Teaching Boys

Despite your best efforts, in-depth interviews, and hours of due diligence, you begin to realize that the school that you thought was so perfect for your preschooler is, in fact, the wrong one. So, what do you do when things don't work out?

I have just been through this stressful situation with one of my grandchildren. (I won't mention which school or name names out of professional courtesy.) It was a gut-wrenching experience for my daughter and son-in-law, just as it would be for any set of concerned parents.

The warning signs

The warning signs of a bad fit are simple to detect: your child is unhappy. She comes home from school in tears, frustrated, or both. She doesn't look forward to going to school in the morning. The last thing any parent wants is a four-year-old who doesn't want to attend school. You won't necessarily notice that something is wrong. There probably won't be a big blow-up at school. What's more likely to happen is a series of little events over a period of several weeks, perhaps even months. An isolated incident of unhappiness is nothing to be worried about. A trend of daily episodes in which your child expresses frustration and unhappiness is definitely something you want to keep your eyes on.

This video illustrates some of the things that indicate your child is unhappy with his school.

What do you do?

Once

One of the best things about private schools is that there is a school out there somewhere which is just right for your educational objectives, whatever those might be. As you begin to draw a picture of the kind of school which you would like your child to attend, you just might discover that the structured environment and leadership training military schools are well known for is just what you are looking for.

So, what about military schools? When might you consider sending your son or daughter to a military school? Let’s settle a couple of things before we proceed: military schools are not places you send a child with discipline or other issues. They are not reform schools or schools for troubled youth. If a professional such as a psychologist or psychiatrist recommends your child attend a therapeutic school, you will have plenty of options for that purpose. Military schools are genuine institutions of learning with a specific focus: military training. Second, military service is not required when you attend a military high school. If your child decides that military service is a career path which she wants to pursue, then a military school will have given her a good start.

Discipline

In life just about anything worth doing well requires lots of discipline. Discipline takes hard work, persistence, stamina, and time. In an era when instant gratification seems endemic, good old-fashioned discipline lays a solid foundation for success in adult life. Discipline evolves into a pattern

Many parents think that tuition insurance is a waste of money or that they really don’t need it. I suppose that if you happen to be fabulously wealthy, losing $30,000 or $40,000 because your child has to withdraw from her private school might not be a big deal. But for the rest of us, that's real money.

Here’s why you are required to take out tuition insurance. When you sign the contract with the school, you are responsible for the annual tuition, room and board charges for the academic year. The school will have operating expenses which it must honor regardless of whether your child completes the full year or has to withdraw after the second month.

To protect themselves most schools offer you two options: you can pay the entire year’s tuition, room, and board in one payment by July 15; if you opt to pay in two installments or in monthly payments, then you will be required to purchase tuition insurance. The school has to know that the fees on which it is counting to balance its budget will indeed be there. Regardless of whether or not your child is at school or has withdrawn.

Here is how one tuition insurance provider explains the concept:

"The cost of a private school education is a substantial investment. The Tuition Refund Plan provides insurance to protect your investment. Because student withdrawals are sometimes unavoidable, the Tuition Refund Plan is a welcome resource for families who must

When you think of single-sex education as a choice or an option when you are thinking about sending your child to private school, the subject becomes a little easier to understand in the 21st century. Historically, private schools have offered single-sex education for decades. Indeed, many of our older K-12 schools were founded with the purpose of educating boys or girls separately. That's how things were done in the 18th and 19th centuries. Colleges and universities were also set up as single-sex institutions. For example, Harvard University was an all-male university until 1977, when its sister college, Radcliffe, merged with it.

Characteristics of single-sex schools

How do we define a single-sex school? By definition, a single-sex school is a school that educates boys or girls exclusively. As a general rule, classes will not be co-educational. On occasion, neighboring boys and girls schools with an established relationship will host co-educational classes.

What grades do single-sex schools offer? Typically, single-sex schools offer grades 9 through 12 and a Post Graduate year where available. A handful of single-sex schools offer the middle school grades 6 through 9. Even fewer schools offer PK-12. You will also notice that middle school grades go up to grade 9, and high school begins with grade 9 as well. Actually, grade 10 is probably the most common entry point for private high schools. That’s one reason for the overlap of the grades.

Are there different kinds of single-sex schools? Single-sex schools come in residential or boarding