For ThacherDad- and others who might want to weigh in...

<p>So I have a son who is in a Waldorf school so we don't have an accurate reading when it comes to grades and testing. We are in the middle of waiting to get tests back from his first bubble test (in his life). He thinks he did well, (this kid doesn't sweat much) but really who knows. In the meantime i have begun looking at websites of schools that might be a good fit (if i can figure that out)
So I came across Thacher and it hands down had the best mission, and thoughtful curriculum, as well as having such a great tone. It has what i feel the other schools lack, that great combination of rigorous academics and care for the soul. They seem to put so much emphasis on building character and integrity and one's own sense of self as they do on their academics. It seems to be less about the rhetoric and more actual experience that tests these kids in really personal ways through wilderness training among other things. I just think they really look at how to help your child walk away with a really well rounded education.<br>
So my Q is: We live on the east coast and could't live farther away from Thacher. Have you come across a school on the east coast that is similar in culture to Thacher?
Also: how would one go about even entertaining the idea of sending their child so very far away?</p>

<p>Here are two older posts that mention a number of schools that would be good for you to consider, most on the East Coast. Several posts mention kids who came from Waldorf schools.</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/1404217-other-schools-similar-putney-nmh.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-admissions/1404217-other-schools-similar-putney-nmh.html&lt;/a&gt; and <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-parents/863850-help-find-boarding-school.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/prep-school-parents/863850-help-find-boarding-school.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>My D attends school thousands of miles away, as did my S. I would much rather they were closer but we live quite far from any BS and they needed what BS offers and our local HS doesn’t. There are a lot of threads about that subject and the various pros, cons, and options.</p>

<p>

I envy you that the school is only a 5 hour domestic flight away</p>

<p>Freshlook, I’m sure you didn’t mean it this way, but your post comes across as kind of insulting. Many of us send our children to schools that are not Thacher but nonetheless “care for the soul” of our children and have an emphasis on developing a well-rounded education. Any many people send their children to boarding schools much further away than you are from Thacher. There’s a way to ask these questions without making it seem as though you’re judging people who made different choices. How about just “I was very impressed with Thacher, can anyone identify schools on the East Coast that are similar”? It just doesn’t add anything to run down all the other schools, or suggest that parents who send their kids to schools thousands of miles away have a screw loose.</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>Airplanes?</p>

<p>And +1 to soxmom.</p>

<p>FWIW, on our visit to Thacher, we ran into the headmaster and had a chat. We told him our older girl went to St. Andrew’s (DE) and he said something like “Say hello to Tad Roach for me…I really like what they’re doing over there…our schools have a lot in common.”</p>

<p>Can someone explain “best mission” to me? Aren’t they all a variation on the same theme?</p>

<p>Another +1 to soxmom.</p>

<p>well said everyone. I certainly didn’t mean to put my foot in my mouth but indeed, that is where it landed. I feel so little judgement but I can see that it sounds like there is. I was just excited to see that I found a place that speaks to our family. There is a lot of advice on this board about researching a going to websites and really reading how they differ slightly.
I would really like to send my child across country but i feel like I would need the hindsight, that i don’t have, to do so. Meaning- will it prove ot be too far away? I would like to think it won’t- I just don’t know. There actually is zero judgement about that.</p>

<p>I agree with you freshlook. The heck with all those East Coast wanna-be schools and their soulless parents! ;)</p>

<p>The preponderance of great schools is on the East Coast. St. Andrews is probably the closest match to Thacher. We lived in DC at the time (now Maine) and so it was a big deal for us to let our son go to school in California. He also looked at a number of East Coast schools, applying to five in all.</p>

<p>Thacher was not our idea. It was our son’s; I had not heard of it before. He dragged me across the country to visit because something about the way the school described itself online and in its view book rang true to him. I’d at least get a good father-son trip out of it. It turns out that he (and our family) got more than we expected: four amazing years.</p>

<p>It’s tough to compare Thacher to east Coast schools. The southern California climate completely changes the boarding experience. You’re outside all the time. In fact, the school incorporates the natural world into the curriculum. You learn to ride horseback, you go on intensive camping trips and become seriously competent in the wilderness, you learn how to care for your environment on a practical level. And the weather is stunningly beautiful. The sage, cedar, the orange blossoms – it even smells better than any place you’ve been.</p>

<p>There are only 240 kids, so while each one has special skills, the admissions team focuses on well-rounded kids who will revel in the mix of hard academics, the outdoors and being with one another. You can talk to almost any graduate of the school and they will tell you that the very best thing about Thacher is the community. It is tight-knit; it has none of the “sarcastic humor at other people’s expense vibe” that I experienced when I attended my own East Coast boarding school back in the 70’s. Class conscious divisions don’t rear their heads either. No drugs. No theft. People might leave a $5.00 bill on the table and it will sit there for days until someone claims it.</p>

<p>Thacher gets the highest marks of any boarding school for its support of female students, producing in them a positive sense of self-image, security and confidence.</p>

<p>The last thing I’d mention is probably the most important. The School takes seriously its creed: honor, fairness, kindness and truth. Those are the marks of a Thacher kid and they get indelibly imprinted over four years. Thacher is not for everyone, not by a long shot. If you’re not an outdoors person, don’t go. If you’re a wallflower, don’t go. If you prefer to be by yourself the majority of time, don’t go. If you are lazy, don’t go. If you don’t like supporting others, don’t go. A Thacher kid is the kind who stands up to a bully in any situation. The School teaches “doing” and not “talking about doing.” It’s a breath of fresh air.</p>

<p>We made the cross country commitment willingly and it was a great call for us. But experiences vary and there are some on this board who have struggled with a x-c commute. The advantages: your son will learn how to travel confidently at a young age, he will get a different cultural experience because of geography, you will LOVE your trips to visit him, they are part visit and part vacation every time. We went 3x/year (parent’s weekend, father/son or mother/son weekend and Gymkhana. In all cases, we flew out Thursday morning and came back on Monday or Tuesday. It was great!! I would be happy to chime in more via PM if you’d like.</p>

<p>This soulless parent would like to throw out Berkshire as a possibility, too! I doubt it will stack up to the utopian vibe Thacher has going, but it’s definitely worth a glance! :)</p>

<p>My question regarding the mission statement wasn’t meant to be rude- I am genuinely interested in what jumped out/ or set it above all others. Maybe I’ve read too many… they all seem the same me!</p>

<p>Out of curiosity, I just went and looked at Thacher’s mission statement (see below). Other than the part about caring for a horse, I don’t think there’s anything different there than any other boarding school. I’m with PhotographerMom, they all sound the same. Which doesn’t mean that schools are all the same in fact, just that mission statements don’t tell you very much. </p>

<p>Mission</p>

<p>Thacher trains young men and women in the art of living for their own greatest good and for the greatest good of their fellow citizens in a diverse and changing world. To that end, the School augments its highly challenging academic program with profound lessons learned from the care of a horse, regular chores around the School, teamwork on playing fields, outstanding instruction in the arts, the give and take of everyday life with schoolmates and teachers, and adventures shared in the wilderness. The aim is to inspire and encourage hard work, integrity, self-reliance, a lifelong love of learning and truth, self-knowledge, and a deep concern for the world in which we live.</p>

<p>soxmom…i don’t think freshlook used the term “mission statement.” I think he just used the term “mission.” If you take the time to read through all the school’s material, watch the videos, visit campus etc. the mission becomes clear, which is to use the combination of:</p>

<p>academics
the outdoors (intensive camping, horseback riding and full care of the horse)
the school code: honor, fairness, kindness and truth
the intimacy of the community - 240
and the advantages of the school’s warm weather location</p>

<p>to drive a certain kind of graduate. Whether it’s better or worse than any other school’s mission is entirely a personal call. But I’m not aware of another school that combines those attributes, which makes Thacher unique.</p>

<p>Okay- you lost me. I thought a school’s programs and culture were built around and speak to the Mission/ Mission Statement/ School Motto. By the way, ThacherParent- I loved your post and enjoyed every word. No doubt Thacher is an amazing and very unique place!</p>

<p>ThacherParent, I wasn’t responding to freshlook, I was responding to PhotographerMom’s comment about the mission statement. As I said, I don’t doubt that Thacher differs in fact from many other schools. I do find it interesting, though, that on Thacher’s webpage, in the FAQ section, they say that the schools that they have the highest overlap with in application are Exeter, Andover, Deerfield, Hotchkiss, Choate, St. Paul’s, Groton, Taft, and Cate.</p>

<p>PhotoMom…I was noting that a school’s mission is hard to capture in a single statement, as noble a goal as that is. To be truthful, I didn’t fully understand the mission until I had been a parent for a year or two and saw for myself what behaviors the school actually practices and what impact that practice has on the kids.</p>

<p>Sox…sorry, misread. I’m not sure of the point you’re making about overlap. If you want superior academics in a boarding school experience you’re going to look first and foremost at the east coast luminaries, of which there are deservedly many. Also, if I lived on the West Coast, I would be inclined to send my kid to the East coast for school, not because of any academic superiority, but because of the benefits associated with exposure to a different culture.</p>

<p>@PhotographerMom
I tried to PM you, but it didn’t work.
I’m curious – is your child at Berkshire?</p>

<p>My (admittedly unclear) point about overlap was that when people talk about East Coast schools that are sort of Waldorf-y, progressive, somewhat alternative schools, they might name Putnam, Concord Academy, Holderness, NMH, etc. But in fact those aren’t the schools that kids applying to Thacher are also applying to on the East Coast. Instead, the Thacher applicant pool is looking at very traditional schools as other possibilities. I just found that interesting, and not exactly what I expected.</p>

<p>Thacher is unique, but not in the achiever sense. The kids are frighteningly motivated and disciplined and, above all else, they seek a great education. They would do fantastically well at any of the overlap schools noted, but what makes a Thacher kid happiest is that holy grail of balance between the indoors and the outdoors, with a wonderful, tight community rooting them on.</p>

<p>@cameo43- When my kids learned I was posting on these threads, I promised I would only describe their schools as Dream and/or Gem- which is accurate. If I divulge, I will break my promise and probably melt. :)</p>

<p>What I can say is this: Berkshire is a family/ friends favorite. It’s a truly wonderful and unique school. I find myself recommending it to parents/students searching for something special. It’s also a school that deserves to be mentioned more on these threads- along with the big brand names and all those beautiful gems. </p>

<p>Berkshire came to mind here because it has an outdoor classroom vibe/ mission that the OP might find intriguing. Plus, it’s an absolutely beautiful school with many, many unique offerings. Anyway- worth a look!</p>

<p>@soxmom- I agree. I learned a lot today!</p>

<p>I agree, Berkshire is a very unique and outstanding school. There has been an amazing ‘growth spurt’ there over the past 5 or 6 years… new buildings, new programs, new twin hockey rinks… pretty incredible! Their app numbers have really surged as well. Very caring faculty, and a stunning location, to boot. (That campus was our home for several years, not that long ago. And I don’t know why it’s not mentioned more here either.) Truly a hidden gem!!</p>