If you are thinking about enrolling your child in public school, here are some things to consider:

1. Do a thorough search of local private institutions. Some of the smaller or more elite schools are not widely advertised. In addition to checking the phone book, public school system, and board of education, you also may want to make personal inquiries of neighbors, friends, and coworkers. Try a Web search for private schools in your area.

2. When you’ve compiled a list, start making phone calls or check the Web to eliminate those that won’t work for your family. Reasons may include transportation distance, school hours that conflict with job schedules, tuition fees, curriculum concerns, and personal values.

3. After whittling your list to those that meet your initial criteria as indicated in Number 2 above, make a telephone inquiry to ask more detailed questions like the following:

-Which curriculum is followed?

-How does student performance compare to public school student performance?

-What are the grading criteria?

-How many children are enrolled?

-What is the teacher to student ratio?

-Are there volunteers or teacher aides that help?

-Which extracurricular activities are provided or are available for individual students? (Music, art, foreign languages, creative writing, etc.)

-What is the school’s discipline policy?

-Are parents required to volunteer a certain amount of time each month?

-What happens if tuition payments fall behind?

-Are uniforms required?

4. Reviewing your list of responses with spouse and child (if applicable), schedule visits to the top three or four schools for a tour and to meet with the administrator. Try to go when school is in session. As you go through the school tour, consider these points:

-Is the facility functional, neat, and attractive?

-Are students respectful and well behaved?

-Do teachers appear to be confident and in control?

-Is the setting conducive to learning?

-Is student work posted for display?

-Are honors, awards, and trophies in evidence?

5. During your meeting with the administrator, be prepared with focused and open-ended questions:

-What is the drop-out rate?

-What is the average grade point accumulation of a graduating student?

-What percentage of students go on to college after graduation and successfully complete a degree or commence a career training program at the vocational school level or as an apprentice?

-What is the communication network between teachers and parents or the school and families like? Is there a monthly newsletter or Website in addition to take-home handouts?

-Are there field trips or other off campus outings?

-Are values taught or practiced? If so, what are they?

-What advantages does this school offer to public school or other private institutions?

5. Follow your instincts. Try to observe students at lunch, on break, and in the classrooms. Get a sense of how well this system seems to work. If you have doubts, visit other schools until you find one that you feel good about. If possible, bring your child for a visit before making the decision to enroll.

Private school can offer an attractive alternative to public school these days. But take time to find one that meshes with your family’s academic goals.

1. Fantasy and science fiction. Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, and even films adapted from popular films like Star Wars or Spider Man offer tempting reading for kids age ten and up. Some younger children might be able to enjoy works like these, but theme, vocabulary, and style are geared more toward adolescent children. Decide how you feel about fantasy elements such as witchcraft in the Potter books or magic in Tolkien before getting your kids hooked. Since some of the more popular works are published in series, your children may continue reading for weeks or even months to satisfy curiosity aroused from the first book.

2. Spiritual and religious themes. The Left Behind series in Christian literature was written for adults originally, but there is now a teen version that many adolescents are reading. Written from an evangelistic perspective of the end times prophesized in the Bible, the books offer adventure, excitement, and thrills as heroes and villains continue the battle of good versus evil through several volumes. Like other popular kids’ books, there is a film and its sequel that many teens have viewed. Wholesome and family friendly, the scary parts have to do with demonic forces threatening humankind.

3. American classics. For younger school children of elementary age, the Little House on the Prairie series offers a warm, friendly look at early life on the prairie as described by Laura Ingalls Wilder in the late 1800s. Made into a popular television series in the 1970s and ’80s that still can be viewed in reruns, the wholesome topics center on family life and humor during a key period of American history. Other children’s classics include Charlotte’s Web and the Charlie Brown stories that were adapted from the original cartoon strip begun by Charles Schultz in 1950.

4. Multicultural themes. Books about French children, Iranian girls’ novels about growing up during the Islamic revolution, and long-popular favorites such as Black Like Me offer insight to other cultures and peoples who live both in and out of the United States.

5. Poetry and rhyme. Dr. Seuss and Shel Silverstein are two of America’s best loved children’s authors who specialize in rhyming verse to tell interesting stories or recite poems. Some kids still read American authors Emily Dickinson’s “The Swing” or Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Raven” along with folk lyrics that tell stories of American-based scenes and events, such as “Tom Dooley” and “Hiawatha.”

Whatever your child’s taste in books, there are many popular authors and titles from which to choose. The main thing is to start early by introducing your kids to books and poems while they are young, perhaps even before starting school. As they grow and change, so will their reading tastes. Parents who initiate reading habits in their children will be pleasantly surprised to find that the kids’ academic scores tend to be higher than those who don’t read, especially in language skills. So don’t wait. Go buy or borrow a book for your kids today!

The art of note-taking means that you do just that: you capture the “essence” of a speaker’s remarks rather than try and recount the entire event. But how do you boil it down to basics? Here are some tips that may help:

1. Look for the main idea of the presentation. The title, the speaker’s credentials, and the program outline may provide an overview of the main ideas. Of course it will be impossible to record everything the speaker says unless you plan to use a tape recorder. Instead, plan to jot down a few ideas beside each main point. Some speakers provide PowerPoint handouts or an outline with headings and subheadings. Use these for adding your own ideas.

2. Link main ideas together. As you note patterns that emerge from the presentation, like numbered points between one and five, for example, take notes about these linkages and what they suggest about the overall thesis, or main point. If your handout does not list subpoints, add some of your own, and write a brief explanation for each. In this manner a consistent thread of related meaning can be traced through the entire event.

3. Jot down key words and phrases rather than complete sentences. If you quote the speaker’s comments randomly, use double quotation marks around them to show they were his or her precise words. If time permits, you may want to write a few sentences of summary after each section or following the presentation to help you recall the theme or main idea later.

4. Organize your notes methodically. For example, you may choose to number them using Arabic or Roman numerals. Or you may simply write out main ideas followed by a list of dashes leading to support details. Draw a squiggly line between sections of notes or between speakers’ comments’ notes, if there is more than one presenter. If you use shorthand, be sure you will be able to interpret it later.

5. Consider typing out your notes following the presentation. Unless you have used a laptop during the session, you may find you have several pages of notes that may be hard to decipher. If the session was important for your job or school, you can prepare a typed edition with condensed or expanded notes that come to mind as you rehearse it in your mind again. Then keep the notes on file for future reference, which will optimize the value of the presentation for a long time to come.

Taking notes is not just for secretaries. If you plan to attend an event where someone will be speaking about a topic that is important to you, be prepared to jot down key ideas in a form that you can use later.

Always have the names and contact numbers of your students’ parents at your fingertips. This can be easily accomplished with an index box and note cards. Place each of the students’ names, addresses, birthdays, contact numbers, bus numbers and allergies or medicines on their respective cards. When you need any of this information, all you have to do is grab your box and not a huge file.

Make your own classroom files. The ones in the office are filled with all of the important and official records. The ones that you keep in your classroom can be less formal. Keep examples of work and test grades. Always keep copies of notes you have sent home. Then keep the response. Keep a copy of formal and informal yearly assessments. All of this stuff can be used during parent-teacher conferences.

Label all of your personal belongings. You don’t want to get your things mixed up with things that belong to the school. Plus, if you let someone borrow your materials, they will know to whom they should return them.

Keep a box or desk drawer with emergency supplies; flashlight, hairbrush, lotion, screwdriver, hammer, etc. You want to be able to take care of the simple things without having to wait.

Devise a filing system. When you make or find something that is good, file it away for next year. If you teach the same grade each year, your system could be based on weeks. Number your files week 1, 2, etc., and put what you do week by week in them. You can also file according to months or seasons. It does not matter how you do it. What matters is that it gets done and that you can understand it.

Do the same thing with your books. Shelve them so you can find what you need easily. Alphabetical order by author or title always works. You can also shelve by topics or reading levels. Using tubs is a good way to keep books in order. Label each tub with the type of book that you or a student will find inside. Make a running list of all of the books you have and the way you are shelving them. This will help you keep track of them and know where to look when you need one.

Collect copy paper boxes, and use them to store monthly materials. Label each box with the month, and only put things for that month inside. For January’s box, you might put that month’s bulletin board boarder, winter decorations, pictures, wall hangings, and paper snowflakes.

Have a set of mailboxes for student work. Instead of trying to send home papers every day, do it once a week. Designate a day when all work will be sent home. Make sure you use the same day each week. Give each student a folder, and have them check their mailbox on the assigned day. Send only important papers or notes home on a daily basis. Inside the folder, label the pockets, “Keep at Home, Return to School.”

The more organized you are in your classroom, the easier your year will be. Save what you know you will use again and get rid of the rest.