Join me for a webinar on “Navigating San Francisco's Private School Kindergarten Admissions” on Thursday, September 5, 7-8 pm.

If you haven’t yet seen Inside Out 2 with your teen or tween, I highly recommend it. If the first Inside Out taught us that one cannot experience joy without the emotions of sadness, fear, anger, and disgust, Inside Out 2 takes on puberty and impending adolescence by adding embarrassment, shame, envy, ennui, and most importantly anxiety.

Summer can feel like a complicated time for families to navigate. For some it’s a time of bliss with a summer home or rental in a beautiful locale, travel, or days at the club. For others–especially working parents–it can be challenging (and extraordinarily expensive) trying to find ways to keep one’s child busy.

Spruce Advisors: High School Application Essay Bootcamp! As I’ve mentioned before, in my experience the hardest part of the high school application process is essay writing.

Answer: it’s the writing, and you can help yourself by starting this summer!

As you approach the end of your child’s 7th grade year, you may begin thinking about high school. If you’re considering a private or independent high school, local or boarding, you may wonder what the process will be like. I’ve seen thousands of parents through this process as an Educational Consultant, High School Placement Counselor, 7th and 8th Grade English teacher, and parent of an 8th grader. Here is my list of six questions to get you started.

Parenting a teenager can be the absolute best when you have a moment and connect with your child intellectually or emotionally. There is nothing better than witnessing their growth and breakthroughs. And I don’t need to tell you that they will also test you like no one else.

As a teenager, I was dying to go to boarding school. I don’t know what inspired me: maybe it was the beautiful campus in Dead Poets’ Society (St. Andrew’s in Delaware), the plethora of boarding school viewbooks that my best friend collected as she applied, or simply a spirit of adventure and independence and my desire to try something new. But my mom said no and that was that. As a parent, I understand wanting to keep my children close, but every time I visit a boarding school website, I’m reminded of what initially pulled upon my 13-year-old heartstrings. My first teaching job was at a Connecticut boarding school, so today, I’ll share a little of what I’ve experienced boarding school can offer a student.