Student Life

How does being at a boarding school impact my son or daughter as their parent?

At The Leelanau School, we do not define a classroom by four walls. The term “school” on our campus encompasses every aspect of a student’s daily life. Approximately 85% of a boarding school student’s life exists in the unstructured time outside of the class day.

We consider our campus as an active and living learning laboratory where students continually are learning about themselves, about the lives of those around them, learning student skills as pertaining to their own learning styles, as well as the course content during the class day.

Therefore, we work to provide the supervision and the appropriate structure of this time outside of the class day so students can take safe risks to explore their surroundings, learn more about those people around them, and clarify their own self awareness.

The definition of “Parenting” includes guiding, monitoring and ensuring a child’s physical, cognitive, social & emotional well being. The Leelanau School believes that we all work together as a team to “parent” the students in our care. We take this responsibility very seriously. Consistent communication, promotion of ethical behaviors and transparency of actions are the foundations we build upon and work cooperatively with parents for our students’ best interests.