<p>I always had an idea of what courses my kids were taking, because it would come up in conversation. Ditto what their schedules were like; I knew if they had Friday classes and when their earliest class was, because they’d mention it or I’d ask. We often talked about their favorite teachers, of course, and their not-favorite ones.</p>
<p>I never had input on what classes they took - a good thing because, between the core curriculum requirements, departmental requirements, AP credit, etc., it was all too complex for me and I’d have had nothing worthwhile to suggest. I did tell d1 I didn’t think she should take 18 credits with 3 sciences one semester, and I turned out to be right. That was a rough semester. But she’ll never hear an “I told you so” out of me. :D</p>
<p>Happykid’s schedule is posted on the fridge. She commutes home several weekends each month (and occasionally mid-week) for theater tech gigs. I need to know when to pick her up on campus (just over an hour away) and when to get her at the train station if she comes by rail. It also helps to know what she’s talking about when she calls. I sound a lot smarter if I can ask, “So how was costumes class today?”</p>
<p>Just a quick comment–as far as reaching in an emergency, your kids’ colleges have those schedules on-line. Security will be able to locate what class your kid is in, including the room number, as quickly as you can tell them. the school database has a “student locater” which shows everyone’s schedule. This is not to say you shouldn’t know kids’ schedules (I usually had some idea of my kids classes), just to say dont worry if you don’t–the school will find them.</p>
<p>Ordinarylives–I was an SSS counselor for ten years! Great program! (working there is how i know about school databases).</p>
<p>My daughter is a freshman and shares her Google calendar with us so we can see her school/work/other commitments. (We share our Google calendars with her, too, so she knows what we’re up to and when is bad to call.)</p>
<p>She did discuss things with us before registration, but it was more about her processing through her options than it was really about getting advice from us.</p>
<p>When our son was in undergrad, I made a matrix of semesters and courses filling in requirements. So he could pick courses for the semester based on a global view of graduation requirements. I’d adjust the matrix as he took courses so that he could see the remaining requirements. My grad degree was in the same major as his undergrad and I work with a lot of people with Phds in the major so I’m familiar with the major and courses though some things are new to me.</p>
<p>I just e-mailed color coded notes my son made of courses he’s taken/plans to take/could take showing what requirements they fill. Apparently he’s considering minoring in Arabic. News to me! He’s up at Tufts for the week, among other things, petitioning to get coursework taken in Jordan to actually count for his major and not just distribution requirements. Generally speaking non-Tufts programs don’t count for majors, but they don’t offer programs in the Arabic speaking world. Very annoying.</p>
<p>We are 3 time zones away, so I generally know the start and end times for our kid’s days each semester, M-F, just in case I need to text her about some logistical thing. I don’t want to send her texts when she’s in class or sleeping in on her “late day” or at practice. No idea anymore what classes she’s taking until she talks about them.</p>