I really really want to be........mortgage free!

ourcornercottage

Schooling always starts a discussion. I'm leaving our options open. I would never ever send a child of mine to boarding school. As a child I couldn't consider and thing worse. I totally respect why you might have s different opinion Alex but I can't imagine that being good for littlelk in 2 years from the sound of his reaction to school now. What makes you think your and his feeling to schooling and separation will change because you are paying lots of money to be there.

Miniocc is very sociable but that one of familial rejection would destroy him, there is a senior boarding school nearby for children who are talented st sports and its non fee paying but I wouldn't even consider it as an option. The psychological damage would far outweigh the academic development in my opinion. Just an opinion though for my child, I can't imagine anyone but the strongest kids being able to handle it.

Spent s few £££ today on parking otherwise a NSD. Only 2 kids at gym today do Miniocc had a fantastic time

choccielover

I was only saying to someone today that I was desperate to be sent to boarding school as a child........thanks in great part I think to my addiction to reading Malloy Towers etc

In all honesty I would have hated it and could never imagine sending DD, the thought of seeing her less than I already do would kill me!

I had an NSD today (though does it still count even if I filled up both cars but this was planned and budgeted spend??)

What does mini OCC do at the gym? Gymnastics?

bunty109

ourcornercottage wrote: »

Schooling always starts a discussion. I'm leaving our options open. I would never ever send a child of mine to boarding school. As a child I couldn't consider and thing worse. I totally respect why you might have s different opinion Alex but I can't imagine that being good for littlelk in 2 years from the sound of his reaction to school now. What makes you think your and his feeling to schooling and separation will change because you are paying lots of money to be there.

Minion is very sociable but that one of familial rejection would destroy him, there is a senior boarding school nearby for children who are talented st sports and its non fee paying but I wouldn't even consider it as an option. The psychological damage would far outweigh the academic development in my opinion. Just an opinion though for my child, I can't imagine anyone but the strongest kids being able to handle it.

Spent s few £££ today on parking otherwise a NSD. Only 2 kids at gym today do Miniocc had a fantastic time

My boys go to a state boarding school. No fees for the education but fees if you board. Anyhow, they day board so there's no worries when we get stuck at work a bit late, but we see them every day after they've done their homework (bonus is they get monitored sessions to do that before they come home). My DD also went and loved it so much she often begged to board in a weekly basis (it was us wanting to see her - as well as money - that stopped it). But, I agree that it depends on the child: my youngest gets a lot of benefits from day boarding but wouldn't want to be there overnight!

ourcornercottage

choccielover wrote: »

I was only saying to someone today that I was desperate to be sent to boarding school as a child........thanks in great part I think to my addiction to reading Malloy Towers etc

In all honesty I would have hated it and could never imagine sending DD, the thought of seeing her less than I already do would kill me!

I had an NSD today (though does it still count even if I filled up both cars but this was planned and budgeted spend??)

What does mini OCC do at the gym? Gymnastics?

Miniocc thinks boarding school is like Hogwarts and would love to go, only be steam train though! Bills, Fuel and groceries aren't included in NSDs in my opinion. I need to have more NSDs I'm rubbish at them!

Bounty, Day boarding sounded like it worked for you, although I expect some parents just use it as they just have their work/life balance all wrong. I've heard of some people picking their kids up at 10pm, honestly that's not good for the kids.

Gym is a gymnastics class although I'm sure he'd love to go to the gym and work on his muscles!!!

AlexLK

ourcornercottage wrote: »

Schooling always starts a discussion. I'm leaving our options open. I would never ever send a child of mine to boarding school. As a child I couldn't consider and thing worse. I totally respect why you might have s different opinion Alex but I can't imagine that being good for littlelk in 2 years from the sound of his reaction to school now. What makes you think your and his feeling to schooling and separation will change because you are paying lots of money to be there.

Miniocc is very sociable but that one of familial rejection would destroy him, there is a senior boarding school nearby for children who are talented st sports and its non fee paying but I wouldn't even consider it as an option. The psychological damage would far outweigh the academic development in my opinion. Just an opinion though for my child, I can't imagine anyone but the strongest kids being able to handle it.

Spent s few £££ today on parking otherwise a NSD. Only 2 kids at gym today do Miniocc had a fantastic time

OOC: Money does not come into it for me. My son won't board until Sixth Form, unless the right senior school happens to be a long way from home. He will certainly be a day boy throughout his prep years as the school is close to home. The only difference is a longer school day. Should he not be ready to enter senior school at 13, the prep school has recently started offering day places until GCSE.

Our local state school is very well regarded and has a wonderful history dating back to the 17th Century as well as offering excellent music and sporting opportunities. However, I dislike the idea of my son entering senior education at the age of 11, being at the mercy of whatever new ideological government strategy is in place and studying a lesser curriculum.

newgirly

I don't envy those of you having to choose schooling, it's a nail biting time waiting to see if they got the place or not, deciding whether to move house to get into a good school (we did!) I can see why people might prefer to go down the fee paying route. Both primary and secondary schools my lot went to were outstanding so it's very easy to say I would not send them to a public school, if the local schools were not as good though I may feel differently ...

ourcornercottage

My plan is to see how it goes, give myself the options of what we'd like to do at the time. Personally I have quite strong feelings on the importance of education and I am not as focused on getting an education being academic excellence as most people. I was regarded as very capable academically and was pushed down that route. Like a lot of people this just ended up as basically mental illness in my teens. I plan on taking a different approach with Miniocc that focuses around happiness, expression and incorporating this into education. I think I will consider education to be a whole life experience he will end up happier for it. I know plenty of people who have been pushed to succeed now adults in their 40's in their fantastic jobs and big houses who are miserable, miserable, miserable. Was just speaking to a friend this morning who is so miserable about her high flying Whitehall job she's just giving it all up. I don't blame her I got off the career train 10 years ago and don't regret it, whilst I might not love everything about what I do now it's so much better, well accept the money of course!

newgirly

Great post occ, far to much emphasis on earning as much as you can and not enough on job satisfaction nowadays. They might do well do make financial education a proper subject too, I know it would have helped me!

ourcornercottage

newgirly wrote: »

Great post occ, far to much emphasis on earning as much as you can and not enough on job satisfaction nowadays. They might do well do make financial education a proper subject too, I know it would have helped me!

Two things should be added into every school week in my opinion should be personal financial education and wellbeing (caring for yourself and others). Much more important in life than most of the academic things they deem as essential.

Don't get me started on this one, I could go on all day. The pressure parents and schools put on kids nowadays to achieve is quite scary without any of the emotional education either. That's a mental health time bomb ready to ignite in my opinion. It's a shame for the poor kids but nothing stops them not for Miniocc though, I'll do anything I can to hope he grows up a well rounded individual and I honestly think that given this personal/social education he will receive at home it will in turn help him be the best he can be academically too.

AlexLK

Academic performance is separate from career success. Whilst I agree good academic performance can lead to career success and often does, the pursuit of scholarship is a worthy pursuit itself. It seems almost everyone in today's society forgets this. I find it incredibly sad so many view academic study as little other than an entry into a "better" job. A price cannot be put on gaining knowledge, learning about the world we live in and the pursuit of a lifelong interest in educating oneself.