<p>I’m glad she is taking summer courses and learning how to balance college life and live on her own, familiar with the campus, it’s surroundings, etc. before the crush of more than 45,000 other students who will show up for Fall. </p>
<p>D told me about skype, were you can video chat online for free. She skyped with a few friends from home and when I can figure it out, I’ll try it too. This is all new to me, her too, someone at school must’ve shown her.</p>
<p>I just want time to stop as well!</p>
<p>Of course, part of that is so I don’t have to go home anytime soon, but the meaningful connection is in there too. I did bribe S and friends for a photo op yesterday which was nice, but here’s the dilemma. It’s like we have to have a “reason” to have him just hang out vs. his doing the same thing with friends (not here). So… I’ve taken to actually cooking (gasp) to get him to be here for the time it would take to have a meal!</p>
<p>Skype – saw that on Oprah. She does it all the time apparently.</p>
<p>Son got fives on both calc AB and Bio. He was pretty psyched although it doesn’t really meet any requirements, but he will get credit. US History was one of those classes where if you were doing well enough they had a prep class for like a week that would help you prepare for the AP test. Other than that, there were enough art requirements etc that to get in more than 5 or 6 is pretty extreme.</p>
<p>Skype is great, JSM. That’s been the best way for my littlest to talk to D at college (he’s not a fast enough typist to IM with her yet). And it’s nice to hear that your D is doing so well!</p>
<p>Zetesis and missypie, I just went to pick up the little guy’s carpool from day camp. Decided I’d cheer myself up by listening to some music on the drive; plugged in the iPod; nearly wrecked as the first song up was Joni Mitchell’s “Circle Game.” </p>
<p>Mission cheer-up = FAIL. But the carful of 6- and 7-year-olds did me some good. By the time we got home, I’d had enough Pokemon talk to make me wish that it was S2 going off to college. :D</p>
<p>Yes, definately add “Learn to Skype” on the parents list of things to do before college!!</p>
<p>Modadunn, I confess I’ve absolutely put everything S1 likes best into the menu rotation lately in a shameless effort to lure him to dinner with us more often. So far, so good.</p>
<p>Skype is great. You can download the software for free. We Skype a friend in Singapore regularly, and just met his newborn daughter that way. Skype is a great way for siblings to keep in contact. With the more recent laptops having built in cameras,it’s a lot easier too.</p>
<p>Lately, however, we’ve all got gmail accounts, and we use the Google Video Chat feature; Google has IM too, and we’ve switched from other IM accounts to it. Puts everything in one place, as it were …</p>
<p>missypie, I hear you. Last summer, S worked all day, commuted an hour each way, came home to nap and then was online. After all his friends on semester schedules left (S is on the quarter system and didn’t leave til late September), he was online with them and reading books in his room. At one point he told me he needed to start detaching from home so it would be easier to leave. NOT what I wanted to hear, but I knew he was right.</p>
<p>I moved very far from my parents and rarely see them. However, at this point of my life it sounds so nice for my own brood to be one of those *Everybody Loves Raymond *families where they live across the street from each other.</p>
<p>
I told my son to check his college’s website, and he said they wouldn’t have the AP scores, but the other night he was poking around and found them. (I don’t know how long they had been up on the site.) He only took two AP exams, and got 5s on both (he took two additional AP courses, but opted not to take those exams). Still no exam scores by mail, though. </p>
<p>I heard through the grapevine that a student in one of our high schools is going to be taking ten AP courses next year (two online), so that they will emerge as valedictorian. This year two students had made a pact to be co-valedictorians, until one went behind the other’s back and signed up for an online AP course, therefore nudging the other one out of valedictorian status.</p>
<p>My Son took 11 APs and he was in no way remarkable at our HS. 12 is pretty common. I think that students can get in 14 or 15. The district has done some things at the middle school level to accelerate science even more, so it will be possible soon for some kids to take the AP sciences right away until waiting until Junior or Senior year like they do now.</p>
<p>But when you get into the 12-15 class range, is the student even interested in all of those courses, or are they strictly taking them for the AP weighting?</p>
<p>Well, my D took 13 APs. And yes, they were courses she was interested in exploring. She wanted to learn something and that wasn’t always possible in the honors courses at her school. At her school, she was pretty unusual but those were her choices. Our school decides val/sal at the end of the 7th semester so she didn’t benefit from weighting due to a “B” in AP French at the break- but graduated 2nd in her class with a 4 on the French AP exam and an A in the course. She’s studying engineering but because of the AP exam will also be able to pursue a French minor easily-she’ll have 3 credits at UVA and can take an advanced class early on. I think APs are great options but obviously don’t think it should be used solely for the purpose of grade inflation. Sometimes things don’t work out the way you plan and 10 AP courses in one year is just ridiculous.</p>
<p>This thread makes me happy that in our already very competitive HS there is no class rank and no val/sal …</p>
<p>D is very excited today. She found out about her dorm and roommate as well as her freshman seminar selection. It is all becoming much more real by the day!</p>
<p>Don’t know how I’ll ever catch up with this thread again. Congrats to everyone’s kiddos on their AP scores. Sympathy to everyone dealing with wisdom teeth. That went pretty easy for geek_son because he had to have it done early; his would have been impacted if we’d waited this long. Not so easy for me at 19 or so. Zetesis and RochesterMom, glad things are going ok with the respective parents and in-laws.</p>
<p>This week has been Geek Week in the geek<em>house. We sat down with all of geek</em>son’s orientation messages and set up his college email, courseware access, and other stuff like that. I’m reeling after setting up Facebook and Twitter accounts to keep up with him. How do today’s plugged-in kids get anything done at all?</p>
<p>Also finally checked Mudd’s recommendations on a computer. missypie, you will love this.
So I guess geek_son’s laptop qualifies. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>He’s been sick all week and on the computer non-stop for days, but finally doing a lot better today. I can tell he’s getting antsy to get active again. He washed the dishes yesterday and offered to start cooking lunch (for both of us) while I’m at work if I leave out ingredients and instructions. I’ll take that!</p>
<p>Got a pretty good shopping list going, and almost all his paperwork is in… but it hasn’t quite sunk in yet that he’s leaving home in six weeks. Didn’t he just graduate a couple of days ago?</p>
<p>Yesterday I got home from work (I’ve been on a special assignment for the last week and 1/2 and have worked a minimum of 10 hours everyday since I was assigned it – no weekends) and there was my D’s first tuition bill. Guess it’s really going to happen. I do think I’m ready for it. It will do her some good to be out on her own and build up some confidence. She’s excited but starting to stress a bit as she won’t know anyone and she decided to not do the freshman orientation trips and instead practice with the team. Six more weeks until we drop her off. </p>
<p>On the plus side with everything that has been going on my husband and I have decided to go away in Oct just the 2 of us and not plan it around school vacations. It’s been too many years since we have been able to just go away when we want.</p>
<p>Northernwoods, S1 is supposed to hear about roommate and dorm on Friday. He’s swinging back and forth between very excited and pretty apprehensive. Glad your D is happy!</p>
<p>geek<em>mom, I like Mudd’s computer recommendation, too. It’s nice that geek</em>son’s feeling better.</p>
<p>Like several of you, we’re now inside the six week mark. I think I posted already that Mr. “I Already HAVE Sheets, Mom” did allow me to order some new ones, and two sets of towels. We still need to go find him an egg-crate mattress pad. Beyond that, it’ll depend on where he gets placed: He may or may not need extra lighting, and so on. Aside from towels and bedding, I think his mental packing list is something along the lines of “computer, laptop, all the jeans I can fit in a duffel, all the shirts I can cram in, Tevas, boots, shoes, toothbrush.” For the bazillionth time - sure is different from watching a girl get ready to go. </p>
<p>RochesterMom, that’s great about your vacation. Where will you go? With S2, we’re still tethered to a school vacation schedule, but we did plan a vacation for early September, to help the three of us adjust to our new situation.</p>
<p>Currently looking at staying at the Belhurst Castle in the finger lakes. Close to home but away. After driving one to DC and one to ME we want someplace that is close.</p>
<p>You are correct about it being differnt for girls and boys. My D has more stuff for her dorm room than my S does for his appartment. H is still saything that “everything is not going to fit in the car”. That’s what UPS is for ;)</p>
<p>JSMom, it sounds like you daughter is adjusting beautifully. Congrats.</p>
<p>RochMom–glad your FIL is home, but sorry it’s becoming a difficult situation. I’m not looking forward to those days with my own parents. I hope it’s still years away.</p>
<p>No AP worries in this house. DD took 2 dual credit courses instead of APs this year. Yeah! She starts her college transcript with a 4.0. She elected not to take the AP exam for the course she did take. </p>
<p>No wisdom teeth as that was done a few years ago. We do have a visit to her cardiologist today. I’m a bit nervous about it and hoping we see no changes since last year. </p>
<p>Shopping has paused, but I’m thinking we’ll do one last big day next week and finish it.</p>
<p>One month before college launch here.</p>
<p>We have postponed wisdom teeth after discovering a Catch 22 between our dental and medical carriers (2 different companies). Neither covers oral surgery as preventative measure. Son has no pain or problems, dentist says it can be postponed. But, we did not discover/understand the insurance situation until after we met with the surgeon and were in the middle of scheduling the procedure for tomorrow. Sigh. We may change insurance next year as $2,000 out of pocket is not an option.</p>
<p>Son is making a list of what to pack and so far it is quite short: Wii and Guitar Hero.</p>
<p>‘Does everyone take video games to school?’ she asked naively.</p>
<p>Great to hear how everyone is doing!! So awesome to stop in and see that everyone is going through the same things (shopping, trying to lure the kids home w/their favorite foods, wondering why boys don’t care much at all about dorm furnishings…). :-)</p>
<p>Son leaves our home on Aug 1 (yikes). We are doing a week long family vacay then driving him to the week long honors prgm at his school before classes start. I really, really can’t believe the time has flown.</p>
<p>LOL at eggmom; I hear you. All son’s friends are taking their xbox360s (much to my chagrin) to school. Apparently the online versions will allow them to play the military games w/their friends in disparate places. (Bonding through virtual bloody death –> seems to be the teen male way; I’ve ceased trying to fight it). </p>
<p>After much procrastination (literally, we’ve left this to the last minute) we are going to pick son’s private loans for the portion of his college costs that aren’t covered by scholarship. It’s about $7k, if you add in travel, books and misc expenses. </p>
<p>I’ve seen Wells Fargo, Citi and Discover (last has no fees, looks good). They are all similar (8.25 %, reduced to 8.0 % w/auto deduct), payments start after grad w/short grace period & req co-signer. We decided no go on ParentPlus.</p>
<p>Wondered if anyone might have a thought on the best private loan? I’ve searched thru the Fin Aid forum, but haven’t found anything definitive.</p>