<p>We let our son determine when he needed to communicate with us (cell phone for quick calls, Skype for longer conversations that he could plan for). We spoke with him about once a week in the beginning of the year, once very two weeks toward the end of the year. That worked fine for us and was realistic given rules on phone usage. With the no-phone policy during most of the school day, limits on where phones could be used, and formal no-phone study hours each night, he only had a very small window of time each day when he could possibly make a call. We could tell he was happy and engaged, so we didn’t feel the need to keep checking. Also, I think he was so busy, he forgot about us most of the time. ;)</p>