<p>I’m going to chime in here even though I’m not a boarding school parent (yet), but I work with kids so I hear a lot of reasons</p>
<p>I think Swiss Chard makes a great point about how the kids learn to appreciate their parents and their home after being away. I hear that all the time! I hear how parents and kids get all excited for breaks, have long dinners with interesting conversations that they didn’t have before—and they sometimes take their student to work with them or do other things that they normally wouldn’t in a school with fewer vacation days. </p>
<p>I also agree with Burb parent about how day schools draw from such a large region that it can be difficult for friendships. I went to a day school which was 20 minutes away, but many of my friends lived 30 minutes in the other direction, and my poor parents spent a lot of time driving me all over the state. As a result, we often weren’t able to see friends as often as we wanted on the weekends and summer. That has stuck in my mind over the years and I don’t think I’l consider a day school for that reason. My old high school has recently added bus service to towns that are 50 miles away! So the problem has gotten even worse in day schools.</p>