Parents of the HS Class of 2011 - We're awesome!

[EAO1227]

Rescue from Page Three...Kinderny, can't imagine trying to manage your own allergies then having to consider the roommates allergies...hope she is feeling better soon.

Things are going smoothly here, D3 is settling in nicely and had her first article published in a school publication. Planning on going up for Family weekend. Her school has a Family weekend not just Freshman and they do it all on the same weekend. We were still debating if we would go or not because she does have an October break this year but decided that we only get 4 of them, we should try to go if we can.

Graduate Daughter is settling in nicely, still working on getting the driver's license and she has gotten a part time job while looking for a "real Job" and filling out Grad School applications.
HS Sophomore is doing well, had Homecoming this past weekend and I had my 30 year High School reunion, lots of fun we had 225 people show up and the hotel had to kick us out at 1:30 in the morning! Danced all night, it was so fun. I got to bed by 3 but a few of my friends ended up going out to breakfast and went to bed at 7a.m. I did not go with them, thankfully...getting too old for that!
Son has returned for his junior year after a year home (for academic reasons!!!) He seems to be doing well, has gotten organized and is loving his classes, I will exhale when the Grades come in but for now it looks like the lesson was learned, fingers crossed and Knock wood.
My new career in Real Estate is taking off slowly. Believe it or not the market here is great but frustrating. Have put in several offers only to lose them to competing bids...Have one in now that has received 11 offers! Its a foreclosure so the Bank is collecting them! So looks like things are picking up (at least in our area!)

Hope that everyone has a great week.

[kathiep]

We've just decided not to go up to visit our son for Family weekend. Son seems to be much more content and comfortable this year and didn't seem to care if we came or not. Seven hours each way and two hotel nights adds up too. It does sound like he needs some food though, so a care package will be shipped soon.

We do have travel plans to visit our oldest who moved to Washington DC in July. We haven't seen her or her new place since she moved so we're planing to go see her in a couple of weeks. She likes her new job and that, of course, makes us happy too.

Our son is also trying to figure out a travel abroad for next year. His college has a campus in Dublin and he'd like to go there. His decision is which semester to go. He has friends already leaning towards the first or second semester. I can see pro's and con's for both semesters so am glad I don't have to make that decision. Actually, the biggest con for second semester (IMO) is that he would really have to line up an internship for the summer before he left.

[yalemom15]

Chalk us up to having a sick kid too. I had hoped that S2's tonsillectomy last May would stave off some of these bouts, but at least it was a quick, 2 day thing with just lingering congestion at the moment. It doesn't help that he has a five ended candle he's burning at all ends....I think he maybe gets 4 hours of sleep a night, 5 if he's lucky...

We are going back for parents weekend. Last January I bought Book of Mormon tickets for Thursday night, so we making it a NYC/New Haven excursion, can't wait! S2's coming into the city for the show as well . Hoping for better weather this time...the only 2 times we've been to New Haven we've had 1) a hurricane and 2) the earliest Nor'easter in 200 years...lol, I think we deserve a break this time!

Your reunion sounds like it was a blast EAO- hang in there with the real estate battles, you can do it! Hope all the other sick kiddos here recover soon! Happy Fall everyone!

[sunnydayfun]

Sorry to hear about the illness. Wishing everyone get well very soon.

S1 called and stressed out about the groceries. He lives in an apartment off campus and his roommates (one of them has a car) had gone shopping the past weekend when S1 was in a tournament. He said he has no food left and he has no ride or time to go shopping during the week.
His campus is having Engineering Career Expo today and tomorrow. He gave me all sorts of reasons he couldn't go….conflicting with class schedule (he can go if he gets up early!)….having no dress shirt to wear (HE HAS!)…etc, etc. Sigh. I gave up and told him he needs to come out of his comfort zone.

We are not going to the family weekend this year but will go the weekend before for the football game.

[mathmomvt]

We had a sick kid too, a nasty cough (not pertussis though), which was eventually treated with antibiotics, so he's doing better now. He was sick very early in his freshman year too -- I think all these kids coming back into tight living quarters from wherever they were for the summer and bringing the local germs along for the ride will probably make beginning of term a "sick" time at many schools.

Our big news is that our DS just signed a lease for next September! His school only guarantees on-campus housing through sophomore year, and then there's a big rush September of sophomore year to secure "good" off-campus housing for the coming year. He's living in a 6BR house (actually a duplex with two 3BR apts, so they have 2 kitchens and 2 baths which is good) near campus with 5 friends, is quite happy with the place and the group of friends, but mostly just relieved to have it taken care of. It seems to really stress the kids out! (He's been in doubles this year and last, so he'll be happy to have his own BR also!)

Wishing a quick recovery to those who are still sick, and g'mar chatimah tovah to those for whom it is relevant.

[siemom]

Kiddo called last night to report that he's feeling better and glad that he went to the health center (which I basically forced him to do). He said they were very nice and helpful. No kidding! Perhaps he learned something here....not to suffer for days alone, that asking for help can be good....Anyway, glad he's better and hope that all the other kids recover soon!

[sunnydayfun]

S1 went to the engineering career fair (yay!)and was asked for an interview tomorrow from a communication/defense company. He is not interested because it is a co-op position that is not located at his college town. Not sure, it is a one-semester or two-semester term. I do not think he wants to leave his campus activities and friends. He may change his mind later but not now.

[gsmomma]

D1 got the back to school sickness a few weeks ago, and seems to be over it now. She came home one weekend when she was feeling sick, mainly to sleep in her own bed. I made her a big pot of homemade Italian Wedding Soup, and sent her back with several containers. Hopefully, she is continuing to take EmergenC. I hope all of the sick kiddos are feeling better soon.

All of her classes this term are project and group based, which is different than doing the problem sets and taking the tests for her math and science classes. The good thing is that she is enjoying them.

[kinderny]

One of D's afternoon classes was cancelled 45 minutes in because everyone was sick. The prof asked if they had skipped the reading because no one was participating. One student indicating that s/he was sick and another chimed in the same. Another said "everyone had the Hampshire plague". The teacher asked all those there who were sick to raise their hands- about 30 kids did so the teacher called it and sent everyone back to their dorms. So I guess the month of togetherness had taken its toll on everyone. D will start implementing "level one biological controls" (e.g. hand sanitizer as she walks in her place every single time).

[Pepper03]

Oh wow the Hampshire plague sounds frightening!

Seems like the crew are all pretty much settling in with a bump here and there.

Sunny could the roommate get him to the store? It's tough when they have no way to get to these places.

siemom glad your son went to get checked. When my son is sick I too jump back to my old worrying ways since in the past stress would manifest itself physically and then go down from there but he seems to have worked through a lot of that-seems your son is doing so as well.

We have illness here at home and my daughter told me she vomited this AM and then headed off to school-which I didn't think was the best idea but with no temp and her insistence on going it wasn't worth going to war over-I think it is probably related to this nasty cold that has infiltrated the house-perhaps an offshoot of the Hampshire Plague!

I had an interesting chat with my son over the weekend. He is struggling mightily with Calc 3 and will be happy not to flunk it-this attitude is a bit troubling since he is a Math/Econ major and I think he should be a little more proactive getting some help. I don't want to stress him out about it though. He seems to be far more interested in getting more involved with various campus activities-things that he enjoys and are actually pretty good experiences-than he is slogging through classes. He feels if he can survive the class without flunking it's great-I think that attitude is setting him up for failure but what can I do other than suggest getting some extra help.

I do not know why he is taking a class at honors level if he is struggling with it-they get no GPA bump and he will have plenty of other Honors level classes so graduating with the honors degree won't be an issue-I actually never even thought to ask him this question.

[arisamp]

Hampshire Plague ? Don't know what that is, but sounds scary!! Hope all the sick kiddos do better soon...

Pepper - interesting about Calc3. D took Diff EQ this semester, partly because she so enjoys math and usually does well. Well, first tests are complete and all subjects are going fine, except for the Diff EQ She had a second test in that today - hopefully, it went better than the first! The Honors and GPA bump is always an interesting conundrum - S is going through this in high school now. H feels like he should take the Honors course so he is challenged a bit more, but unless you are sure you can do reasonably well, I don't think there's a point in taking the honors class. He's not getting any GPA bump from the class being honors.

[EmmyBet]

I guess my D got through the fall sick period when she had a cold over Labor Day. She's been remarkably healthy for the past few weeks.

kathie - my older D did a spring semester abroad and still got great summer internship offers (unlike the year before!). So much is online, it really doesn't matter as much as it used to. I think she did some phone interviews, but honestly she had almost no phone or internet access where she was, so your son should have it much easier.

My D goes abroad next year as part of her program - we don't know if it's fall or spring, but hopefully they'll decide soon. They switched to a different university there this year, so I'm sure they're still working out the kinks.

My D has also been weighing the pros/cons of Honors courses. This semester she has her first academic class outside of the Honors College. Her only comment so far is that it is "really different." Generally she has found her classes very reasonable this semester. We'll see if she sounds this calm in a few weeks when midterms and rehearsals heat up.

Best wishes to everyone - I have a feeling this whole process is going to start to fly by. Yet I was feeling sad not to see either D until winter break; fortunately I have to go east to visit family in a few weeks, so I routed through NY to see D2, too. D1 will join me at the family event. Yay!

[CHS2011Mom]

Yikes, the crud is really going around! DS, whose fall term just started on Monday, posted on Facebook last night that he is "SNEEZING!" but I don't know if that's indicative of hayfever, or dust, or illness. Too soon for me to swoop in by email to remind him to hydrate...and I just remembered that I don't know if he packed up the first aid box to take back to school with him, with all of its remedies and such.

Holding off until this weekend to ask how the first week went. I guess if he's actually got a cold he knows by now how to handle it. I hope.

[AvonHSDad]

Hope all of those with the fall cold or bug are feeling better. S returned from a weekend to visit GF and reported in that he didn't miss anything "important". Said we won't hear much from him in the next week and a half as he has 3 mid-terms next week along with a paper for Lit. It's hard to believe but the semester is nearing the halfway point for many of our kids. He did say he would report in and provide an update on his Kennedy Center Susan G. Komen Foundation charity affair this weekend and to talk to AvonMom who has been on a trip out of the country for a couple of weeks. After the mid-terms its parent's weekend (we will visit) and then it will soon be Thankgiving break. 2013 - here we come.

[SlitheyTove]

D took Diff EQ this semester, partly because she so enjoys math and usually does well. Well, first tests are complete and all subjects are going fine, except for the Diff EQ

arisamp, I hope your D knows that that's a class that a lot of folks find harder than other math classes! Someone is going to say that they or their kid found it really easy....don't believe them.