<p>Shaw-Stapler,with box of Staples, was on the first packing list and safely tucked away in a box.</p>
<p>Ohiohmom-Glad to know I am not alone! I think the same way-. Even if you don’t need it,someone else might and you might be surprised who you meet over a roll of tape!</p>
<p>Gsmomma- I bet your child will love seeing those Facebook comments as much as you do! Thanks for reminding me to pack the camera!</p>
<p>Wishing all those moving in today clear skies and smiles.</p>
<p>Welcome MarthaW! </p>
<p>Snoozn: I’m glad that move-in went smoothly but sorry to hear about the latest low. I loved the image of your dog refusing to get out of the car. </p>
<p>2Ed: It’s great that your S1 was so happy to return to school. It’s such a great feeling for a parent.</p>
<p>Best of luck to those moving in this weekend.</p>
<p>By the way, don’t worry too much about those neglected younger siblings. I remember the first few dinners with D2 after D1 left for college. She was pretty shocked to be the center of both parents’ attention.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Sounds like our situation where D has had the backseat while all the attention and activity is about S who launches next Friday. We have also had to transition from senior baseball to sophomore JV tennis events.</p>
<p>**The next new student move-ins are Juniata College, University of Alabama, Pomona College, University of Puget Sound, and University of Virginia move-ins on August 20th - today!
Move-in day is TODAY! Where did the summer go? :eek:
[ul][<em>]Case Western Reserve University and MIT (pre-orientation) move-ins on August 21st are just 1 day to go.
[</em>]Wellesley College move-in on August 22nd is just 2 days to go.
[<em>]Pitt, Midwestern State, and Duke move-ins on August 23rd are just 3 days to go.
[</em>]Marquette University and Bryn Mawr move-ins on August 24th are just 4 days to go.
[<em>]Willamette move-ins on August 25th are just 5 days to go.
[</em>]Georgetown University, Champlain College, Elon University, and SUNY Potsdam move-ins on August 26th are just 6 days to go.
[li]Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering, California Lutheran University, Sarah Lawrence College, Tulane University, Lebanon Valley College, and Loyola University of Maryland move-ins on August 27th are just 1 week (that’s only 7 days!) to go.[/ul][/li]The last new student move-ins are the University of Oregon and the University of Southern Oregon on September 22nd<br>
Move-in day in 33 days. Just over a month to go for the final move-in.</p>
<p>The link to the Move-in Date Thread is <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1141579-hs-class-2011-college-class-2015-move-dates-5.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1141579-hs-class-2011-college-class-2015-move-dates-5.html</a></p>
<p>If you son’s or daughter’s move-in dates and schools are not listed please add them to the list.**</p>
<p>Ds sent me a quick text when he got to band camp (they bus the kids to a satellite campus for the 5 day camp) yesterday afternoon and then we haven’t heard from him since. It is kind of funny not hearing from him but I tell you, I sure enjoyed going to bed at 11 and not having to worry about someone still not home or someone not going to bed until 1 am. Dd2 has cleaned and moved into ds’ room. Only vestige of ds is his homecoming king crown on the top shelf of the closet.</p>
<p>Dd1, dd2 and dd3 have certainly been neglected through all this last year. Dd1 should have been scheduled for behind-the-wheel in April but I haven’t done that. Dd3’s birthday is today (10 yo) and I didn’t buy her anything until last night and they weren’t the things she wanted exactly. I still didn’t get her a cake - and a party, while talked about, is not planned or scheduled. Next week, I will ship the two hs kids off to band camp and dd3 has her cheer camp (not sleepaway, just in town for the pee-wee football squads). Our schools don’t start until 9/7. I just wish we had spent a little more time this summer going to the beach or the city. Seemed to just fly away from us - ds was more than occupied with his own social calendar and I just wasted time planning and packing. Ah well. Two years from now, I should be back in the same situation and hopefully improving on the process.</p>
<p>kinderny, ShawSon went to a private boys school for five years including middle school. The first two years were fabulous as they had a two-year program aimed at boys with high IQs and language-related learning disabilities for half a day and the rest with other boys. The next three years were fairly miserable because they really had no plan for integrating these kids. I was vocal in negotiating and complaining and they were unhappy with me. I felt they a) were unwilling and unable to hear or learn from any criticism (the sign in my experience of a declining organization); and b) were relatively disrespectful to me. ShawSon does not remember the school fondly relative to HS and now college and we won’t give any money there and I highly doubt he would (I’ve already given some money to his college). I’ve requested that the school stop sending me fund-raising missives and have explained our experience and feelings to the director of development and we get fewer missives but some still squeak through.</p>
<p>If you label their PR newsletters as spam and with a spam blocker (or set up a gmail filter or equivalent), you can stop having them show up in your inbox. If the spam blocker a) is Bayesian (learns your preferences); and b) shares the preferences with a broader community (and so learns from your preferences and other people preferences --I used to use Cloudmark when I had a PC), this might actually put them in a list of spammers and would affect what gets through. Then they’ll stop.</p>
<p>Been lurking around this post for a while - not sure if I have posted or not, but I have really enjoyed your thoughts!!! DD (our oldest) is attending Boston University and is participating in their amazing week of service before school starts - what a great way to meet friends. Our movein date is Monday the 29th - we are flying from CA on Thursday and I am getting nervous and excited for her!! She is absolutely on Cloud 9! She and her sister and I (Dan injured himself so had to cancel) are going to have a great time for a few days in Boston before moving her in. I rented a condo through vrbo dot com so that I have a washing machine and more space for the same price - I think this will turn out to be a great decision!</p>
<p>One thought I have…I recall from the dinosaur days that it was great to have a few extra things that were “borrowable” by hallmates - great way to make friends. with that in mind, we are giving her plenty of extra BBB coupons, a hammer and screwdriver, maybe a Magnecart from Staples (a collapsible cart to get heavy boxes from home upstairs - surprisingly strong and takes little space) duct tape…</p>
<p>The one thing I echo from Amanda above is that I worried too much that she didn’t start packing soon enough - once she got going, it was surprisingly easy. I think I stressed myself out for nothing - after all, Boston has a Target, and then it is her money not mine! Silly me - will learn for next time!</p>
<p>California bound–in flight (gotta love airplane wi-fi). Pomona or bust! Next post–launch story. Good luck to everyone who has MI days this weekend!</p>
<p>DS’ move-in was last Friday . . . guess who’s at my house this morning?! 
We only live about 15 minutes from his school. He brought his roommate here to our local breakfast joint for brk. tacos, which are the best in the world. They are playing Xbox now (which we did not let DS take with him just yet). First week has been orientation and their first-year seminar; regular classes start Monday.</p>
<p>Amanda – maybe you and your girls need to have a manicure party today or something “girlie” like that.</p>
<p>Reading your stories & loving them! Glad I finally have Internet service again bc since I’ve been away I really stopped thinking about (facing?) college drop- off. You are bringing my attention back. S has finally communicated w roommate today re: what their will bring to room to share. Thankfully neither wants a tv, game consoles, or microwave. Frig & perhaps rug is it. Like some of you I too have an office supply addiction & bought all that stuff before leaving for vacation.</p>
<p>Keep the stories & tips coming!</p>
<p>cgpm- haha, back home already? I love how he bought him roommate to the local breakfast joint. Nice!</p>
<p>Proudmom - good luck with move in. </p>
<p>shoot4moon - we found the actual packing of stuff went fast too. Having enough room for everything that is another story. He already set aside some baseball caps for me to mail (they won’t get crushed that way) along with some other stuff. </p>
<p>AK - never slows down at your house does it? H will be very happy once he no longer has to wait up for s to come home. </p>
<p>momofzach - thanks! just installed cc on my droid. have fun with new tablet.</p>
<p>2education - sorry for the lousy drive. Hard rains are almost as bad a snowstorms. </p>
<p>gsmom- sounds like your D is in her happy place!</p>
<p>Love reading the move in stories and about everyone travels. </p>
<p>Welcome Martha W! Olin is a great school, we have hired a few eng from there and they are all very bright well educated kids. </p>
<p>After spending lots of money for S on school stuff, D asked what she needs to buy for her new school. I pull out the list…a soft pen and pencil pouch. that is it. very dissapointing for D. I may take her out to Staples to buy a few things anyway. I also had to inform her that there will be no back to school clothes shopping til my bank acct gets replenished the end of this week. </p>
<p>I think I mentioned it previously. S was diagnosed with ADHD/executive function disorder around March. He has been seeing a therapist since then to work on organizational skills weekly. But, he was unable to apply anything he learned in an academic environment because school was done around the time he started seeing the therapist. He has a very high IQ and tests very well but has issues with what I call deliverables. His therapist and I would like him to continue to see someone once he starts college and I had S make an appt with the appropriate person at his school. So Friday he gets a note from this therapist that she received his psychoanalysis reports and doesn’t feel he needs any assistance from her or the school and cancelled his appt. She still hadn’t received his current therapists report so I am hoping when she gets that she will reconsider. S may be OK on his own, but I don’t want to find out in 2 months he isn’t. Right now we are paying up front for an out of network therapist and get reimbursed about 5-6 weeks after the fact for about 60& of the cost. I was hoping to be done having to pay for this but if the school therapist doesn’t come through and agree to see him then I will have to do something. And it will be like picking a name from a hat, current therapist doesn’t know anyone near collegetown and there isn’t much in way of reviews on line. arrgghh.</p>
<p>Well…our kiddo pulled out the luggage and started piling all of the stuff together…</p>
<p>I did some more washing. </p>
<p>Am glad that I didn’t open the egg crate topper as another parent tells me that they can’t get her DDs topper back into the packaging now that its breathed/opened all the way.</p>
<p>Kiddo is thinking of not taking any room decor/memorabilia for now…which has me sad to think how “bare” the room might look, yet I am talking about my neat-nic minimalist kid. </p>
<p>Now to check the lists for forgotten items</p>
<p>Re younger sibs feeling neglected–yes we have one here–though the back-to-school shopping has been done. This younger student isnt so sure all of the attention and focus for the next 3 years sounds like a good idea…haha</p>
<p>My D leaves Tuesday from central Iowa to see her grandparents in SE Iowa, then makes her way to her cousins house on Wednesday, also in SE Iowa, and then D and her cousin will head to New Orleans on Thursday for a Saturday move in. </p>
<p>D has not been home since last Tuesday morning and I am not sure of the state of her packing. Some has been done, not all of it though. She will be home later this afternoon to stay until she leaves Tuesday morning and most of her hs friends are already gone, so I think she can focus on packing now.</p>
<p>I have heard that there is a yet unnamed storm that is gathering steam and may be a tropical depression or even a hurricane by the time move in day in New Orleans arrives. My Iowa girls won’t know how to handle that.</p>
<p>Back from moving D into Lawrence University (Appleton, WI)! I have so much to catch up on here, but thought I would let you all know that everything went well and I held it together throughout. I only cried the morning we left to make the 10+ hour drive. D’s best friend drove over to say a special good bye with a big poster she made saying, “Look out Lawrence, her she comes!” What a wonderful, supportive friend - just the confidence booster that D needed (and that this wonderful friend always seems to provide). Well, who wouldn’t cry at that!?!?!</p>
<p>Loaded up the car Tuesday night, drove all day on Wednesday and moved D in on Thursday - first tennis practice was that afternoon, with a team dinner in the evening. 2-a-days started the next morning. We waited to see D after her practice to give her a few extra things we had picked up for her, then started the long drive back. My sweet, softy of an H started to break down a bit as we said goodbye, but recovered so we didn’t have any tears. D was so exhausted from practices and getting very little sleep (because of the excitement), that she was almost numb. We have texted today and she is doing much better. Has a group she is hanging with, but they are trying to bring in everyone to avoid the cliquey-ness. Eating well (one of our worries), set up her own computer with the University system, got her ID at security and is going to follow up on her work-study options.</p>
<p>Now we will see S off next week as he drives to his college in Beloit, WI. This will be his first time driving up. (yes, I will be nervous!)</p>
<p>I want to thank you all for the great ideas for moving in (wrapping pre-hung up clothes in a big sheet - fabulous!) and for all the good wishes! It was so wonderful to know that those who went before me had made it through ok. That made me much more confident that I could do it too!</p>
<p>Now, on to read what has happened with you all in the past several days! Best wishes to all!</p>
<p>Hello from the other side! DS is successfully launched :)</p>
<p>We had a 2-5 pm move-in slot. We arrived on campus around 12:30. Parked (nowhere near the dorms) and went to the place where DS had to check-in and get his student-id. This took all of 2 minutes, so everyone was mad at me for making them get up so early and get to campus early. I thought we should walk up to the dorms so DS could get his key and not have to wait in line when we got up there with his stuff, but we decided that it would take so long to walk up and back that it wouldn’t be worth it. So we went and retrieved the car and decided to drive up there. We were told we couldn’t drive to the area around the dorms until our move-in slot, but we figured we’d get close and drop him off at least. But since the prior move-in block was almost over (it was around 1:30 by the time we decided to retrieve our car, got it out of the parking garage and actually got up to the part of campus where the dorms are) no one stopped us, so he was able to move in a bit early. They had it arranged so you would drive your car to the front of the dorm, unload all your stuff into a square marked on the ground, and then carry it up with the help of many helpers, while one parent moved the car to a far-away parking lot. So we did that, got all his stuff up to his room, and let him start unpacking and organizing and making a list of what we should try to pick up when we went out to Walmart for the pre-ordered site-to-store fridge. </p>
<p>Items on the list: a lanyard for keys, a bedboard (the springs were pretty saggy), shelves to put in the closet (which was 95% empty because DS doesn’t hang his clothes except his one outfit of dress clothes that he brought), a network cable so he can use the wired internet instead of wireless (though it doesn’t seem to be working – that is for him to look into though), and 3 power strips. By then it was around 3pm and the roommate had not arrived so we decided to go do the shopping right then. He wasn’t fully unpacked, but clearly wanted to do that at his leisure without all of us (DH, myself and 2 younger brothers) hanging around.</p>
<p>Found a Lowe’s where we got a board of plywood cut for the bedboard. Got the fridge and other items, and went to the grocery store to get DS some breakfast items (he’s on a 14 meals per week plan) and some snack items etc. There were thunderstorms in the area and we got to see some great lightning although it never really rained hard where we were, happily. Then when we were in the grocery store, the power went out. Pitch black. No emergency lights, nothing. We just froze where we were. Then we saw some flashlights waving around, and finally some emergency lighting came on. We finished grabbing our groceries and were amazed that they could still check people out on emergency power, so we got checked out and back to the dorm right at 5pm, went back to the loading area, this time we were able to nab a cart for transporting the fridge, so that all went well. By then the roommate was there, so the families met and everyone seemed nice enough. </p>
<p>We hadn’t made firm dinner plans, but our son said he’d like to just go to the dining hall and meet kids there, so we went on our own to dinner and back to our hotel. </p>
<p>We met in the morning for new student convocation, which was nice and even my DH who had been whining about having to get up early for it, did seem to appreciate it. I’m not sure DS appreciated it. He’s not much of a morning person, and had been up late with student orientation activities. Then we moved to the engineering welcome session which was separate for parents and students. Again DS wanted to find lunch on his own, so we went on our own to a deli we found on campus, with plans to meet up with him again at the dessert reception and engineering majors fair. That was the last parent event of the day, and it was totally a zoo. DS did meet the prof who teaches the game design classes (which is his interest) at the CS major table, so that was nice (and we heard later that he learned that that prof is is faculty advisor). Since the thing was a zoo and not really relevant for families, we didn’t stay long, got the younger brothers dessert, said our goodbyes (in public! but no one was paying attention to us) and went on our way. </p>
<p>So we’re home, and a little said, but shockingly, I didn’t cry (and it probably helped that we were listening to an audiobook on the way home). </p>
<p>Didn’t need the cleaning wipes or paper towels but did use the tape measure for several things. And we should have brought a towel to convocation as the stadium seating was all damp with condensation (cool and foggy morning).</p>
<p>Ohiomom and mathmomvt: Congrats on the successful move-ins. </p>
<p>Mamom: Sorry for the frustration about the therapist. </p>
<p>Shoot4moon: Hi! I’m jealous that you’re going to Boston a few days early. My D is participating in the community service program also. We’re leaving home really early on Monday morning and driving to Boston that day.</p>
<p>College move-in is feeling more like water torture here now. We delivered D to pre-orientation this afternoon (2 1/2 hours each way; she was originally going to take the train, but in the end asked us to drive her and she has been so sad this week that we agreed) with just a backpack of camping stuff. Driving home, H said, “We’ve done it. She’s in college now.” Then why is my living room full of all her stuff in boxes? And why do I need to ride this emotional roller coaster again next Friday for actual freshman move-in? By then, I hope she will feel well adjusted and have little use for us, but I think the whole experience would be easier if we could just do it all at once and have that be it.</p>
<p>HI everyone, Congrats to those who have launched their DS or DD.
My D is now officially launched. It really couldn’t have gone better. We drove down the night before and stayed in a hotel. Spent a couple hours reminiscing with D and telling funny stories. It was great. Got up early and got to the school by 7:45 (check in started at 8, but as I predicted they were ready for us). We beat the lines at registration and at safety where she had to register her car. No line at the bookstore either! </p>
<p>Drove to the dorm. About 20 students descended on our car and carried all her belongings to the 3rd floor room.
Got to her room. After trying to arrange everything without bunking the beds, D and her roommate decided to bunk them. After that everything was a smooth as silk. D put away everything herself, didn’t want our help, but wasn’t mean about it. She just wanted to figure things out for herself. DH and I just stayed out of the way unless we were asked to do a task. Oh, and believe it or not d had enough room for ALL her precious tshirts that she brought!!! Had picnic lunch and then went to the short welcome ceremony said goodbye and hit the road. I had expected to be crying, but honestly I could see how happy d was, already making friends, that I was too happy for her to be sad for me. I guess I did enough crying over the last few weeks in anticipation. And am sure there will be tears to come. But in the moment , my happiness and excitement for her prevailed.
Can’t believe that I have a daughter in college! Wow…</p>
<p>S’s move in was yesterday. Everything went well. It was exhausting in the three digit temp but exciting. I was so pleased with the nice and clean dormroom. I tried to hold my tears back but just could not do it when it was time to say goodbye. It was the HARDest goodbye I ever had to say to anybody. Luckily I had my sunglassses…In the elevator S2 said “Well one down and one more to go”. I was so sad and I told him I would never let him leave…
This morning guess who called. No good morning no how was your trip back home, etc. S asked me “Where is my comb? I looked all over for it and could not find it.” That’s just the way he is. I sure happy to hear his voice and we had a nice short chat. He said he slept well last night.
The university has eProxy service for the parents to view/pay bills and track all dining transactions and others such as laundry and xerox. I can’t wait to find out if S gets out of room to go to the cafe. He did not last night (sniff)but he did eat today at noon because there was a dining transaction. H says I am stalking our son. Oh well it sure gives me some assurance.
S2 went to Boy Scout camp and the house is so quiet. H is tired of me saying all these things about S1 and I miss him so much! Thanks to all for reading my post. Good job to all the parents for the great move ins and good luck to all the upcoming ones. It is an experience that we have to go thru after 18 years of parenthood. Because of the great job you have done raising your S or D, he/she can take this journey alone today.</p>