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Anyone send their children to a residency(boarding) High school for ballet?


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I've been reading the Do you plan to send your kids to college thread and it got me thinking about posting this question to you ladies.

 

My two oldest children plan to dance(ballet) for their careers. They will both be going away this summer to intensive programs away from home. This will be the first time they are gone more then a couple of days.

 

Ds who will be 16 when he goes is going on full scholarship. He was offered full scholarships to two Ballet schools for the summer, Nutmeg Conservatory and Boston Ballet. One full tuiton scholarship we'd pay housing to Joffery Balley in New York. He is extremly talented and gifted and really could do this for a career.

 

Nutmeg Conservatory also offered him full scholarship to their year round residency program. This would cover housing, academics(Keystone High school), dance training, meals etc. This is a huge offer since it costs as much to go there as most colleges, if not more. The training he would recieve would be very benefical to his career. He trains at a wonderful studio now, but has been the only guy for most of his life(he started at 5). This would mean he would have daily mens classes taught by a male teacher, which he also has never had. He will be attending Nutmeg this summer to see what it's like. We were not ready to send him off to New York city where he would have to prepare all his own food and get back and forth from housing to the studio. Ahhhhh. He almost chose Boston but with the residency program offer we decided to go with Nutmeg.

 

Anyone have children do this there last two years of high school? What shock at first to realize that instead of have two more years with ds he could be leaving in the fall. He isn't sure he is ready either but isn't sure he wants to pass up this offer.

 

Anyone use Keystone High School? This is what they use for academics.

 

My dd who is also going to Nutmeg this summer is equally talented and gifted. She also was excepted to all of these schools,but being a girl didn't get the same scholarship offers. Plus she will only be a 14yr old freshmen next year and isn't going anywhere yet. LOL She thinks he's crazy for not signing up immediatly. She would love to go away her last two years of high school for ballet. But we'll have to see what happens since the tuition to these place is extremely high.

 

Hopefully this all makes sense.

Blessings,

Tina

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I've been reading the Do you plan to send your kids to college thread and it got me thinking about posting this question to you ladies.

 

My two oldest children plan to dance(ballet) for their careers. They will both be going away this summer to intensive programs away from home. This will be the first time they are gone more then a couple of days.

 

Ds who will be 16 when he goes is going on full scholarship. He was offered full scholarships to two Ballet schools for the summer, Nutmeg Conservatory and Boston Ballet. One full tuiton scholarship we'd pay housing to Joffery Balley in New York. He is extremly talented and gifted and really could do this for a career.

 

Nutmeg Conservatory also offered him full scholarship to their year round residency program. This would cover housing, academics(Keystone High school), dance training, meals etc. This is a huge offer since it costs as much to go there as most colleges, if not more. The training he would recieve would be very benefical to his career. He trains at a wonderful studio now, but has been the only guy for most of his life(he started at 5). This would mean he would have daily mens classes taught by a male teacher, which he also has never had. He will be attending Nutmeg this summer to see what it's like. We were not ready to send him off to New York city where he would have to prepare all his own food and get back and forth from housing to the studio. Ahhhhh. He almost chose Boston but with the residency program offer we decided to go with Nutmeg.

 

Anyone have children do this there last two years of high school? What shock at first to realize that instead of have two more years with ds he could be leaving in the fall. He isn't sure he is ready either but isn't sure he wants to pass up this offer.

 

Anyone use Keystone High School? This is what they use for academics.

 

My dd who is also going to Nutmeg this summer is equally talented and gifted. She also was excepted to all of these schools,but being a girl didn't get the same scholarship offers. Plus she will only be a 14yr old freshmen next year and isn't going anywhere yet. LOL She thinks he's crazy for not signing up immediatly. She would love to go away her last two years of high school for ballet. But we'll have to see what happens since the tuition to these place is extremely high.

 

Hopefully this all makes sense.

Blessings,

Tina

 

Tina, I'm not sure what I'll have to say helps, as it isn't exactly your situation. But we let ds leave home the day he turned 11 to attend a music boarding school -- national and international travel, music 30+ hours most weeks, school full-time, etc. He loved it and overall, it was an enormously positive experience with a few minor bumps in the road (as minor as would happen in a home situation and less than in a typical public middle school situation). We were awarded need-based financial aid to help with the rather significant costs involved.

 

When he was ready for high school, he applied (his choice) to boarding high schools. This gave him to opportunity to attend only one school in the four years (we moved three times to three different states during these years) and gave him enormous opportunities for growth and for study that was tailored to his needs. Again, massive (10's of thousands of dollars) amounts of need-based aid. A pain to apply for, essential in our case.

 

Dd told us loudly and often (LOL) that she was not going to a boarding school, EVER. And we said, sure! We never wanted anyone to go to boarding school in the first place, and that suited us just dandy. She home schooled late elementary and middle school.

 

When she went to an academic camp between 7th and 8th grade, a mutual admiration society was formed between her and her now high school. They recruited her heavily, and what we got was a very small boarding high school nestled in the mountains with a four-year history cycle that is heavily literature-based (lit strongly connected to the history) and writing intensive. Art and music are taught incidentally and chronologically, as they appear in the history cycle. Latin is available to continue through Latin 5, if she chooses. She does independent study in art, caving/mountaineering, field hockey, and community service. Lots of financial aid once she decided to attend, and so there we are.

 

Honestly? We're two generations from Appalachian tobacco farmers scratching out a living on the side of a mountain. We aren't "boarding school" people. When friends of ours sent their 11 y/o back home from Heidelberg to Great Britain for school, I told my husband that they would have to kill me first before I'd let one of my kids go to boarding school. That I would emigrate rather than to do such an awful thing. I wasn't exactly neutral about the matter, let me tell you.

 

But way leads on to way, and you find yourself in a place where you say not only, "How in the world can I possibly say yes?" to a place where you are simultaneously asking "How in the world can I possibly say no?"

 

And only you know if this is right for your child and your family and your situation. How strong they are in their morality. How needy they are. How full of love and family they are -- and they have to be in order to survive all the struggles and temptations that will arise. They have to be centered and grounded already. Talk to other parents. Talk to the kids. Is it a culture of eating disorders and appearances and "show"? Will their academic life be well-nourished? Are their teachers harrassed and harried and sarcastic or griping? Are they invested in what they're doing?

 

When the scale tips to "How can we possibly say no?" then you will find you'll have an easier (but never easy) decision. As long as it remains, "How can we possibly say yes?" you need to hesitate and wait and find out more information.

 

Hope you find the answers you need.

Edited by Pam "SFSOM" in TN
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But way leads on to way, and you find yourself in a place where you say not only, "How in the world can I possibly say yes?" to a place where you are simultaneously asking "How in the world can I possibly say no?"

 

What an eloquent way to say this. Lovely, Pam.

 

For what it's worth, I haven't sent a child away for high school, but we did allow our daughter to head off to a residential early college program when she was 12. I had lots of moments when I felt like I must be insane to consider this, and I spent a lot of sleepless nights in the couple of weeks before I drove her up there muttering about how this just felt wrong.

 

However, my daughter was 100% convinced it was the right thing for her. And, when I stepped out of my mommy skin and examined it from the outside, it was clear that she was correct. I also had my own academic experiences in mind, and I knew for sure that if such an opportunity had been offered to me, it would have been life changing.

 

So, how could we possibly say no?

 

She's now in her fourth semester and has absolutely thrived. She has taken so many credit hours per semester that she is now investigating the possibility of graduating in three years. She's made friends and joined clubs. She served on the orientation committee this academic year and has been invited to apply for the planning/leadership committee for next year.

 

It was, without doubt, the right move for her.

 

Best of luck helping your son find the right path for him.

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