You can take the SSAT or Secondary School Aptitude Test on several test dates throughout the year. But the December test date is typically the last one before the deadline for many private school applications. January 15 or February 1 are common application deadlines. The late online registration deadline for the December 12 SSAT is this Friday, November 27.

You can tweet me at PRIVATESCHL.

I recently received a copy of Our Kids Go to School. It is Canada's Private School Guide and is also available online. What impressed me was how small Canada's private school community really is. The U.S. has over 29,000 private schools as opposed to a couple of thousand schools north of the border.

If you live in Canada and are thinking about private school, you will certainly want to read Our Kids Go to School from cover to cover. There's lots of good information. The school display ads are gorgeous.

If you live in the U.S. and are thinking about private school, why not add a Canadian school or two to your list? They offer great value, are an hour or two at most from most major American cities and just might give your kid an advantage when he goes to apply to college. After all, not many American high school students study abroad.

Your comments and thoughts? Tweet them to me at PRIVATESCHL.

The Times of London has once again published its listing of Schools of the Year which is worth a look for two reasons. First of all, it is always interesting to see what's going on back where private schools got their start. (The land of Harry Potter and all that...) Secondly, it makes me very envious to see that British parents have such a terrific searchable database of their top 2,000 public and private schools. Why do they rank their schools and we can't seem to rank ours? The reason, as far as I can tell, is that British students all have to take the same standardized national examinations. The results of those examinations are available for all to, well, examine. Parent Power 2009 explains in detail how it arrived at its rankings.

What do you think? Should we have a similar system over here? Would it be useful to rank private schools? You can leave a comment here or Tweet one to me at PRIVATESCHL.

Thanksgiving is just around the corner. She will be on the plane home next weekend! So exciting! Unfortunately, you and I both know how problematic air travel is these days. So read my Travel Tips for Students. Like you I have experienced just about every kind of travel glitch you can think of. I have always coped with them because I had a credit card, lots of patience and a good book to read.

But kids are different. A teen with ear buds firmly implanted listening to Cold Play can miss a gate change announcement. A teen immersed in a video game or texting on his phone can miss a boarding call. Next thing you know he's being told that the plane is leaving without him. It happens.

Remind your children firmly, using that authoritative tone of voice only we parents understand when and how to use, that she must keep her wits about her at the airport. Total focus on what's going on is what is needed. Don't worry about her getting to the airport on time. The school will see to her timely arrival. Tell her that no matter how exhausted she is, she must not sleep at the gate. Board first. Then sleep. Oh, and happy Thanksgiving in advance!

You can follow me on Twitter. PRIVATESCHL is my handle. (I know Twitter doesn't call them handles. But I am from the CB generation. Remember CBs?)