OhioPatriot
Banned
- Joined
- Mar 11, 2019
- Messages
- 15
Hi all, I am new to this forum and am looking for some advice about what military boarding school to send our daughter to. Our 15 yo daughter is finishing her freshman year in high school. Bottom line question is--what is the best coed military boarding school for FEMALE high schoolers? We are looking at New Mexico Military Institute, Randolph-Macon Academy, and Massenutten. The goal would be for her to develop discipline, leadership abilities, and put her in the best position to attend a service academy if she develops that goal. The pathways to service academies and the acronyms are still pretty confusing to me if that gives you an idea of where I am. I do not know if she will want to seek an appointment but would like to send her somewhere that would put her in the best position to do so. Thank you so much in advance for any responses--they are greatly appreciated. If you want family background to respond, please see below.
Family Background: We have 5 kids. Subject daughter is in the middle (2 older daughters and 2 younger brothers). We are not a military family. I am a businessman / entrepreneur / attorney. Her mom is a stay at home / homeschooling mom. Our other kids have operated pretty much independently from age 10 forward in a home school environment (13 yo son is independently taking 10th grade math, 4th form Latin, biblical Greek, logic, classical guitar, piano, etc. w/perfect scores in everything). Her two older sisters are exceptionally gifted--they were both home schooled and received full college scholarships (the 21 yo is done w/college and in second year of medical school and 19 yo is in second year of college with a 4.0).
Subject Daughter: None of this is working for our subject 15 yo daughter. We have tried private Christian school so far and home school regime of classical education (grammar, logic, rhetoric). We haven't tried public school because we don't trust she would be in the right crowd. Subject daughter is underachieving in our family. Through 2nd grade, she was achieving. She was the "smart kid" in the class in reading and writing and she won every game. Sometime in 3rd grade, she started to tank. She was diagnosed with ADHD at age 9. Medications did not work to focus her attention. We did metronome thereapy which she said helped. She does not clean her room, leaves jobs undone, leaves trails of unfinished work and tells us everything is fine. She requires MUCH more EXTERNAL structure than we are equipped to give her. She does her work super fast but not done with excellence, does not put forward her best effort, and always leaves everything half done. I cannot relate to the way this particular adolescent unit works or thinks--but I love her very much
On the positive side: her reading skills are amazing--speed, comprehension. She is super fun to be with and everyone outside our family loves her. She is highly emotional and makes friends pretty easily. Inside the family, we love her too but the friction of living with her clutter and failure to follow through and meet family standards clouds our relationship with her. Taekwondo sparring is the only activity where she listens--he is tuned in to her coach and her response to coaching is perfect. She is very strong physically. She is v. good at taekwondo (sparring) and won nationals in her division last year. She likes contact sports. She also seemed to like boxing when she was exposed to it. We are a very devoted Christian family and are all very close.
Subject Daughter Academic: She does not complete assignments now and her grades are not good any longer (A in literature but Bs, Cs for the rest and a D in math). Her 8th grade PSAT scores are as follows (she has likely gone down from here): Evidence-Based Reading and Writing--95th percentile, Math--79th percentile. We have expended a enormous amounts of time and money trying to spark goals, increase her motivation, and give her skills. I have told her I want to start businesses with or for her with little response or spark of interest. No idea if she has the potential to get into a military academy with scores like these if she goes to military high school and/or prep school--anyone know?
Greatest Fears: My greatest fears about sending her away as a high schooler is that her faith suffers (she doesn't go to church), comes home with an unbelieving loser boyfriend (apologies to the atheists out there), or comes home with a present for mommy and daddy to raise She is pretty scared about us sending her away.
Conclusion: We have decided military boarding school would be a good option for her. She is frustrated with us and we are frustrated with her. She is not internally motivated and needs a lot more structure than we can give her at home.
Family Background: We have 5 kids. Subject daughter is in the middle (2 older daughters and 2 younger brothers). We are not a military family. I am a businessman / entrepreneur / attorney. Her mom is a stay at home / homeschooling mom. Our other kids have operated pretty much independently from age 10 forward in a home school environment (13 yo son is independently taking 10th grade math, 4th form Latin, biblical Greek, logic, classical guitar, piano, etc. w/perfect scores in everything). Her two older sisters are exceptionally gifted--they were both home schooled and received full college scholarships (the 21 yo is done w/college and in second year of medical school and 19 yo is in second year of college with a 4.0).
Subject Daughter: None of this is working for our subject 15 yo daughter. We have tried private Christian school so far and home school regime of classical education (grammar, logic, rhetoric). We haven't tried public school because we don't trust she would be in the right crowd. Subject daughter is underachieving in our family. Through 2nd grade, she was achieving. She was the "smart kid" in the class in reading and writing and she won every game. Sometime in 3rd grade, she started to tank. She was diagnosed with ADHD at age 9. Medications did not work to focus her attention. We did metronome thereapy which she said helped. She does not clean her room, leaves jobs undone, leaves trails of unfinished work and tells us everything is fine. She requires MUCH more EXTERNAL structure than we are equipped to give her. She does her work super fast but not done with excellence, does not put forward her best effort, and always leaves everything half done. I cannot relate to the way this particular adolescent unit works or thinks--but I love her very much
On the positive side: her reading skills are amazing--speed, comprehension. She is super fun to be with and everyone outside our family loves her. She is highly emotional and makes friends pretty easily. Inside the family, we love her too but the friction of living with her clutter and failure to follow through and meet family standards clouds our relationship with her. Taekwondo sparring is the only activity where she listens--he is tuned in to her coach and her response to coaching is perfect. She is very strong physically. She is v. good at taekwondo (sparring) and won nationals in her division last year. She likes contact sports. She also seemed to like boxing when she was exposed to it. We are a very devoted Christian family and are all very close.Subject Daughter Academic: She does not complete assignments now and her grades are not good any longer (A in literature but Bs, Cs for the rest and a D in math). Her 8th grade PSAT scores are as follows (she has likely gone down from here): Evidence-Based Reading and Writing--95th percentile, Math--79th percentile. We have expended a enormous amounts of time and money trying to spark goals, increase her motivation, and give her skills. I have told her I want to start businesses with or for her with little response or spark of interest. No idea if she has the potential to get into a military academy with scores like these if she goes to military high school and/or prep school--anyone know?
Greatest Fears: My greatest fears about sending her away as a high schooler is that her faith suffers (she doesn't go to church), comes home with an unbelieving loser boyfriend (apologies to the atheists out there), or comes home with a present for mommy and daddy to raise
She is pretty scared about us sending her away. Conclusion: We have decided military boarding school would be a good option for her. She is frustrated with us and we are frustrated with her. She is not internally motivated and needs a lot more structure than we can give her at home.
