Does it makes sense to consider boarding school?

classicalmama
Wed, 31 Dec 2014 16:38:32 +0000

I agree with realitycheck that attention to writing is one of the big differences between my son’s boarding school and our local public school. That said, I was pleasantly surprised to find son number 2 writing constantly in his community college classes–last semester alone, he wrote more than a dozen essays in addition to full-on biology labs.

And I agree too that boarding school doesn’t mean losing connection with your child. Having done it both ways, I’d say my connection to both kids is equally rich. The richness of my relationship with my teens has had less to do with where they were and more to do with giving them the freedom to follow their own paths and passions, no matter how much they diverge from my own dreams for them (This can be hard!!).

It’s fantastic that realitycheck’s child is attending Andover on a full scholarship. However, the financial sacrifice should not be underestimated for the majority of us whose children get generous but not full scholarships or who foot the entire bill–but not easily. Read some of the rice and beans threads for some insight into the way that tuition, travel, and other expenses will affect your day-to-day budget.

So the bottom line here is, how does your daughter feel about all of this? My main advice would be to follow her lead; introduce the idea and see how she likes it. If she’s truly excited and interested, keep exploring, but know that boarding school has its own set of challenges and difficulties along with its many benefits and gifts, and it is decidedly not for every teen, no matter how talented. For us, it was decidedly worth it–but it wasn’t so much a matter of enrichment as saving him from drowning.