Do you really have to leave Boston as soon as your first child turns four? For families throughout the city, it’s an agonizing choice. You love Boston: the diverse, walkable neighborhoods; the restaurants, museums, and endless things to do; the rich history. This is the city you call home. But some things are even more...
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Too many private school searches begin and end within a 10-mile radius of the family’s home. Or, the private school search is limited to the top five options in whatever “best schools” ranking the family chooses to consult. The truth is, when you’re looking for a private school to start your child in kindergarten or...
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As an educational consultant, Carol Kinlan has helped hundreds of families in the Boston area find the best elementary school for their child. So who better to turn to for advice on finding the right private Pre-K or kindergarten program for your child? Carol spoke to a packed room of parents of young children earlier...
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Have you exhausted your options at your public library? Are you overwhelmed by the sheer number of choices in the children’s section of your local bookstore? Are you looking for the next download for your son’s Kindle? Thousands of children’s books are published every year, and as a parent, your job is to sift through...
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Listen in on any playground conversation in the city of Boston. They’re all asking the same question: “Can we stay in the city and find the right school for our children?” One Boston parent, a South End resident, told us she and her husband started weighing educational options for their first child when he was...
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“I am a teacher,” says Virginia Adair, a kindergarten teacher at The Fessenden School, “but I’m also a cheerleader.” To be successful in school, it’s not enough to learn reading and writing, math and science. Children need to learn to love learning itself. They need to relish taking on tough challenges and overcoming them. They...
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Every winter, families from Back Bay to Beacon Hill, from the North End to the South End, go through one of the most confusing rites of passage for Boston residents: Boston Public Schools’ school choice program. While Boston’s school assignments are not entirely random, there is an element of chance that frustrates many families. Here...
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Literacy is the foundation upon which your son’s academic future will be built. When children learn to read, they gain the key that will open up the doors of learning in every other subject area: language, math, science, social studies, the arts. This is one of the reasons why a high-quality academic program in kindergarten...
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We say often at The Fessenden School that play is a child’s work. Children at play aren’t just having fun (although they are!), they’re learning. Play is how young children process new information and start to make sense of the world around them. Play is the pre-kindergarten teacher’s most powerful tool. In fact, in a...
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A few weeks ago on this blog, we interviewed a Pre-K teacher here at The Fessenden School about how high-quality pre-kindergarten programs help prepare boys to succeed in kindergarten. She told us that Fessenden’s Kindergarten teachers report back to her that students who come out of our Pre-K program shine in their classes. Does a...
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