{"id":239360,"date":"2023-01-18T21:50:28","date_gmt":"2023-01-18T21:50:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buoyantbloomer.com\/?p=239360"},"modified":"2023-01-18T21:50:31","modified_gmt":"2023-01-18T21:50:31","slug":"kindergarten-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buoyantbloomer.com\/kindergarten-schools\/","title":{"rendered":"A framework to choose the best kindergarten schools for your family"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

NYC families are choosing the best kindergarten schools for their families this week after about 1.5 months of consideration. For those who are still on the fence, this framework on choosing the best kindergarten schools is meant to help you decide if a general education, dual language<\/a> program, gifted and talented program<\/a>, or international baccalaureate program<\/a> is the way to go. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step 1: Become a master framer<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Reframing is a design thinking tool that is the Swiss Army knife of life. The process of choosing the best kindergarten schools for your family is about framing problems correctly, identifying your goals, and making the right decision. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is NOT about simple solutions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, you absolutely have to understand that the question you are asking yourself isn’t which schools are best but rather:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What does a good education mean to me and how can I provide it to my child?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Once you have the frame set around quality education, you see that a perfect school is no longer the problem you are solving for, because you uncover a dysfunctional belief:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just attending a school isn’t enough for long term success <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

School is only ~6.5 hours a day for less than half the year.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Repetition and constant exposure is what builds greatness. So what are you doing with the 86% of time that your child is out of school? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step 2: Determine when it makes sense to maximize versus satisfy<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Chasing after THE VERY BEST of everything is exhausting. The due diligence and mental gymnastics you need to undertake in order to reach this designation is time consuming. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maximizers\u00a0aspire<\/em>\u00a0to choose the best education programs. They spend a huge amount of time and effort on the search, attending Kindergarten school tours<\/a>, checking out reviews, and talking to peers. Worse, after making a selection, they are nagged by the options they haven\u2019t investigated. Ultimately, they are likely to be less satisfied with their choices than satisficers.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So this is where it becomes important for you to decide which education decisions in your life will you maximize and which ones will you be happy enough to choose the good enough option on?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step 3: Improve your options<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Because our starting point is how to deliver a good education, the education programming that you can now consider expands. This is where summer camp, after school programs, and supplementing school<\/a> comes in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\ud83d\ude21\ud83d\ude21\ud83d\ude21 But Kim, you just gave me so much more work, I thought I was only thinking about schools!!!!! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, hold up cowboys and cowgirls. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Firstly, here’s a shortlist of school evaluation criteria<\/a> you can use, and secondly, you can thank me later for ratcheting down the pressure on choosing the absolute best kindergarten schools \ud83d\ude07<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most people around the world attend the local default school option. Think about that! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s very rare to live in a city like NYC where school choice is the default. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

More importantly, even if I haven’t convinced you just yet, it should become clearer now that choosing the good enough Kindergarten is a perfectly plausible decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step 4: Define goals and objectives<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

An original sin I see in my workplace all the time is moving the goalposts when someone is behind or in the middle of a game. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Much of the wasted time around choosing schools stem from lack of clarity in two areas:<\/p>\n\n\n\n