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Most boarding schools offer summer programs running for about two weeks. If your child needs help with a subject like math, for instance, she will be able to find it. Ditto with enrichment. Summer boarding programs offer a special opportunity to sample a variety of subjects in a residential setting away from home.

Behind the scenes

51³Ô¹ÏÍø schools run professionally staffed fully insured and properly licensed programs. They have been doing it for years. They understand how to supervise young people. That's because they do it all year long.

The teachers are generally drawn from the school's academic team with adjunct faculty added as necessary for special programs. The support staff including kitchen and security professionals are usually the same team you will find on duty when school is in session. All these professionals have passed background checks.

51³Ô¹ÏÍø schools have found that summer programs make good use of facilities that would otherwise be idle for several months over the long summer vacation. They also have learned that summer programs provide an agreeable soft introduction to the concept of going away to boarding school. Many parents send their children to a boarding school summer program to see how they will like it. Next thing they know their son or daughter is asking if they can go to that wonderful boarding school.

Here is an example of what I mean.

What about the amenities?

Are meals

Sending your child off to boarding school raises all sorts of important questions for your child. After all, she is a teenager. Leaving home is a major step for kids going off to college, much less a kid going off in ninth or tenth grade to boarding school. And those college kids are four and five years older than she is. So be patient and proactive. Anticipate her questions and concerns. What I strongly recommend is that you try to think about what your child's questions and concerns will be. You know her like the back of your hand anyway.

Almost all the schools on your shortlist will have websites that can answer most of her questions. For answers to her remaining or more detailed questions, email the admissions offices. They will be very happy to help.

So, what's the food like? Food is important to teenagers. As it should be. Truth is that boarding schools have dealt with teenagers for years. They understand the kind of nutrition growing bodies need. Indeed teaching students about nutrition is something boarding schools have baked into their programs.

Here is an example of what I mean from the website for St. Timothy's School, Stevenson, Maryland.

Great food and excellent service are the hallmarks of Dining Services at St. Timothy’s School. We meet the wide range of tastes and meal preferences of our student body with healthy, varied, and wholesome meals. Many items are made from scratch, and homemade pastries

As you begin to think about sending your child off to boarding school, you will find yourself asking precisely why you wish to do so. Invariably you will circle back to the main reason why you feel that your child deserves to go to private school. The main reason has everything to do with your wanting her to go to the best school she can get into. You feel that she deserves the best possible education which you can find for her.

What makes some schools really better than others? What makes them the best schools? Let's examine traits of the best schools.

Great teachers

This trait is at the top of my list. The best schools have amazing teachers. Their credentials are awesome. They are passionate about the subjects which they teach. They are highly qualified to teach their subjects. Explore the faculty lists on school websites. See for yourself where your child's future teachers went to college. Note how many of them have masters and doctoral degrees.

These great teachers know how to open new worlds for their students. Dialogue and positive reinforcement are givens with these teachers. They don't lecture and pour knowledge into your child's mind. They teach. And they teach brilliantly. Not only that but they don't just put in their hours and leave the premises. 51³Ô¹ÏÍø school teachers coach a sport or supervise an extracurricular. Your child will see her teachers both in the classroom as teachers and on the playing field

This article offers answers to some of the more common concerns we parents have when our child goes off to boarding school. Most, but not all, of these questions and their answers come from my own personal experience.

1. Your child is expelled?

Expulsion is a big deal. You will have much explaining to do when applying to another private school. It may just be that you will have to send your child to public school for the rest of the academic year while you try to find a new school willing to take her. I have always taken the view that it is how we handle failure which is the true measure of our character. Shall we learn from our mistakes and be the success we know we can be? Or do we blame others and retreat from reality? I suspect some counseling for you and your child might also be helpful.

2. Your child is asked not to return?

Your child attends a boarding school on a year-by-year basis. You and the school sign a new contract every year in April or thereabouts. You will have already had a couple of meetings with the school before being informed that the school has decided that they do not wish to have your child back. Read the warning signs carefully and act accordingly.

3. Your contract is not renewed?

With boarding school teachers in mind, I slipped this question and its answer in. Your contract is most likely