<p>Thanks NM</p>
<p>Modadunn–you are right on target with your post this morning. I feel exactly the same way. Also I wanted to send a thank you to you for your message to my son back in April. Thanks for the Kudos!</p>
<p>Hi parents! </p>
<p>Popping in to ask a very important question: how much should I charge for tutoring per hour? the parents of the girl who wants me to tutor her have never hired a tutor, and I’m not sure what rate to go by. I don’t want to set a too high price, especially as I’m a good friend of hers, but I don’t want to under charge either (poor college student XD). Any suggestions? Thanks!</p>
<p>D charged $25/hr 2 yrs ago when she was a junior in college and S charged $20/hr 2 yrs ago when he was a junior in high school.</p>
<p>Rent: Thanks for the nice words. I have no specific recollection of offering kudo’s to your son, but he must have very much deserved them because I don’t offer faint praise as a rule. It stems from my dislike of those “participation medals” in elementary school. :)</p>
<p>Tutoring: I have paid tutors in my life and they’ve ranged from about 35-55 an hour depending on age, talent, degree etc of tutor. I do not, however, live in NYC so my midwest pricing sheet might be a tad off. However, my daughter was struggling a tad in Chinese last year and I paid a woman, who was from China and had worked on the state’s curriculum guideline for public schools at the top. Trouble was she was SO good (and of course, a native speaker) that she would see where the teacher made mistakes in characters etc… BUT she did become a regular substitute for the school and so everyone won in the end.</p>
<p>Welcome, rentof4. </p>
<p>NM, good to see you back, and I’m glad things are better for your D, though I definitely understand why they’re still so hard for you. Everybody has their own timetable for grief, and you’re working through two different kinds. Give yourself all the room you need. I agree with missypie, though: You’re up and about, and logging in. That’s progress.</p>
<p>Two weeks today. I’m not taking this well. We had a blissful weekend, with three - three! - family dinners (although there were guests at one of them), and you’d think that would help, wouldn’t you? Nope. It’s just making me focus on what a huge change it will be. </p>
<p>On the plus side, there’s been a lot more in the way of relaxed chat about what classes to take, what S1’s looking forward to, and so on.</p>
<p>My daughter actually came downstairs with a list yesterday!!! It was mostly what clothes she needed/wanted but at least it’s a start. She doesn’t leave until mid-Sept. but we’re on vacation the last two weeks of August and I’m worried by September there will be little left in the stores for the “college stuff.” </p>
<p>I checked out refrigerators and printers on line yesterday and hope to get them before I leave to get my younger daughter from camp, although I’m thinking I should have them shipped directly to her dorm. How do I order them now (before they become “back ordered”) but have them hold them until the school will accept deliveries (early September)? Anyone know?</p>
<p>Modadunn, the car discount in our case counted all the way through S in college ended when he graduated, got his own apartment and didn’t take car at which point we took him off our insurance. (Metlife)</p>
<p>I would imagine that you would pay a tutor about what you would pay for a music lesson. So around here, all the music lessons just went to $25/hr and I would think that would be about right for private tutoring.</p>
<p>Truth: I know nothing about how car insurance… except that H said to fax S’s transcript and that’s pretty much all I care to know. :)</p>
<p>I hear you about things being left on the shelves. My sister suggested we buy everything locally (beyond what we’ve already bought) but I admit I am a little nervous that once we get there, the shelves will be picked clean and he’ll be left with ugly leftovers!</p>
<p>Modadunn, I share your fears. I keep checking my local Costco for all the things I know I’m going to pick up at the other end. Then I keep hoping that they’ll have them there. You know, little things like hangers:) Right now we have 3 stops to pick stuff up once in Richmond, BB&B (very small purchase), Costco (everything from contact lens solution to computer paper) and CVS or local grocer for everything we can’t find at the first two stops. D will be truly sick of shopping by the time this is over. </p>
<p>We have only 1 week to go and it’s all just getting very close. Spent a lot of time cleaning up the laptop and installing stuff for D over the weekend. Forwarded emails to her with all her serial numbers so that both of us have them. </p>
<p>Just scheduled D for haircut to donate her long hair (4th donation for her) since she wants short hair for school (very hard for her to manage the long hair without help). Her last day at work is Wednesday and then we have 4 days to get everything done.</p>
<p>Putting in another plug for BB&B Pack & Hold, for all of you who are worried about what will be left on the shelves. They make sure the items are there at the local store when you arrive, whether it’s next week or mid-Sept.</p>
<p>HMW - I’m all for BB&B except they don’t have refrigerators or printers! Any suggestions as to how to order now and have them not ship until September?</p>
<p>But for those of you not doing Pack and Hold…open up the bedding before you leave for school. I took Son’s quilt out to iron it and it had two stains on it…I’d have overlooked the one on the back, but there is about a 3 inch oily looking stain right the middle of the front…yet another trip to BB&B…(it is very close.)</p>
<p>I made the chocolate fudge cake yesterday. To die for and duly appreciated by the kids.</p>
<p>Son and I watched *Cat on a Hot Tin Roof *last night…his choice to Netflix. I love that he loves Tennessee Williams, as I fell in love with Tennessee Williams in HS. Both Paul Newman and Elizabeth Taylor are utterly gorgeous in the movie and gotta love those 1958 bras that come to a point.</p>
<p>Just finished catching up on the thread. Been busy packing and filling out forms for the past month. This thread makes me sad as I have a little more than a week before we drop S off (5 hours away). He is our first and this has been a 16 month process to get here. It is exciting and bitter-sweet. He is nervous and so happy. Just some thoughts, if these are covered elsewhere my apologies.</p>
<p>Purex has some new laundry drop-ins that work great - will be fab for college kids.</p>
<p>We got a great discount for insurance in addition to good grades called “away at school,” since he will not be driving a car on a regular basis. It was sizable and worth looking in to. I was shocked at the dorm items that Big Lots had and most of them were name brand. Made me wish I had stopped there first. We finished a great deal of our shopping there. Barnes & Noble have had great text book prices.</p>
<p>Thank you for all of your advice, I am forcing him to take less. Your help gotta us here, we will keep following.</p>
<p>H followed me around the house last night looking for something to do. He is missing both Ds. Talked with both girls. Nice to hear from them. D1 is so independent and doing well but a little homesick. H flies to meet her and drive back with her in seventeen days!!! She has really loved her internship. All four of us will meet up the next day at D2’s first collegiate game. When D2 called last night she gave me a list of things to bring. She must be planning on staying! :)</p>
<p>Friend called to ask if I can help get her rising junior D ready to apply for colleges! I told her I need a little break but would help out when I could!</p>
<p>S is leaving in twenty days and I feel like I have devoted so much time/energy into his college process. D2 is a rising junior and we haven’t even started looking and on her heels is D3 a rising sophomore. I feel so behind in the process for D2, and I don’t want to lose D3 in all of this. I sometimes feel like a sinking ship…good news is D1 is going to GS and she received and assistantship! Advise?</p>
<p>NMn: You just verbalized my biggest fear! When the nest is empty H will follow me around it! He already works from home most of the time and while his office is very much away from the “action,” he quickly found out that things I said took me all day could really be done in an hour or so with true diligence. Just the thought of him following me around scares the crap out of me!</p>
<p>I think I will go up to BBB today and try the scanner method. If I don’t have to buy it all, what harm can it do to shop? Actually… that sounds like the perfect retail therapy.</p>
<p>D and I finished the BB&B scanning yesterday - so fun to “shop” without having to pay for it all. However, we did pick up several items to take with us, including sheets which I want to wash. By the time we were done, the “shopping without paying” cost me a small fortune! It’s amazing how quickly a few $10 and $20 items can add up :o </p>
<p>H about had a fit when I told him how much we’d spent and how little we actually came home with :(</p>
<p>BTW, I tried out the Purex 3-in-1 laundry sheets before stocking up for D. I love them!</p>
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<p>H is pretty much going nuts over every purchase so now I just slip anything new in with the big stack of college stuff and hope he doesn’t notice. I’m sure I’m setting a terrible example of deception for my kids, but I just can’t stand to have any more * discussions* about how a brown bucket from the garage will not suffice as a shower caddy.</p>
<p>OK…so I finally registered so that I could reply. You got me with H’s having fits and going nuts over purchases. For us it was the “rug”. I wanted D1 to have a soft rug that tied everything together. He was sure there was some old carpet in the attic. Do you feel my pain?</p>
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PRJ-Glad to hear that because I didn’t try them out, but bought them for D anyway. Thay just seem to be the thing to simplify laundry.</p>
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Missypie, this is kind of like what went on in my house all those years that D was in dance. :)</p>