Getting Started

First of all, let's understand what a therapeutic school is. A therapeutic school is a special school designed to help troubled children, typically teenagers, with various emotional and other problems. The problems have usually gotten to the stage where the parents can no longer manage their child effectively. They've done counseling. They've tried more approaches to discipline than they knew existed. As a result, they start looking for other solutions. Sending their child off to a therapeutic school sounds like it might be the right answer.

Therapeutic schools come in a variety of forms. They can be non-residential and residential. For the purposes of this article, we are going to focus on residential schools. Of course, which kind of therapeutic school that you decide is appropriate for your child depends on a variety of considerations. For a detailed description of the various types of therapeutic schools, see Therapeutic Program Descriptions on the Independent Education Consultants Association's website.

When to consider a therapeutic school

As a rule, parents probably should consider a therapeutic school for a child challenged by emotional, behavioral, substance abuse, or academic issues, or any other challenge that the local public school or private schools cannot handle effectively. In other words, he cannot receive the consistent treatment and individual attention he needs in a local school and the home setting. Whether to send the child away to a school with a highly structured environment where she will receive the treatment she needs

When we started thinking about sending our eldest daughter to boarding school, we really had no idea what a boarding school was. Yes, we understand the concept, but we had never been to boarding school. We had no clue about curriculum, sports, extracurricular activities, dorm life, or anything else, for that matter. We knew boarding school was expensive, but we figured it was worth it.

In any case, the following nineteen articles distill our experiences with boarding school. The best advice I can give you is: "Don't be intimidated by boarding schools." Most of what you have heard, read, or seen about them in the media is probably a lot of "fake news."

Visit schools online and see what they offer. Spend time exploring the academics that most parents consider the most important part of high school anyway. Familiarize yourself with the athletics and extracurricular activities that boarding schools offer. Then, which is so important, visit schools that meet your needs and requirements. Yes, you really must set foot on the campuses to see if the school community is a good fit for your child.

One last recommendation: hire an educational consultant to help you choose the right schools for your child. It's worth it. We learned that the hard way. Our daughter applied to three schools that we felt would admit her. She had top marks, great recommendations, and a decent activities resume. We didn't need financial aid. Slam dunk, right? Not exactly. Two schools rejected

International Boarding Schools: Africa

Hardly a day goes by without an inquiry on our Boarding School Review Facebook page asking about schools in a particular city or region of Africa.

• These inquiries can be as general as "I'm looking for a school to attend."
• Some people want to send their child to a boarding school but are concerned about the cost. " need a boarding school...cheap and affordable boarding school."
• Some ask for schools in a specific location. "Any boarding schools around Mafikeng?" (Mafikeng is the capital of the North-West Province of South Africa.) "I'm looking for a place in Form 3 in any boarding school in Zimbabwe."

With those inquiries in mind, here are some resources to help you find private schools in Africa.

The Independent Schools Association of Southern Africa

The Independent Schools Association of Southern Africa (ISASA) bills itself as "the largest association of independent schools in South Africa and the Southern African region." Its website has an easy-to-use school finder.

Association of International Schools in Africa

The Association of International Schools in Africa (AISA) describes itself as "a collaborative learning community of accredited, internationally minded schools in Africa, which provides targeted services and relevant resources, facilitates innovative programmes, and connects people."

Its website contains a directory of over 80 member schools in Angola, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, Eritrea,

We parents have many reasons for wanting to send our children off to a summer program at a boarding school. Whether you are looking to remediate a learning deficiency or improve an athletic skill, you will be able to find a summer program at a boarding school which meets your requirements. It didn't take me very long to find summer programs devoted to riding, figure skating, STEM, ESL, and dozens of other activities.

Searching for summer programs is easy on Boarding School Review. From our home page click on Find Schools. Then click on Advanced Search. Select the region and check the box at the bottom left of the screen for Summer Program.

Underlying all these activities is the high quality of supervision and program management you find in boarding schools. Boarding schools know how to look after young people. After all, they do it 24/7 during the school year. It's just part of their DNA. And that is reassuring to us parents. We most certainly want our children to be safe and happy, and not slip through the cracks.

What follows is a sampling of programs in the six regions of the United States to give you an overview of the wide range of activities available. I have included brief descriptions from the schools' websites, as well as links so that you can explore their summer programs easily. On some websites,

It's a loaded statement, isn't it? Truthfully, there is no secret to getting your child into boarding school. Getting your child into boarding school requires three things: a desire for that type of education, a well-organized, systematic approach for following the required steps in the admissions process, and the flexibility to follow the advice of professionals who know their schools.

Why should you consider boarding school as opposed to keeping your daughter in your local high school? Review some of the talking points which I mention in this article. These are much more important than they appear at first glance. You must discuss this drastic change of schools with your child, on her terms, and on her level. Leaving public school to go to boarding school must be her idea. Parents who make major decisions affecting their children unilaterally risk creating serious emotional issues later on. So, before you broach the idea of sending her off to boarding school, think through what you are going to say and her reaction to your words.

As you begin thinking about private schools, add you will schools from various sources to your initial list of potential schools. That’s fine. Accept all suggestions and advice in the early stages of your search for the right school or schools. Friends will suggest schools which their children attend. Family members will mention schools that your uncle or aunt attended. And so on. Finally, you will explore on your own. Boarding School Review