Finding Schools

At the first sign that their child has a learning difference, many parents panic and withdraw into a state of denial. That may help you. But it will not help your child. Your child's teachers know what to look for. As a rule, the signs of a child with learning issues are pretty obvious. While teachers may not know how to treat the disorder professionally, they have the training to alert parents and the school administration when they suspect your child has a learning issue.

In this TEDx Talk, Dean Bragonier discusses the true gifts of a dyslexic mind.

Definition of Learning Differences

Learning differences, or learning disabilities, affect a person's ability to learn and process information. The signs of learning differences can vary depending on the specific type of disability, but some common symptoms include:

• Difficulty with reading, writing, and spelling: People with learning differences may struggle with decoding words, recognizing everyday words, understanding sentence structure, and spelling correctly.

• Problems with math: People with learning differences may struggle with basic math concepts such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, and they may also have difficulty with more advanced concepts such as geometry and algebra.

• Poor memory: People with learning differences may have difficulty remembering information, especially regarding rote memorization of facts or details.

• Difficulty with organization and time management: People with learning differences may struggle with organizing their thoughts, planning and prioritizing tasks, and managing their time effectively.

• Trouble

I've been writing about private schools for more than twenty-five years. I always remember how little we knew about private schools when we started looking for schools for our girls. My late wife had attended several private schools when she was growing up in New York City, so she was at least familiar with them. She spoke favorably of the small classes and individual attention she received. I attended the Westmount Public Schools growing up in Montreal. Those schools were run along English public, that is, private, school lines and might as well have been private schools. They had small classes, lots of individual attention, and strict codes of discipline.

However, when it came to identifying private schools for our children, our choices seemed limited. Before the internet and smartphones became everyday tools, we had to research schools by phone and traditional mail. We asked around and learned about schools from friends and associates. Fortunately, we lived in the suburbs, which always seemed to have a school or two for us to consider. Today, in 2026, parents have access to some truly remarkable tools that make identifying the right private school much easier than it was even a decade ago. School websites, virtual tours, online reviews, and the powerful search tools available on Private School Review allow families to compare schools from virtually anywhere.

So, let me save you time and lay out a roadmap for your research. Your decision process will include consideration of cost, suitability of

Editor's Note: I will disclaim upfront that my eldest daughter went to a Waldorf School in the primary grades. Being creative people, we were impressed with the creative side of the curriculum. Our daughter's two years at a Waldorf school were overall a good experience. ~Rob Kennedy

On the fringes of traditional K-12 education are movements like Montessori, Waldorf, and Reggio Emilia. They offer parents different approaches to early childhood education, and in the case of Waldorf schools, they continue on through high school. Searches on Google and YouTube will yield a lot of information to help you explore the subject of this article, a Waldorf education.

The founder

Austrian philosopher and scientist Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925) established what we now know as the Waldorf or Steiner schools. He opened his first Waldorf school in Stuttgart, Germany Emilia 1919. A hundred years later, there are over 1,200 Waldorf schools worldwide.

According to the Biodynamic Association, "Long before many of his contemporaries, Steiner came to the conclusion that western civilization would gradually bring destruction to itself and the earth if it did not begin to develop an objective understanding of the spiritual world and its interrelationship with the physical world. Steiner's spiritual-scientific methods and insights have given birth to practical holistic innovations in many fields, including education, banking, medicine, psychology, the arts and, not least, agriculture."

This video describes the Waldorf education.

Choosing a private school is a process with many parts to it. It also takes 18-24 months to complete. This collection of articles deals with the second part of the process in which you look at all kinds of private schools and see what they offer. I'll show you where to look for schools. I also introduce you to some of the things I think you should look for in a school.

What am I looking for?

If you don't know too much about private schools but are thinking that private school might be a good option for your child's education, here's how to get the search process started.

• How To Search For Schools Private School Review has a robust search engine that will make your private school search process much easier to do. Here are some tips on how to use this tool.

• Private School Search Tips We look at several ways you can use to search for private schools. Whether you are beginning the search process for a school for your child or just want to find out more about particular schools, we offer some tips and tricks to make searching more efficient.

• The Search Process: A 5 Point Checklist Use this five-point checklist to keep your search for private schools organized.

This video offers an overview of The Madeira School in McLean, Virginia.

What kind of private school will work for

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Google, Bing, and Yahoo will find almost anything you are looking for, provided that you ask them correctly. The problem with these search engines is that if you aren't careful, you will end up with far too many results. And 99% of those results will not be relevant to you and your needs. For example, when I search for "private schools" on Google, I get millions of search results. Nobody has time to look through all those schools. With that in mind, here are a few search tips to help you search more efficiently.

Save Interesting Sites

Before we start searching for schools, take a few minutes to set up a Google Doc, Microsoft Word document, or spreadsheet. Save interesting school websites for easy reference tomorrow, next week, or a month from now. Doing this will save you valuable time and keep your search process organized.

Use Quotes

When you enter the term private schools without quotes in Google, Bing, or Yahoo, you will get millions of results. By surrounding your search term with quotation marks, you will restrict the results to precisely what you have specified. For example, "private schools raleigh nc" will produce a list of private schools in Raleigh, North Carolina. You will still have to filter the results to find schools that match your requirements.

Be Precise

If you are looking for Jewish schools in Nashville, Tennessee, enter:

• jewish schools nashville tn

You will still have to filter the results because, depending on the