With the arrival of fall, a time honored Baltimore tradition begins. For those families and students who are contemplating investing in an Independent School education, the fall open house season is here. Over the next two months hundreds of families will seek out a wide variety of open houses, morning coffees with Heads of schools, shadow visits for their children and tour after tour of the region’s Independent Schools.
Over the next four weeks our series on Independent Schools will examine three major themes in an effort to encourage your family to explore the option of an Independent School education. They are.
- The Fall Open House & Understanding The Financial Aid Process
- Single Sex Education vs. Co-ed: How do You Make a Choice?
- Selecting the Right Independent School for Your Child
We are fortunate in the Mid-Atlantic to have an abundance of outstanding independent schools that focus on educating today’s students to become vibrant participants in a 21st century economy. In today’s highly competitive educational marketplace, families and students have many choices when it comes to selecting the ideal independent school.
From boarding experiences, to girls and boys schools to religious schools the choices are nearly endless for families to consider. The fact is the right school exists for your son or daughter. The larger question is how do you navigate what can be an intimidating process? Most importantly how do you place value on such a major family investment? As the proud father of two daughters who have experienced a positive Independent School education I am a passionate advocate for the investment.
While the cost of an Independent School education is not insignificant, we as parents must think of the special gift we will be giving our children. A successful Independent School not only provides a challenging academic environment, it seeks to teach each student how to become a critical thinker with a worldly view. Most importantly it instills a love of learning beginning with pre-school and helps to nurture life-long skills that each student will need in order to become a well rounded individual.
As you begin your journey here are two wonderful online resources that will provide comprehensive listings of schools to consider along with additional resource material.
Association of Independent Maryland Schools, www.aimsmddc.org
The National Association of Independent Schools, www.nais.org
By Jonathan Oleisky, President of Kalix Communications
