I will keep Summerhill in mind. I think it sounds great. My husband thinks our son would be heartbroken by boarding and feel like we discarded him. First, I doubt that. For one, we wouldn't be discarding him. Second, I am more concerned about the impact of a poor school fit. On him and on our family. Given the options in our area and my son's personality, I could easily find myself in your mother's place in the future.
I don't think anyone at Summerhill feels discarded, I remember adults asking questions like "why would your parents want to send you away like that?" I always answered "because they loved me enough to care more about my happiness than anything else"
If you are seriously considering it, I wouldn't wait too long, I don't think Summerhill will take kids older than 11 because by then they are either too broken or it's just too difficult for them to adjust.
I went when I was just about to turn 9, my brother was almost 10. Oh, and we were both gifted, I believe many of the students who go there are.
A lot of parents who send their kids there do so because they had bad school experiences themselves as children and they want something better for their own kids.
