Good Morning! I have two sons who will be off to BS next fall. One will go to SPS, and the other is still working on deciding which school. One will be entering 10th and one entering 9th. They were both accepted to SPS and in a perfect world, they would go to school together. However, they have been “mistaken” for each other all of their lives and to some degree want to go to different BS’s. (I think they would be surprised how much they actually want to be with each other once they are that far away from home, but getting them to that understanding may take a little longer).
Anyway, if they do end up at different schools, I’m wondering how closely the school calendars align. In a couple of the acceptance packets, a school calendar was included, and they are pretty close to each other.
Son3 will be at SPS.
Son4 will be at either SPS, Hotchkiss, Deerfield, Loomis or Choate (We are narrowing it down, though).
Differing vacations may be a logistical nightmare for you. My DD is at Loomis. Her cousin is at SPS. Loomis has 4-5 more weeks of school a year than SPS (I think SPS makes up the time in Saturday classes which Loomis does not have). Loomis starts much earlier in fall, they have a week shorter March break, and they get out 2 weeks later for summer. Also, for vacations that sort of align, like mid winter weekend or Xmas break, they don’t always get released on the same day. They both love their respective schools and neither would have done well at the other one. Fit should be the first priority. But logistics may be important to consider!
Our two students 2 years apart ended up at the same school–Choate. Thank goodness. Although at first we were committed to the idea of 2 different schools, in the end it would have been a nightmare. It was hard enough moving in and moving out, storing boxes, sports events and other school events and vacations at 1 school. I know families who have had 3 students at 3 different BSs at the same time, but to us it’s too hard.
I think the schedules should be posted soon…you may want to look at the school’s websites to see which schools coincide with one another the best. My DD says she doesn’t want to go where DS went to school because she’s tired of being compared to him. I get it. I think we will just try to make different schedules work, if needed. I’ll be interested to learn what y’all decide! Good luck!
I have kids at two different boarding schools. They miss each other and there is no alignment of schedules and it’s a pain. I think it’s good for them not to be compared to one another and each is thriving at the respective school, but it’s a hassle for the family. At the same time, seeing a child thrive ends up to be quite satisfying for the whole family, so for us, this choice was worth it…
Sometimes being slightly off is a benefit since coordinating pick ups and drop offs at different schools can be tricky on the same day. The calendars for next year will likely be available soon and, if they are not, comparing this year’s calendars will give you a general idea of how well they will line up. Our kids vacations lined up well but their schools are in the same sports leagues so the athletic calendar was not a factor.
I second what gungablue says. But in our case, better need based aid was the reason we choose different schools. Kids are happy at their respective school and we love both schools. Never ever compare schools. Always respect each school and never ever speak bad about another school. Our third kid is going to apply next year, he may choose a differnt school. Need based aid dictates our choices.
^^In our case, having 2 students at one school actually gave us a better FA deal. The BS understands what a financial burden is having 2 students at the same school at the same time. I imagine 3 would even be better.
Having 2 kids st the same school gave us a very compelling FA package. We pay the same for 2 students as we would for 1. The philosophy is you have x dollars to contribute to your child’s education, regardless of number of students.
We had so many friends with kids at 2 different schools to get the fit right. And in every case I knew of, they could have both been at the same school. – in other words, they had been accepted at the same schools so it wasn’t a matter of necessity that they were at different schools.
Just a guess, but I"m thinking that schools in the same athletic conference probably have similar vacations. At least that’s how it works in public school. “Thou shall not even think about making calendar changes for upcoming years before checking with the other schools in the conference”.
Thank you all! Luckily, kid2 liked the same school as kid1. He rated Choate a 10 and SPS and Deerfield both a 9.5, but agreed that for the logistics of being at the same school as brother the .5 was negotiable. I also loved Choate and Deerfield, so it was a crazy hard decision. Both will be attending SPS in the fall.
We were lucky as well…Prepx3S decided on the same school as Prepx3D, so they are both going to be at Loomis next year!
It was touch and go with some of the other choices for a while, but we worked hard to let him make his own decision without pressuring him…although his older sister may have expressed a lot of hope that they would be together next year!
