's you can be able to travel with your child if there's if you're a family that travels a lot. Um, if you have a child that is um really focused on a sport or an instrument, there's a lot more room for that practice to happen for them to excel at those things. Um, so there's a lot of reasons to do homeschool. In DC, you need to make sure that you file that notice of intent because if you don't, um it could be really hard for you. Um, and they will check your portfolio. So you need to keep a portfolio of your child's work. Um, there's a lot of support for homeschooling, there's co-ops, um, there's online communities, um, there's a lot of enrichment programs that happen during the day for homeschooling families. So there's a lot of things that you can do um for that additional support. I don't think you I don't think that it's helpful for um as the adult, the parent, to say, oh, well, I don't have a degree and blah blah blah, so I can't teach my child. Um, I don't I don't think that's helpful. I think you actually, as a parent, are your first child's teacher. And so if you took on homeschooling, what a blessing that is for you and for your child. And so I strongly support families who do homeschooling. I think it's beautiful, especially when it's done well and thoughtfully. Um, and so um this is really a great option. And you know, you can do it when they're younger, you can do it when they're older. Um, and again, because there's so much support, um I I don't think you not having a degree in something or experience in something should really prohibit you from moving forward with this option. I think um you need to give yourself a little bit of grace and your children will see you giving yourself grace and they will learn that wonderful skill. So I I really can't speak highly enough of homeschooling.