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in Episodes on August 17, 2015 by The Mom Hour

Choosing The Right School (Not As Scary As It Seems): Episode 16

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Repeat after us, moms: It’s going to be okay. It’s going to be okay. It’s going to be okay.

Choosing a school for your child can seem like a life-altering, permanent decision. In Episode 16, Meagan and Sarah are here to reassure you that it isn’t. We share our own experience making school choices for our kids, from private to public to home schooling to charters to magnets to lotteries to…

(Nope, not kidding. We’ve actually experienced, and discuss in this episode, all of those things.)

If you’re in the process of finding the right school or program for your kids, we hope you’ll join us for this discussion, and leave us a comment below!

Meagan and Sarah both survived their neighborhood public schools - and turned out just fine!
Meagan and Sarah both survived their neighborhood public schools – and turned out just fine!

Links we discuss in Episode 16:

  • Posts on The Happiest Home
    • Homeschool, Private School, Public? Education Choices & The ‘Ideal Mother’
    • How To Be Confident In Your School Choice
    • Why Meagan’s Daughter Didn’t Go To Preschool (And What They Did Instead)
  • * Satire Alert! * Mother Still Searching For Preschool That Focuses Exclusively On Her Son (The Onion)
  • Sarah’s piece on The Mid: The Homework I Wish My Child Brought Home From School
  • Why We Don’t Stress Out About Choosing a School (Design Mom)
  • Afterschooling: An Update (The Art of Simple)

GIVEAWAY!

Don’t forget that there’s still time to enter the giveaway to kristinshop! Check the show notes from Episode 15 for details. Contest runs through August 25.

Related

Filed Under: Episodes Tagged With: school

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« Chores & Delegation: Episode 15
Back-to-School, The Easy Way: Episode 17 »

Comments

  1. Ashley says

    August 20, 2015 at 1:40 pm

    I’m in the thick of school changes for two kids (ages 5 and 1) and the decisions leading up to this point have created a lot of stress and worry — probably unnecessarily. I’ve learned that community is a BIG sticking point for me, more so than any educational philosophy. I don’t consider myself averse to change, but when it comes to choosing daycares and schools, I get nervous. It is ingrained in me that a school choice IS forever. I grew up in a rural area where I had to grin and bear it with the same people, in the same school building, for all 13 years. The great irony is that as a kid, I would’ve LOVED to make a fresh start. However, going to a K-12 school gave me roots and a desire to seek and build community in institutions.

    My son started kindergarten last week. We’re in a unique situation where our neighborhood school is in the process is being built, so the kids in our neighborhood are scattered across three public schools and a few others go to the parochial schools. We ended up “choosing” the feeder school assigned to us because the start/end times and after-school program seemed like the best option for the whole family. (Great point that school choices have to work for the whole family unit, by the way.) I spent literally months fretting about my son being away from his neighborhood friends. Guess what? It hasn’t bothered him a bit. He loves his school and still gets to play with his “home friends” in the evenings and on weekends. It’s been a huge wake-up call that I need to chill out and trust the process more.

    We’re fortunate that the public schools in our town are very strong and nobody puts much stock in those Greatschools ratings because they reflect our town’s socioeconomic status more than educational quality.

    Many of the points you discussed can apply to daycare and preschool, too. After being at the same large center for five years, we’re moving our 1-year-old to a small church-based center where we know exactly one other parent. It’s not as well-known as our current “name brand” center, but it follows many of the same guidelines. The most important thing is that she’s in a nurturing, caring environment.

    Bless you if you made it this far. Needless to say, this topic struck a chord! Thanks for the reminder that nothing is forever and change is always possible if things aren’t working out well.

    Reply
  2. Jacquie says

    August 20, 2015 at 1:57 pm

    I have so many conflicting thoughts about this topic. On one hand, I know that my kids will do fine anywhere. My husband and I did well in school and we are involved parents. On the other hand, I want to expose the boys to a variety of subjects (art, science, music, PE, etc) and I know that isn’t necessarily available everywhere. I go round and round and I hope that as the kids get older, their needs will become more apparent and help me to make the choice.

    Also, thanks for including the link to the Design Mom post. I live in the San Francisco Bay Area and her comments really resonated with me. I do think that I have a responsibility to help improve the schools for all kids, especially since not all parents have the time or resources.

    Reply

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Math Quiz: If 3 kids dirty an average of 15 dishes Math Quiz: If 3 kids dirty an average of 15 dishes per day while away at school 7 hours per day, how many additional dishes will they dirty while home all day for summer break?

67. The answer is 67. Yes, I’ve checked my work! Maybe someone who passed calculus can explain? 🤪 -M

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Find the episode wherever you get your podcasts, or click this image at the link in our bio!

#themomhour #motherhood #mompodcast #podcastsformoms #parenting #parentingpodcast #podcastlove #trypod #podcastersofinstagram #shepodcasts #travelingwoes #travelingwithkids #familytravelmishaps
New on the blog this week from @kiamhammond: Learn New on the blog this week from @kiamhammond: Learning About Juneteenth, As A Family.

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Click this image at the link in our bio to read Kia’s book recommendations and more ways to start the conversation at home with your family.

#juneteenth #history #blackhistory #parenting #juneteenthbooksforkids #summerreading
New episode! As moms, we can be hard on ourselves New episode!

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Find the episode wherever you get your podcasts, or click this image at the link in our bio!

#themomhour #motherhood #mompodcast #podcastsformoms #parenting #parentingpodcast #podcastlove #trypod #podcastersofinstagram #shepodcasts #momtruisms #momtruths #parentingadvice #motherhoodstruggles
Just a “hello” from last-week-me, who spent 30 Just a “hello” from last-week-me, who spent 30 minutes moving 25 chickens by hand from their home to the new chicken yard, because they refused to go on their own. And then an hour moving them back, because same.

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Click this image at the link in our bio to access Jayme's roundup of resources.
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One of our most popular blog posts EVER is refresh One of our most popular blog posts EVER is refreshed for 2022! Click this image at the link in our bio to read the just-structured-enough approach Sarah took during those long AZ summers at home when her kids were 6, 4, and 1.5. 😎 

#stayathomemom #preschoolers #summermomlife #arizonasummer #summerschedulefortoddlers #summerscheduledforpreschoolers #samplesummerschedule #summerdaysathom
New episode! Most of us enjoy having a clean and New episode!

Most of us enjoy having a clean and tidy home, but have you ever kept track of how much you do throughout the week to keep it that way? In today’s episode, Meagan and Sarah share what seven days of real-life housework looks like in our homes. We reflect on the tasks we knew went into running a home, and some surprising ones we never thought of as housework before (like picking plums and chasing chickens!). Whether you prioritize deep-cleaning on a regular schedule or tend to tidy as you go and hope for the best, it’s eye-opening and gratifying to acknowledge the work that goes into managing a home full of kids.

Find the episode wherever you get your podcasts, or click this image at the link in our bio!

#themomhour #motherhood #mompodcast #podcastsformoms #parenting #parentingpodcast #podcastlove #trypod #podcastersofinstagram #shepodcasts #endlesscleaning #housework #cleaning #tidyingup #
Math Quiz: If 3 kids dirty an average of 15 dishes Math Quiz: If 3 kids dirty an average of 15 dishes per day while away at school 7 hours per day, how many additional dishes will they dirty while home all day for summer break?

67. The answer is 67. Yes, I’ve checked my work! Maybe someone who passed calculus can explain? 🤪 -M

#mommath #drowningindishes #summerbreakisnotreallyabreak
Happy weekend - and a big thanks to our June spons Happy weekend - and a big thanks to our June sponsors! Every month, we like to take a little time to shoutout our partners who help support the show + remind our listeners of some of the great deals our sponsors are offering. For more info, specific promo codes, and links, just search the brand name on our website, and they'll pop up in our episode show notes. We also collect ALL our active promo codes (even the old ones that are still working!) in our email newsletter - which is full of other great things we want to share with you, too. Tap on this image at the link in our bio to subscribe today. 

Meet our NEW partners this month . . .
🗣️ @connectspeech (early language support!)
💙 @appahealth (1st month of mentorship free!)
💄 @thrivecausemetics (15% off your 1st order)

And welcome back to . . .
⭐️ @paireyewear (15% off your 1st purchase!)
⭐️ @autoapprove ($100 when you refinance!)
⭐️ @outschool ($15 off your child's 1st class!)
⭐️ @mindandchild ($20 off Parenting 101 course!)
⭐️ @flowkey_com (20% off subscription piano app!)
⭐️ @stitchfix ($20 off your 1st purchase!)
⭐️ @publicgoods ($15 off, no minimum!)
⭐️ @scholasticinc (books for kids of all ages!)
⭐️ @hiyahealth (50% off 1st order!)
⭐️ @kiwico_inc (30% off your 1st mo!)
⭐️ @ritual (10% off 1st 3 mo!)
⭐️ @athleticgreens (1yr of Vit.D + 5 travel packs!)
⭐️ @vionicshoes (free shipping on cute shoes!)
⭐️ @project_wren (10 trees planted when you sign up!)
New episode! If you travel with kids, it’s just New episode!

If you travel with kids, it’s just a matter of time before a trip goes off the rails in spectacular fashion. Maybe it’s a flat tire in the middle of nowhere, or an expensive vacation spent sick in a pricey hotel room. Today Sarah is joined by @catieparrish @stacybronec @emilyeroark and @lisaapayne4 – regular contributors to the show and seasoned travelers with a combined 13 kids – who share their most memorable travel mishap stories. (Full disclaimer: there will be puke-talk.) In sharing these stories, we hope to normalize that travel with kids doesn’t have to go perfectly to be “worth it” and remind you that you’re not alone if this summer’s adventures go awry. Plus, one of the only perks to surviving stories like these is that we get to laugh about them later.

Find the episode wherever you get your podcasts, or click this image at the link in our bio!

#themomhour #motherhood #mompodcast #podcastsformoms #parenting #parentingpodcast #podcastlove #trypod #podcastersofinstagram #shepodcasts #travelingwoes #travelingwithkids #familytravelmishaps
New on the blog this week from @kiamhammond: Learn New on the blog this week from @kiamhammond: Learning About Juneteenth, As A Family.

"Like many families, mine is still figuring out how to teach our children about Juneteenth, as learning the history wasn't part of my education or my husband's when we were kids. The good news is, books written for children and families are a great way for the whole family to learn (and there are a lot of them!)."

Click this image at the link in our bio to read Kia’s book recommendations and more ways to start the conversation at home with your family.

#juneteenth #history #blackhistory #parenting #juneteenthbooksforkids #summerreading
New episode! As moms, we can be hard on ourselves New episode!

As moms, we can be hard on ourselves…and sometimes we just need to hear the simplest, oft-repeated pieces of advice and encouragement to remind us that it is all going to be OK. Join Meagan and Sarah for a reflection on eight pieces of wisdom that have carried us through motherhood struggles at every age and stage. We are offering them to you, to ourselves, and to all of our future selves in Episode 369.

Find the episode wherever you get your podcasts, or click this image at the link in our bio!

#themomhour #motherhood #mompodcast #podcastsformoms #parenting #parentingpodcast #podcastlove #trypod #podcastersofinstagram #shepodcasts #momtruisms #momtruths #parentingadvice #motherhoodstruggles
Just a “hello” from last-week-me, who spent 30 Just a “hello” from last-week-me, who spent 30 minutes moving 25 chickens by hand from their home to the new chicken yard, because they refused to go on their own. And then an hour moving them back, because same.

It reminded me a lot of mothering a toddler, and got me wondering: what’s the most ridiculous thing mom life has brought you in the past week? -M
New episode! Have you ever fantasized about atten New episode!

Have you ever fantasized about attending a camp-like environment for grown-ups? Much about the classic summer camp experience is appealing to us (though not EVERYTHING--we could certainly do without the bugs), and the idea of simply showing up for a perfectly curated experience without any responsibility, or planning, sounds AMAZING. Listen to this fun More Than Mom to hear all of our must-have activities (like food and wine tastings, yoga, personal style consults and more!), things that would be a hard no (like swimming in the gross, murky lake or participating in corny, guided crafts) and our daydreams about creating a Mom Hour Retreat (maybe someday?)!

Find the episode wherever you get your podcasts, or click this image at the link in our bio!

#themomhour #motherhood #mompodcast #podcastsformoms #parenting #parentingpodcast #podcastlove #trypod #podcastersofinstagram #shepodcasts #summercamps #womenretreats #momretreat
New on the blog this week from @jaymesherrod: LGBT New on the blog this week from @jaymesherrod: LGBTQ+ Resources For Parents (And Anyone Who Wants To Learn!). 

"The fact is, none of us will get it right every time. Not with each other, and certainly not with our kids. But it’s important that we keep showing up and having the conversations anyway."

Click this image at the link in our bio to access Jayme's roundup of resources.

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