Alternative Boarding Schools

Many people associate boarding school with adolescence and increasing independence. Often boarding schools are college preparatory environments where high school aged youth get a taste of what it’s like to be away from home and to have greater freedom and responsibility. However this is by no means always the case. Many boarding schools for children cater to children of a significantly younger age bracket. It is even possible to find boarding schools for toddlers – kindergartens away from home if you will. There are of course concerns as to whether a child is ready for an extended period of separation from parents. While it is hard to come up with a specific age when boarding school begins to be an appropriate option, and older is for the most part better, a number of factors should be weighed before deciding if your child is ready for boarding school.

At the outset is should said that boarding schools for children of kindergarten age are not very common, and probably not really recommended. At that age children obviously need a lot of parental attention and contact, and the likelihood is that if they are separated from parents they will experience confusion and attempt to make parental figures out of the faculty of the school instead. This was mentioned mainly for illustrative purposes.

A traditional age at which boarding school sometimes begins for children is around 8 years. In fact, the modern day English princes William and Harry were both sent away to school by their mother Diana at that age, and this, especially among the aristocratic classes of Europe, is traditional. But to use a set numerical rule of thumb is not really the best approach. Rather one should look at the situational factors that come into play.

One of the main factors that should be taken into account when considering boarding schools for children of a young age is how such an environment stacks up against the home environment. In most cases, the home would be considered more stable, but in certain situations this is not the case. For instance, if the parents are in the military or have jobs that require frequent travel and moving from place to place, a child may subjected to repeated uprooting and changing of groups of friends. In such cases, boarding schools can provide a stable and constant sort of situation in which a child can make more lasting contacts and have access to educational continuity. As long as parents visit frequently and maintain contact with the child, this can work quite well.

Another factor to consider is simply the independence and maturity of the child. Children tend to mature at different rates, and some may be far more ready to leave the nest at a younger age than others. If a child is fairly independent seeming and able to shoulder reasonable amounts of responsibility, that’s a promising sign as far as boarding school is concerned.

A lot can be discovered by simply asking the child if he or she feels ready and would like to attend boarding school. If a child has a significantly negative reaction to the whole idea, it may be better to wait. Children often know what they want and need quite well, and their responses to ideas should be given as much weight or more than the opinions of others.

Academic factors also come into play. Sometimes parents feel that their children will do better in boarding schools due to the more intense focus and the removal of the distractions of home life. If a younger child is doing poorly, they may or may not benefit from a boarding school environment. It depends a lot on the school itself and a number of other factors. Some boarding schools are specifically designed to help children with academic or learning problems, and the residential set up allows learning strategies to be more intensively implemented.

A word of caution: the entire troubled children/teen education industry has been the scene of numerous abuses and scandals over the past few years, and caution is definitely in order. This applies even more in the case of younger children. If your reason for considering boarding school is because of behavioural or learning problems a child is demonstrating, you need to be especially vigilant. And if you’re going to entrust your young child to the care of an organization of some sort, you must be very sure they are caring, loving, and responsible. Do all the research you think you should do and more. Look at the school’s history, check with the Better Business Bureau, talk to other parents who have children at the school, and so on. Make sure the school has fairly liberal policies concerning visiting and communicating with your child. This applies in the case of any boarding school, but especially when considering schools for troubled kids, since this is an industry that has been witness to a lot of problems.

In the end, it should be clear that your child is ready for boarding school simply by their own desire or at least openness to going, the situational advantages, and how reputable the school is. Make sure to keep good contact with your child while he or she is away, even more so in the case of younger children, and listen to his or her feedback. While generally less of a valid option the younger the child is, sometimes boarding schools for children are reputable and stable environments where a child can find a continuity and community unavailable elsewhere.