Category: Boarding Schools

Information on boys and girls boarding schools, learn the pros and cons of boarding schools and how to find the right school for a troubled teen.

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Boarding Schools

Boarding Schools For Troubled Youth

What are Boarding Schools?

Many people have asked us, what are boarding schools? In this article we will discuss specifically what boarding schools for troubled youth are. There are several different types of boarding schools, but almost all boarding schools have the students reside on campus and provide academics to those individuals. Keep reading to learn more about boarding school options for troubled youth, military boarding schools, all-girls or all-boys boarding schools, and more.

What are the different types of Boarding Schools?

College-Preparatory Boarding Schools – these schools specialize in preparing students for college or more likely university. A college-preparatory boarding school is good for students whose goal is to achieve academic superiority. Classes tend to be typically smaller than public schools. College-preparatory boarding schools are not appropriate for students who struggle with drugs or alcohol or have emotional or behavioral problems and thus would not be a good option for troubled youth. College-prep boarding schools typically have a traditional academic school year. Some college-prep boarding schools specialize in different areas such as:

  • All-boys or all-girls boarding schools – more boarding schools are moving away from the single sex boarding schools, but there are still several out there. These schools are good for students who do not want the opposite sex distraction.
  • Military boarding schools – these boarding schools add the military structure while preparing students for college. See Military Schools.
  • Creative Arts Boarding Schools – these boarding schools teach and prepare students for specialized careers such as musicians, actors, creative writers, and dancers. These schools are good for students who are artistically inclined and who plan to attend a specialized college, university, or music conservatory.
  • Christian Boarding Schools – these boarding schools include a religious component to their schooling. These schools are good for students who want to make sure that religion is part of their life while at school.

Junior Boarding Schools – these boarding schools are for student who are in 8th grade or lower. Some junior boarding schools do provide living acommodations while others, especially for younger elementary school aged children, may be strictly a day school that doesn not keep kids over night. A junior boarding school may take troubled youth or youth that need some specific direction. With focused curriculum and 24 hour a day supervision, these schools are designed to help boys and girls learn and grown not only academically but also socially and emotionally. At a junior boarding school children will learn responsibility and learn how to make good choices.

Therapeutic Boarding Schools – also known as Residential Treatment Centers – these boarding schools add a therapy component. Therapeutic boarding schools are designed specifically to provide structure, discipline, and supervision for toubled youth dealing with substance abuse issues, learning difficulties, or behavioral problems that keep them from leading a normal, productive life. As with any boarding school, potential candidates and their families will want to research the school and staff in-depth to find out if the school is accreditated and if the teacher and staff are certified to other the kind of care and/or treatment that will be required by the troubled youth.

Specialty Boarding Schools – also known as Behavior Modification Schools – These schools specialize in students who are having emotional and behavioral problems and having a difficult time in a traditional school setting, but do not necessarily require therapy. These schools are typically long term and have a major emphasis on character building for troubled teens. Specialty boarding schools are usually year-round schools. Speciality boarding schools can also be any boarding school that has a major area of focus religion, arts, military, or any other special interest.

How much do Boarding Schools cost?

Boarding schools costs range from under $2,000 to over $6,000 a month. Because most boarding schools include academics, they qualify for educational loans like those offered from PrepGATE or SalleMae. Some boarding schools may offer financial aid, scholarships, or other tuition assistance programs. Boarding school costs are going to vary a great deal depending on the type of program they offer.

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Boarding Schools

Christian Boarding Schools

Introduction to Christian Boarding Schools

Many Christian boarding schools are simply college preparatory private residential schools with a faith affiliation. They may provide a classical education, adding Latin and Bible studies to the list of core classes, and they often serve the high school grades (9–12) or middle school and high school (7–12). Christian boarding schools with a college preparatory bent have many denominations, including the following:

• Baptist
• Calvinist
• Eastern Orthodox
• Episcopal,
• Free Methodist
• Moravian
• Non-denominational
• Presbyterian
• Roman Catholic (including spiritualities linked to specific orders such as Augustinian and Dominican)
• Seventh Day Adventist
• Society of Friends/Quaker
• United Methodist

In Canada, you can find Anglican schools.

Various Types of Christian Boarding Schools

Christian boarding schools come in a number of different types. While some people may think of Christian boarding schools as college prep schools, with an emphasis on academics and faith, while there are many such schools, there are other possibilities.

One of the other types of Christian boarding school is the Christian military academy. Many of the US military boarding schools have a faith affiliation, though this is not always clear from their names. Many are non-denominational, while some are explicitly Episcopalian, Methodist, or Presbyterian.

There are also Christian therapeutic boarding schools, designed to help teens with a variety of issues in a therapeutic setting that is overtly Christian as part of its philosophy. If a child has grown up in a faith-filled environment and/or takes his or her faith seriously, choosing a faith-linked program can help support the child when he or she needs help. As with Christian college preparatory schools and Christian military schools, Christian therapeutic boarding schools may have a particular sect affiliation—for example, Evangel House Christian Academy is affiliated with the Assemblies of God—though many are non-denominational.

Choosing a Christian Boarding School

The type of Christian boarding school that might be helpful to a particular student will depend greatly on what kind of help is needed. For example, if the student was born outside of the United States and needs ESL support, this can be provided in a variety of Christian academic settings, including Randolph-Macon Academy, a military academy that do not have any therapeutic element. A child with an eating disorder, however, may require a therapeutic setting with a specialty in that particular issue, and the non-denominational Christian Remuda Ranch Programs for Eating Disorders might be an appropriate placement. For a defiant teen, parents should look not at a military academy, but at a therapeutic school with that focus, because military academies—Christian and otherwise—are not accredited for nor licensed to provide therapeutic treatment, but rather focus on academic excellence and leadership skills.

Because not every Christian boarding school is clearly identifiable by its name, it is useful to avoid assumptions and/or to use sources, such as accrediting agencies, The National Association of Therapeutic Schools and Programs (NATSAP), and Boarding School Review to help

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Boarding Schools

Boarding Schools For Girls

Boarding schools for girls can be either all-girls boarding schools or coeducational boarding schools. This article reviews boarding school basics, the pros and cons of boarding schools for girls, and how to find a boarding school for your daughter.

What Is a Boarding School for Girls?

Boarding schools come in many shapes and sizes, some of which may be surprising to you. While many people are well aware of private boarding schools, did you know that there are public boarding schools? Public boarding schools were first established in the nineteenth century to serve particular populations, including orphans from the Civil War and young people who were hard-of-hearing, deaf, had low-vision, or were blind. In the twentieth century, a spate of public boarding schools for gifted and talented students opened, many having a focus in science, math, and/or the arts. The charter schools known as SEED (Schools for Educational Evolution and Development) are also public boarding schools.

Private boarding schools, too, are of many different types. There are stateside boarding schools and international boarding schools, college preparatory schools, military academies, sports-focused boarding schools, subject-area-focused boarding schools, and therapeutic boarding schools, and any of these may be all-girls or coeducational. There are also 5-day boarding schools and 7-day boarding schools, and one boarding school (Think GLOBAL) that holds classes in a different country every trimester, so that by the time students graduate high school, they have lived in 12 countries. Aside from therapeutic boarding schools, which aim to assist a student with problems or issues while keeping up academics, all of these types of boarding schools aim to provide an elite level of academics, qualifying their students for acceptance into the top colleges and universities.

Pros and Cons of Boarding Schools for Girls

Boarding schools for girls can provide a top-quality education for a girl who is academically gifted and ready to move out of her family home and accept the responsibilities and discipline of making her own way. Young women who lack discipline, are struggling academically, or are experiencing other social or emotional issues may be assisted by a therapeutic boarding school, or one of the other types of boarding schools only if it is well-equipped to support her. Shy, private girls who need time to themselves or who prefer to live at home are likely to find boarding school a challenge, if not an impediment.

Finding a Boarding School for Your Daughter

Your state’s student assistance corporation or the guidance office of your daughter’s current school may be able to provide catalogs and search materials to start you off. If you are doing an Internet search, try these sites:

-The Association of Boarding Schools (TABS) lists boarding school networks, which often provide a searchable school directory, here: boardingschools.com/about-tabs/friends-in-education.aspx
-Boarding School Review has a search tool that lets you use some well-conceived filters to narrow your search here: boardingschoolreview.com/searchschools.php
-National Association of Therapeutic Schools and Programs (NATSAP) provides a search for licensed and accredited therapeutic schools and programs here: hnatsap.org/search.asp

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Boarding Schools

Boarding School For Boys

Boarding schools for boys can be either all-boys boarding schools or coeducational boarding schools. This article reviews the basics of boarding schools for boys, including the pros and cons and how to find a boarding school for your son.

What Is a Boarding School for Boys?

The boarding schools for boys that most people are familiar with are the boys-only and co-educational schools generally called college preparatory schools (or college prep schools) and military academies. These schools have a long tradition of educating academically gifted students and helping ensure them a chance to go to the most highly-regarded colleges and universities through the employment of highly-qualified staff, maintaining small class sizes, providing the opportunity to participate in elite-level sports training and competition in well-appointed facilities.

Public boarding schools, present in the United States since the late nineteenth century, are less well-known. Originally organized to educate children orphaned by the Civil War or experiencing difficulty with hearing or sight, public boarding schools in the twentieth century made a move to provide top-level education to public school students with gifts in the areas of science, mathematics, and the arts.

Other types of boarding schools for boys include schools in which academic focus shares pride of place with focus on participating in a particular sport, for example, ski racing, on an elite level, as well as private boarding schools with a subject area focus-whether science and math, the arts, or sustainability-and boarding schools for boys that combine an academic program with a therapeutic program designed to assist and treat with problems ranging from learning disabilities to mood disorders to substance abuse to destructive, self-destructive, or defiant behaviors.

Pros and Cons of Boarding Schools for Boys

Academically-focused boarding schools for boys can provide a fine education and promote acceptance at a top college or university for a boy who is very good in school, self-disciplined, and prepared for independence and the responsibilities of leading his life away from his family. Young men who are troubled or struggling would not do well in these settings, including the military boarding schools, which are-overall-not designed for the student having academic or other difficulties. Such students may, however, benefit a great deal from a well-chosen, licensed and accredited therapeutic boarding school setting.

Finding a Boarding School for Your Son

The student assistance corporation in your state or the guidance department of your son’s current school may be able to provide information and assistance in helping you seek out a boarding school for your son. If you are searching on the Web, these sites may be helpful:

-The Association of Boarding Schools (TABS) lists boarding school networks, which often provide a searchable school directory, here: boardingschools.com/about-tabs/friends-in-education.aspx
-Boarding School Review has a search tool that lets you use some well-conceived filters to narrow your search here: boardingschoolreview.com/searchschools.php
-National Association of Therapeutic Schools and Programs (NATSAP) provides a search for licensed and accredited therapeutic schools and programs here: natsap.org

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Boarding Schools

Boarding School Basics

Boarding schools for troubled teens have a dual mission: to educate teens while assisting them with whatever’s troubling them through counseling, therapy, and other means. This article explains more about therapeutic boarding schools.

Basics of Boarding Schools for Troubled Teens

Boarding schools for troubled teens may go by several names: emotional growth boarding schools, therapeutic boarding schools, or personal development boarding schools, for example. Teens who attend these schools receive treatment integrated with education, so the treatment program, education program, healthcare staff, and educators should all be licensed and/or accredited by state, regional, or national and reputable organizations. In some cases, the boarding school may be authorized to grant a high school diploma.

Boarding schools for troubled teens may be coeducational, all-boys, or all-girls. Some coeducational boarding schools have separate campuses for boys and girls. All such boarding schools have very specific designations for the ages they treat. Some treat preadolescents, as well as adolescents; some treat only a specific subsection of teenagers (e.g., 14 to 18); some have a separate young adult program that accepts young people into their twenties; and some require a specific age upon admission/enrollment.

Teens enrolled in one of these facilities may be treated to a wide variety of problems. These include poor school performance, learning disabilities, issues with social relationships, family problems, physical disabilities, and emotional and behavioral issues. Various boarding schools for troubled teens practice different treatment protocols based on different philosophies. Treatment at a boarding school for troubled teens may last from one to two years.

Because different program philosophies and approaches may be better suited to different individuals and because the treatment is often of such long duration, it is essential to the outcome that a good match be made between the teen and the boarding school. The programs make headway provide different guidelines for living (12-Step, Christian, secular community responsibility) and involve teens in widely different activities while striving to meet their goals. Some have an extensive array of sports and intramural opportunities, while some claim to have elite-level academic programs.

For example, New Leaf Academy of Oregon, a girls-only program for girls who must be 10 through 14 when they enroll, involves a 4-H connection and engages each of the girls in caring for a bunny and showing it at the local county fair. The In Balance Ranch Academy, on the other hand, offers 12-Step based therapy to boys 13 to 17.5 years in a ranch setting where a college preparatory curriculum is combined with equine-assisted therapy, a wilderness program, experiential working, and job training. Wellspring Academy, a specialty coeducational boarding academy for teens aged 13 to 18 who struggle with weight issues, uses diet and activity management and cognitive and to help students with weight loss while also providing an accelerated academic program. Clearly these programs are not interchangeable and their suitability for a particular child must be considered.

Sources

natsap.org/program_definitions.asp
natsap.org/program_details.asp?id=125
natsap.org/program_details.asp?id=60
natsap.org/program_details.asp?id=229