Here is some helpful advice from our boarding life staff and boarding students on how to deal with homesickness while attending boarding school.
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It’s important that students learn how to deal with homesickness at boarding school and there can be many reasons as to why a student may feel homesick. Although homesickness doesn’t happen to every single boarding student, most boarding students report being homesick at least once during the school year. Though they have learned to cope with this feeling via different means, a strong school staff that keeps them focused, activities that keep them active and busy, and friends they can count on are all key factors to overcoming homesickness at boarding school. Our boarding school staff are well trained to handle homesick students. They attend nationally recognized conferences throughout the year by The Association of Boarding Schools (TABS) and Small Boarding School Association (SBSA) to name a couple.
Boarding School Staff Advice on How to Deal with Homesickness
Prepare for It – You will likely feel homesick at some point, but the most important thing is how you deal with this emotion. Prepare yourself mentally when you leave home that the first week is going to be very new and perhaps overwhelming, but like everything you adapt. You find friends. You find your place and get comfortable. So our biggest advice is don’t give up, but to remain strong, positive, and open-minded.
Keep in Touch – We encourage our students to keep the lines of communication open with family and friends. Now you can even Facetime or Skype with them!
Be Active and Involved – We also recommend that students need to be active in the school community. It helps everyone have sense of purpose and meaning. We recommend that all students be as involved in athletics and extracurricular activities as possible – without compromising their academic performance.
Talk with Us – We are here for you and we want to help – any time of the day. If you don’t tell us your sad, lonely or homesick how will we ever know?! We can help you find ways to get more involved, build more friendships, and will mentor you at our best with any thing you may need help with.
Boarding Student Advice on How to Deal with Homesickness
Students who have felt homesick while at boarding school, shared their advice with us.
Speak Up – Boarding students said that whenever you feel homesick to talk it out and seek help. Holding it in will just make it worse. They agree that it’s always helpful to seek company of a good friend, go for a walk, or catch up with schoolwork.
Go to the Faculty and Staff – Our boarding students also said that having “nice and understanding staff” always helps them stay focused and positive throughout the academic year. Our faculty and staff go above and beyond to make sure our students are comfortable and enjoying their Farragut experience. They also plan trips to theme parks, the movies and mall, group dinners, camping excursions, community service events and more.
Be Involved – Feeling lonely still? Find more hobbies. At Admiral Farragut Academy we almost have a club or organization for almost anything you can imagine from robotics to scuba to knitting!
Make it Home – Every boarding student should display personal photos of family and friends just as you would at home. Decorating your room makes it feel like “yours” and every student grows to love their room and their roommates. Don’t be discouraged when you first arrive to a bare room – trust us, within a week it will be looking more like home!
Comfort Food – Ok, Ok. So you miss “home-cooked” meals? Well at Admiral Farragut Academy we have family-style dinners to make up for it. Most of our food is made from scratch (even our salad dressing!) and we have waffle makers during breakfast and sandwich panini makers during lunch. It’s just like a bigger version of your kitchen at home.
Music – Listen to your favorite music. Music can change the whole vibe of your day so make sure it’s upbeat and positive!
Appreciate Your Surroundings – The one thing our boarders all agree about is that homesickness can be relieved by enjoying the sunny outdoors, and at our beautiful, tropical, waterfront campus that’s easy to do. Many boarding students have shared with us that just looking out the window view from their dorm room at the school’s waterfront calms them down and helps them realize the many opportunities they have because they’re attending boarding school.
We hope the next time you’re looking for how to deal with homesickness while at boarding school you’ll look around you and realize that everyone is cheering for you and that you are a crucial part of the school!