Finally, Tools to Help You Decide What to Do With Your School
If you are still wondering and discussing what you are going to do with the school this fall, you are not alone. For many parents, the deadline for choosing one of the options – be it personal, virtual, or hybrid – is a few days away. We all compare physical risks to mental health and logistical problems associated with childcare. It’s hard to know what to prioritize.
Finally, for those of us working on spreadsheets or checklists, there are several tools we can use to help us make a (slightly) more logical determination of what is the right choice for our personal and community circumstances.
I suggest you start with this tool released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This is a downloadable PDF that will help you think by asking a series of questions about: your school’s plans and communication with your parents; the possibility of virtual home education for your particular child; the nuances of your child’s academic and emotional well-being; and any necessary school services they require.
Ultimately, this questionnaire does not provide any guidance, but as the CDC website says , it can help you weigh the pros and cons of each option more strategically:
When you’re done, review your answers. Remember that each family is different, so some questions may be especially important to you. Multiple checks in the “Not sure” or “Disagree” columns may require talking to the school, your healthcare provider, or your employer. Parents may also want to use this tool to inform school administrators of their views, concerns, and suggestions.
If you want a real-world questionnaire, try this one designed by Jen Luumanlan for parents of preschool, kindergarten, and primary school children. Luhmanlan studied education and psychology with a focus on child development, and she hosts a research podcast for parents called Your Parenting Mojo . (She also often offers parenting workshops and has created resources for parents who want to start homeschooling orwant to create a learning capsule. )
In the ” decision-making tool for the choice of school ” Lumanlan specifies both general and specific questions about returning to school, home schooling and training modules / cooperatives . There is also a column where you can fill in another option like a hybrid timetable or an existing online school . You rate your answers on a scale of 1 to 5 for each option, from worst possible to best possible – and there are a few places below to ask your own follow-up questions if your child has special concerns. which are not covered in the previous questions.
At the end, the scores are calculated and the option with the highest score is considered your best potential score. I answered the questionnaire myself, and the option my husband and I were leaning towards turned out to be the clear winner, even though I didn’t feel so clear about it. But what really surprised me was that the other two options ended in draws; I would have thought one was preferable to the other, but this exercise made me rethink our plan B.
Of course, you shouldn’t base such an important decision solely on what one or two questionnaires tell you. But I was encouraged by the fact that I decided to get rid of my emotions for a moment and focus on the metrics.