How Tutoring Should Work

The independent school admissions process varies greatly from one school to another. There is, however, one critical requirement that is truly universal--the interview. Students who apply to an independent school for admission to grades 6-12 are required to meet with an admissions officer in a one-on-one or small group setting. You worry as a parent that your child simply can’t have the maturity or know-how to converse in the manner required with a strange adult who is lobbing questions at your child. Yes, this can be anxiety-producing for even the most savvy-minded parent. But, I’d like to help reframe your thinking on the admissions interview.

In this video a director of admissions explains how the interview process works.

A Window into Your Child's Personality

The interview offers an admissions committee a window into your child’s personality--his or her academic and extra-curricular interests, unique passions, and other skills that matter to your son or daughter. Keep in mind that the interview can be as short as 10 minutes for a younger child and up to 45 for the high school candidate. The interviewer is focused on evaluating your child’s academic potential and overall personality by engaging them in a guided conversation that centers on your child’s current school experience, particular strengths--academic, as well as, athletic, artistic, service, leadership, and other special interests.

It may help to think of the interview as a detailed conversation for your child

The Private School Advantage: The Top Reasons To Send a Child To Private School

Are you thinking about sending your child to a private school?

• There are many reasons why you should consider sending your child to a private school.
• Most of us parents have had the same concerns as you do.
• We all want our children to receive the very best education possible so that they are positioned for success in later life.

Canva generated this picture of students playing in a string quartet.

Here's how to make that happen.

1. You want your child to receive specialized instruction from well-qualified instructors.

• Your local public school can develop an IEP or Individualized Education Program for your child.
• This is mandated by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
• While your child's needs will indeed be identified and an instructional program devised for her, she will probably not receive as much individual attention as if she were in a private school with smaller classes.
• Depending on your area's public school district, resources are often spread very thin.
• When you send your child to a private school for special needs, she will be taught by credentialed, highly skilled teachers and paraprofessionals throughout the school day.

This video explains an IEP.

When your child has a learning difference, enrolling her in a private school

This is the first of three articles addressing the advantages of sending your child to private school. Private schools offer several advantages specific to students, of which you, as a parent, need to be aware. Here are three of them.

1. Your child will build a network of friends that she will have for life.

Some may wonder why I would put this benefit for students at the top of my list. That's because I sincerely believe networking is the key to success in almost everything. Because most private schools are relatively small communities - the typical private high school is about 350 students - your child will have a perfect chance of getting to know almost everybody in the school community, especially her classmates. While your child may come from an entirely different background, perhaps even country, from her classmates, she will get to know everybody in the classroom, on the playing field, and on the stage. With social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Instagram, and LinkedIn providing instantaneous communications, it is relatively easy to keep that high school network of friends going after she graduates.

This close-knit network of friends from school will help open doors for years after she graduates. The bonds of friendship developed in private school are an essential advantage for a private school student as she begins her career.

Private schools can build team spirit and school pride because everybody is on the same page. Remember: you chose the school, and

I am often asked what benefits there are for parents when they send their children to private school. The quintessential "What's in it for me?" is a legitimate question. After all you are thinking about sending your baby off to a school where you are being told she will work hard, learn how to get along with others and be involved in all kinds of activities. And it is going to cost you a small fortune to boot.

Your concerns are well-founded. So against that backdrop let's examine what I personally consider to be the three main benefits for us parents of sending our children to private school. Lest you think that I am speculating or theorizing, all four of our children went to private school. All grades too. Nursery school. Elementary school. Middle School and high school. So I speak from my own experience as a private school parent.

1. Knowing that your child will receive a comprehensive education: academics, sports and extracurricular activities.

Private schools educate the whole child. Educating the whole child requires an integrated program of academic studies, athletics and extracurricular activities. Essentially a private school is going to pick up where you left off when you sent her to school.

You have invested some serious time raising your child. Remember how you did it? Always a variety of activities. Always encouraging your child to do things she didn't know she