BoardingPOV

As Malcolm Gladwell points out in his book: ,Outliers: The Story of Success
“Knowledge of a boy’s IQ is of little use in a formful of clever boys”.  That is to say, super-high intelligence is of little consequence when there are other factors that also contribute to success in life.  Things like being able to [...]

Dad;

I was surprised to see Michelle’s latest diary entry this morning.  Funny how a couple of times during winter break I had been gently reminding her to do another update.  She happily found time to enjoy her friends and family here, watch movies, and text on her phone, and I didn’t press her about it, [...]

Dad:

We had a nice comment from reader “Valerie” a few days ago. In her comment, she says “The only reason my parents think I shouldn’t go is that they would really miss me if I did” and “They understand it would be a great opportunity, but there is also the cost (to consider)” [...]

Mom & Dad:
We had a young reader in 5th grade, who wrote to us saying that she loved hearing about Michelle’s story.  She’s from Florida but really wants to be able to consider boarding school.  She said in general her parents supported her “except the money part”,  and wondered if being from Florida would be [...]

Michelle:
When you first get on campus you get the butterflies in your stomach from all the excitement, but also from the nervousness. When I arrived onto the campus I was pointing out each and every building as if I had just been here yesterday. I couldn’t believe it had been a year since I’d been [...]

As you go off to a new school, a boarding school, sometimes is difficult to know exactly what you’ll need to have in your room, especially if you’re a new student. Of course you’ll need the basics, but it’s the extra things that you won’t know about until you get there that make a difference. [...]

Michelle:
Usually it makes someone feel more comfortable going to a new place, when they already know someone, or have tips and advice from someone already there – which is what happened a few days ago.  I was able to eat lunch with a family whose daughter was already at my soon-to-be high school.
My [...]

Parents:
Imagine an endless parade of kids coming in and out of the house… YOUR house!  Well, Michelle is working on making the most of her last month at home.  Cousins, friends from middle school, and friends from middle school who the next day have a party at THEIR house.  So it’s this ebb and flow [...]

Parents:
O.K., it’s now August, so we’re all enjoying a respite before September.  We’re consciously tamping down thoughts of the fall in favor of the here and now.  Plenty of time for that sort of thinking later… O.K., O.K. I’m sliding again…
Upcoming start of school seems to occupy our thoughts a lot – info is coming [...]

It’s easy to say “it’s all done” and move on.  But, as a practical matter, there’s some important loose ends to tie up.
First, we had to e-mail the school – financial aid office – and let them know that we’d accepted their last financial aid offer, and that Michelle was excited to be coming [...]