<p>I know I didn’t call much from school, ever - every minute was costly. I think I actually wrote letters! A big event was a call from my grandmother; I think it happened only once or twice the whole 4 years.</p>
<p>D1 contacted us very little her first month or two, even in this age of texts, e-mails, etc. She was just so absorbed in everything, every second. We were not one bit surprised, given her personality. We’ll see about D2 - she’s more the type to send a thought when it occurs to her, a little non-sequiter. I remember getting one text mid-fall of D1’s first year, that they had her favorite variety of apples in the cafeteria! For her, it was worth sharing.</p>
<p>For now I’m going to presume college will go well … and she is doing her homework … but apps? Meh … can’t expect her to be on my timetable, though. I’m guessing in the next couple of weeks she’ll meet with GC and he’ll light a fire. Too bad teachers here don’t ask for the essays.</p>
<p>Hi all,
It has been a great Labor Day weekend at the songbird house. Our All-Things-College work session was really more fun than we anticipated.</p>
<p>In case it helps anyone, we started out with a chart, but found we were doing a lot of “busywork” filling it in because we already knew a lot of WHAT needed to be done, and it was pretty easy to add in the BY WHEN.</p>
<p>What we were not organized on yet was WHEN all of this would get done.</p>
<p>We found that our table quickly morphed into a To Do list, and it is a thing of beauty (if you’re like me and kind of geeky about lists).</p>
<p>We took all those tasks and deadlines into consideration, along with her schedule over the next few weeks, and assigned every task into a timeslot that she can devote to college stuff. On paper, we should be good-to-go (except my financial stuff) by Oct. 1. Yay!</p>
<p>Cooker, congrats on your D’s NMSF status. My D is NMSF, too, so we’re excited and happy about that.</p>
<p>Hope everybody had a great weekend and got a lot done … Or enjoyed some well deserved R&R – whatever your plans were.</p>
<p>Impressed that so many of you have kids done/almost done with apps. D2 has assured me she’ll get her apps done and has asked me not to bring up deadlines; she has it under control. Since she’s never missed a deadline (that I’m aware of), I’m going to trust her on this. She’s student body president this year, and has spent a lot of time checking out venues for banquet (school’s equivalent to prom), starting a student council blog, helping teachers with bulletin boards in addition to creating some for student council, and writing a 1st day note to every kid in the school (251) which she hung on lockers today. Last week GC told us she made NMSF! Can’t believe it’s her last year of high school, but it appears to be off to a good start!</p>
<p>I agree with phbmom that it’s quite something to read about those of you who are almost done with apps. Here’s to hoping that your early birds get lots of worms. </p>
<p>In the vein of we-had-it-much-harder-in-my-day-young-feller-missy drop-off stories–I was driven up to school by a friend’s mom. The drive usually takes a day, but she had a tire blowout so it took us two. I hadn’t won the housing lottery and didn’t have a permanent place to stay, so I bunked down on the floor of a family friend’s apartment and haunted the housing office for several days. I managed to rent a room in a house, get myself a dining hall contract for dinners, and do all the various bits and pieces needed to get myself up. I had no phone for the start of the year, so all communication with home was by letter. </p>
<p>I have no idea what we’ll do for dropoff for D1 next year. Call me heartless ;), but we may end up just putting her alone on a plane. If she ends up on the other side of the country, I’d rather save plane flights for fun visits when she’ll really appreciate seeing us and being taken out to dinner rather than the stress of moving in. Based on what I’ve seen of her ability to handle things by herself, I have no worries that she’ll be able to do just fine. She’ll have housing, a cell phone, and a credit card for emergencies. If she needs to figure out her schedule, or buy printer paper, I’m sure she will manage. If, however, she really WANTS us to come out with her, that’s a different matter.</p>
<p>Well D may be ahead of the game on her apps BUT did none of her " recommended" ( but not required) AP Ebglish reading… So she is going to have a ton of work this year!</p>
<p>Sure is Slithy! Plus she has her first ever boyfriend and I am anticipating he will be an incredible distraction. She is taking an incredibly demanding senior courseload and he has taken the <em>ahem</em> opposite strategy to senior year- minimal coursework and all easy courses!</p>
<p>I hate to agree with you on this holliesue…but I do. We can’t dictate everything our kids do, but a relationship can be a serious distraction. We had this issue come to a real point last spring. We had to take the cel out of S2s room during studying (he thinks it’s rude not to get back to people when they text…). The computer came out of his room to the dining room where he had to come down to use it so he would stay off fb. We’re taking about a student who is high achieving, always turns in his work, studies on his own. We never even know what his assignments are let alone when they are due. We simply saw a drastic increase in cel phone use…when he was supposed to be doing hw, and later and later bedtimes due to being unfocused. We liked his gf quite a bit. She was also a very high achieving student… a seriously distracting one.</p>
<p>Keep an eye on grades, celphone habits, and bedtime pushed back because things are just taking longer. Let her try her way… don’t be afraid to step in if you think it’s not working and instill a few rules.</p>
<p>FWIW, it’s probably a good thing that she experience her first relationship while at home. You can be there for support and guidance even if she doesn’t think she needs it. Good luck!</p>
<p>holliesue: they are definitely separated at birth; daughter and her first boyfriend, ever, just left for ice cream prior to their “first day of senior year”…</p>
<p>on the distraction note, my older daughter’s grades were never higher than when she had a HS boyfriend; her perspective was “now I don’t have to worry about what I’m doing on my weekends, so I can concentrate on my schoolwork”…we will see if this daughter follows suit; boyfriend is definitely an “academic type” so hoping it rubs off…</p>
<p>School tomorrow, senior camp out tonite. Don’t recall this “tradition” with my older kids. Great way to start off the week, tired. Oh well, at least its a short week.</p>
<p>I have a feeling that when I told my mom that I was going to begin my commonapp essay today, she was under the impression that I would write more than one sentence. Still, writing the first sentence is one of the most important steps in writing an essay. ;)</p>
<p>rodney and holliesue, good luck to your girls. I guess my D is a fraternal triplet after all … she broke up with her BF before he left for college (a mutual decision). I’ll say that BFs for my girls have generally been helpful and settling in many ways (the breakups not maybe so great, but I won’t go into that).</p>
<p>Slithey - you get the “weird move-in” award! All hail to you!</p>
<p>I guess we’ll have to begin accepting already that everyone’s going to have different experiences this year - different timing, different outcomes. All is good, and here’s where we’ll get support, hugs, cheers and a place to vent. It’ll be a ride … that’s all that’s guaranteed.</p>
<p>SaintSaens - a first step is a huge accomplishment! Keep it up!</p>
<p>Emmybet- each of our children will have their own unique experience and timetable, but I am so grateful to have my CC friends there for support!</p>
<p>High level of productivity here this weekend including fitting in lots of fun time. I’m VERY proud of my DS. NMSF application including essay is done. Yeah!! Five of seven schools are common app which is mostly done. Still a little fine tuning to go. One of two non-CApp schools is almost done; the other being worked on right now. Five schools have Oct or Nov deadlines so the push is on. The next few weeks will be tough, but then it will be done. Hopefully with good news to follow. B R E A T H E</p>
<p>S’s first day back at school. Hoping for a productive, fun year. He was very lucky and got some great teachers, including the two he had asked to write recs. I haven’t seen the essay in over a week, hoping he has made some progress. </p>
<p>This really is a transition year, I feel like we are at a point where H & I can no longer tell him anything, just advise and hope he makes the right choices. </p>
<p>10yo D starts back Wednesday. Her big issue is making sure she gets her nails done today. S needs a haircut because he is getting his yearbook picture retaken Wed at school. Rat race with EC’s and sports has already started and I am trying to not stress over it. In a few years I will have all the time in the world to clean and cook.</p>
<p>First day back at school too; daughter woke up with a fever and no symptoms (yet again)…off on her way with medication…keeping my fingers crossed…</p>
<p>applications are about where I thought they would be; common app essays done, some supplements done (some not released yet), school specific apps done…just final tweaking that will be done over the next few weeks…</p>