Parents of the HS Class of 2011 - We're awesome!

Parents of HS Class of 20xx
2801

<p>Hello All</p>

<p>Ohiomom24–Have heard that it is not unusual for freshman to feel excited about the options and sign up for lots of things–Over time they drop stuff because it cannot all be done</p>

<p>Roommates–As far as we have heard, the roommmate is fine and they get alone. Similar classes/perhaps different levels. idk. Hopefully they are keeping it clean and odor free.</p>

<p>Books–kiddo finally got the books–I think that it is at about $400 so far…I know the bulk was done on Amazon, and perhaps some others at the campus store. I need to send some bi-lingual dictionaries to kiddo–to avoid another purchase. </p>

<p>Sport is keeping kiddo busy, committed and tired. Happy with teammates.</p>

<p>Weather–wetter/rainy and about 15-20 degrees cooler than kiddo is used to for this time of year. And so it begins.</p>

<p>Contacted academic dean of the U to ask about how APs get applied because of some vagueness on the tables/charts online and what we think we understand from kiddo’s explanation.
Sent an email and was directed to the web site.
Sent a second email back to dean saying BTDT and web site isn’t clear about this question
Referred to someone who handles placement.
More for my own edification: do the 2 AP calc scores give credits for the classes, or is the student just bumped up two levels without credit given??
In this case instead of taking the next level of multi-variable calc in the math dept, kiddo is taking the next level calc through the engineering dept. We want to know if the two college courses are the same or did kiddo forfeit the credits via AP because the math in the engineering dept isn’t listed on the chart …idk…and kiddo seemed unclear. Worth asking now, kwim? </p>

<p>The U generally requires all students to take full loads for all 4 yrs–and does not give credits for AP courses etc. I realize that…the chart is confusing…</p>

<p>So…guess I need to get to the post office…maybe I will send some peanut butter too :D</p>

2802

<p>Amanda, I would if I lived closer and if the cable guy wasn’t coming this afternoon to move boychild’s HDTV into our bedroom along with the whole house dvr box. :)</p>

<p>Emmybet, hope your D can resolve the roommate situation quickly or she becomes so into her classes she starts not to care all that much. Good to remind the kids that they only have to live with the people they can’t stand for 9 months.</p>

<p>Boychild’s classes start today. I’m very excited for him.</p>

2803

<p>Fog-At my S’s engineering school, he moved up to multi-variable calc (offered at Math Dept) and was given credits for Diff and Integ Calc based on his Calc AP scores. S talked to his academic advisor and handled it all by himself. Can your S contact his advisor for advice?</p>

2804

<p>emily my son started today too! I got a text that his first class was cut short because the prof is in Copenhagen at an anti-terrorism conference.</p>

<p>Um…should I be worried?</p>

<p>Thanks about the advice on the girl. I am going to keep that stuff in the other thread-other than to say that I am so upset I feel like I am going to lose my mind! I will just hope that when the GC gets back in touch with me this can be resolved. If not…well I am not doing this for four years-she is a tough cookie though.</p>

<p>fogfog this is unusual weather for this time of year. By Friday we should be back to normal-mid 70’s or so. New England has some spectacular weather this time of year-this is just a little blip. :)</p>

2805

<p>Pepper, no, you should not be worried. </p>

<p>Sorry, too, about the problems at your D’s school. My sister, who is in one of the best school districts in the country, battled with her oldest daughter’s GC & office and when she could see the same writing on the wall with her youngest, pulled her out in 11th grade and sent her to boarding school (D2’s choice -she didn’t want to go to any of the day schools in her area.) </p>

<p>I pulled my son out of our public HS 5 weeks into his freshman year - not because the GC issues - but I didn’t give him a choice. It was the best decision we made and I only wish we had put him in private school in middle school.</p>

2806

<p>I’m not sure my DS has access to technology yet. They left phones and such at the school before leaving on the trip (they may also have left wallets with school to be locked up during trip, not sure). Also, they put kids into hotel rooms until they could get transportation back to school. Once back on campus I don’t know when they will get their phones, keys, etc back so I don’t know when he will contact us. I will wait until tomorrow and then perhaps call if we haven’t heard anything.</p>

2807

<p>VA, if something happened to your son the school would have contacted you by now. I don’t think you have a thing to worry about.</p>

2808

<p>IMO - bad news travels fast so I would agree that VAson is fine.</p>

2809

<p>kinderny, Your daughter might like this site: [Ratty</a> Gourmet](<a href=“http://rattygourmet.blogspot.com/]Ratty”>http://rattygourmet.blogspot.com/) Oh, and here’s a book that I planned to send/give my son when he starts complaining about the dorm food: Tray Gourmet, be your own chef in the college cafeteria. [Amazon.com:</a> Tray Gourmet: Be Your Own Chef in the College Cafeteria (9780962740329): Larry Berger, Lynn Harris: Books](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Tray-Gourmet-Your-College-Cafeteria/dp/0962740322/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1315419833&sr=1-1]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Tray-Gourmet-Your-College-Cafeteria/dp/0962740322/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1315419833&sr=1-1) I bought it for my older son who never used it, so I re-appropriated it for this one.</p>

2810

<p>I’ve been “keeping up with my reading” here on the boards but we’ve been busy otherwise. I know the national news has picked up the story of the huge wildfires here in central Texas; the one in Bastrop is burning for the fourth day. Burn line is 26 miles long. My sister-in-law and her husband lost their house, but had time to grab the dog, important papers, laptop, both cars, and a few other items before evacuating. It is SCARY how fast this fire has been. I just saw on the CNN website in the Video section, there is a video called “How fast can a fire burn?” (or something like that) – look at how fast that tree goes up! </p>

<p>In DS news, his roommate is great; classes seem to be going fine so far. Even Spanish III, which we were concerned about, is bueno. DS says he’s actually one of the better ones in the class.</p>

<p>Hard to believe he has been on campus over three weeks already!</p>

<p>He had a health issue that has now been resolved and deemed to be a non-issue, but it set him back a couple of weeks in his sport. They started practices during the week of orientation. They practiced twice a day for five days. After the second practice of the first day, DS calls me and says “Mom, I was having chest pains during practice, so they’re sending me to get an EKG.” Mom says “WHAT?!!?” :eek: After the EKG and a full-blown stress test, his heart is perfectly fine. The pains were caused by the heat (which was in the 105-108 range that week for the highs), the fact that he quite possibly was not in as good a shape as he thought he was (!), and perhaps some late nights in the dorm. The worst thing that happened is he temporarily lost out on a spot on the varsity team and is working back up from the reserve team. Which is fine. He will get there at some point. </p>

<p>And like I reminded him over the weekend: This is why you pick a SCHOOL that you love, not just the school that happens to also have your sport!</p>

2811

<p>Hi</p>

<p>CGPM59 so very sorry to hear about the fires …glad they were able to get out safely. Such terrible losses.</p>

<p>Our student is a high performance athlete–and a few years back we experienced the chest/pains thing. EKG, full stress test etc. It was smooth muscle spasms known as precoridal catch. Very painful and freaks the kid out…yet not heart related. Hydration, potassium are key.</p>

<p>Call from academic dean was helpful.
We knew the AP was for Placement and not for “credit” as the U requires students to do upper level work, they can’t generally finish early.
Dean stressed that very very very rarely does one finish in 3.5 yrs…and the acceleration MUST come from the few APs to upper placement and first semester classes only…</p>

<p>The chart shows that all of the soft sciences, and even some applied get NO placement advantage…stat, comp sci, econ, psych, pol sci, art, history etc… do not receive anything…That we knew (so much for that cute piece of paper kiddo has as a national AP Scholar–haha)
Of the things like foreign languages, Math, Chem, Eng, Physics the APs help to place a student.</p>

<p>So since it is so so complicated and applies then to so very few students, it is no wonder why it is more easily explained via phone instead of a web page…and no wonder why our student figured it was all a moot point. No wonder why kiddo couldn’t explain it–Gosh between Dh and I - we have 5 degrees and we found the charts and web pages a bit non-sensical.</p>

<p>Pepper-hope you are right. Kiddo was looking forward to the cooler weather–Starting off with a hurricane move in was interesting. Last week was lovely and sunny/blue skies. This week is calling for rain all week.</p>

2812

<p>fogfog I feel confident better weather is right around the corner. :</p>

<p>Yes EB I won’t worry-he texted me again and thought it was “cool” he got his assignments.</p>

<p>Sorry to hear about those fires and your son’s health issues CGPM.</p>

2813

<p>Better late than never, right? Work has been crazy, unbelievably busy after we got back - so haven’t had the chance to post.</p>

<p>We dropped D off on the 21st. Drove down to Cleveland on Friday, got there just past midnight. Spent Saturday at the football hall of fame in Canton and Cuyahoga National Park. Lovely place. We did get a great family picture there that I am planning to make a canvas picture! Sort of a last mini vacation!</p>

<p>Move-in on Sunday was very smooth. We got there around 9.30. Long line of cars to unload. H got in line while D and I went in to pick up her ID and keys. Came back and H had moved just a little bit. We picked up some loose stuff from the van and headed to the room. Made a couple more trips like these - but most of the heavy stuff was moved via the golf cart and the helpers when H got to the front of the line. Roommate was not yet there - so we had the place to ourselves. Her bed needed to be lofted a bit to get the fridge under there - maintenance folks were around to help us do that. Setting up the room was very very easy. She left for a physical while S and I unloaded most of the stuff and put them away. S was a big help - took care of crawling under the bed, hooking up the electronics, the surge protectors etc. D and H got back, we made a few more adjustments to the room, put up her poster and decor stuff on the walls and then left for lunch. After lunch, we went back to the room and H fiddled around with the internet. H and S then went to the common lounge area and hung out there while D and I sort of finished up. It’s almost like we didn’t want to be done :frowning: But we finally did leave - got some ice cream together and then dropped her back at the dorm. She was very emotional the last few hours and ran from the car without turning back to look at us since she was sure she would cry! She was most annoyed with me since I didn’t cry :slight_smile: Truthfully, not quite sure why or how - but I was able to hold it in and not shed a tear while I was with her that day! It seemed so “right”, so “correct” - I told her that she was happy and excited to be there - and why should I be sad??</p>

<p>Well, it didn’t last for long - we were on the long drive back, when she texted us to say she got our parting gift (a gift card to the local bakery/gelato place). She didn’t want to call since she would cry - that started me off! Here I was, driving on the interstate, with tears streaming down my face and NO tissues in the van!!</p>

<p>Anyway, she’s thoroughly enjoying herself thus far. Is getting involved in several activities - H is seriously wondering if she will have the time to study :slight_smile: She texts frequently - once she does, I start a text conversation. Get quite a lot of info that way. She is not a big talker on the phone. We did have one skype call and that was nice. Classes are good - Calc is tough, but she is planning on getting some help (she placed into a higher level class due to her scores - hopefully, that was the right call!). She changed her schedule almost right away - had to deal with the academic dean to get that sorted out and she managed. Very resourceful when she wants something. No roommate issues so far - she said they get along well - but doesn’t sound like they are best buddies. She did do laundry - the very first time she did, she even made it her facebook status :slight_smile: Bathrooms are not ideal, but she said she can work around it. </p>

<p>It feels so strange to not have her around. When I am busy at work, I don’t think about it as much - but when I do get home, it’s hard. I am dealing with it ok for the most part - but I’ll break down at the unexpected moments. We had a religious holiday the week after we dropped her off - and I was miserable that night without her. Was holding it in, but S could sense that I was miserable. He put his arm around me and that was the proverbial last straw! She genuinely seems happy where she is though - so I am trying to get used to the new normal around home. </p>

<p>Have a lot to catch up on here - not sure if I ever will be able to. Pepper - sorry to hear your D’s school is giving you headaches! Vamom - I am sure your S is ok -but you’ll only feel better once you hear from him. Amanda - you do make me laugh! I would have loved to come and help you with your grapes…</p>

2814

<p>Kathiep</p>

<p>Just ordered that book. Will send it as a small surprise in the next month.</p>

<p>What a cute idea…though frankly the food at the U is amazing!!</p>

<p>Here is todays menu at one dining hall…</p>

<p>[Yale</a> Dining: Menu & Nutrition Center](<a href=“http://www.yaledining.org/menu.cfm?mDH=2]Yale”>http://www.yaledining.org/menu.cfm?mDH=2)</p>

<p>Congrats Arisamp…sounds like all went well. ;o)</p>

2815

<p>fogfog, no surprise. Alice Walker’s daughter Franny went to Yale. Alice Walker, as in Chez Panisse. Here, read about what happened. [Good-bye</a>, Cryovac - Magazine - The Atlantic](<a href=“http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2004/10/good-bye-cryovac/3489/]Good-bye”>Good-bye, Cryovac - The Atlantic)</p>

2816

<p>Hi Everyone!</p>

<p>Well my D also started classes today and she has already made a couple of schedule changes - she moved her calc class to 8:00AM (yikes) and changed out her elective for an alternative one. Like Pepper, we too had reservations about her schools admin but she has not encountered any problems. So far, she likes her roomate and the other girls on her hallway. They have been invited to a number of parties and they have checked them all out including an MIT frat party across the river (it seems that all the college kids mix and mingle - there are quite a few all college events sponsored around town). She was ready for the welcome week activities to be over (too much down time) and is excited to “dig in”…so far life is good for her. She is adjusting well to the big city and all it has to offer. Time will tell.</p>

<p>arisamp - I too cried the entire way home after drop off. But I have to say, D has texted us quite often asking questions about the public transportation or soliciting an opinion about very random and inconsequential things. I think she is just trying to stay connected and it is helping us let go.</p>

<p>cgpm59 - I am so sorry to hear about those fires - it is very scary how fast they move. I am glad everyone was able to get out safely.</p>

<p>Pepper - D is on the lookout for your son but they haven’t met up yet. She still thinks WE are weird.</p>

<p>Today I did another college visit in the rain with D2…big state U…surprisingly, she liked it so we added it to her list. Love your safety!</p>

2817

<p>St,</p>

<p>The food after convocation was wonderful. Lemon hummos, quinoa salad, heirloom tom with mozzerella, cibatta bread, turkey or roast beef ro sandwiches, arugula…</p>

<p>Kiddo says the food has continued to be great. With lots of options and vegetarian, asian inspired etc etc… it is a good thing :D</p>

2818

<p>My Mac sent my email into overdrive, multiplying messages. I currently have over 30,000 messages. :eek: I may ditch that thing once and for all. Just thinking about wiping that harddrive and pitching it makes me grin. :smiley: Bluedad’s on with AppleCare. I don’t have the patience. I love my iPhone but have despised that Mac from the day I got it…, odd I know. I’m the only one that wants to switch back to a PC!!!</p>

2819

<p>Not clear why a computer would multiply messages – maybe some backup loop gone astray.</p>

<p>ShawD emailed ShawWife a lovely picture of ShawD and her roommate leaning on each other under a big tree on their campus with the caption “I am having a blast.”</p>

2820

<p>BI- not to start a war, but D and H call PC’s “real computers” in contrast to Apples. (Their Iphone are the first Apple products they’ve had.)</p>

<p>Kathiep- the book looked great. Sent a copy to D and we’ll see if it helps. So far she says lunch is far and away the best meal. The continental breakfast (served later am after the hot breakfast) is good. So she is going to try to stock up on these meals, time permitting and supplement the other meals with stuff from her room or elsewhere. </p>

<p>D said by not eating in the dining commons for the most part the last two days she stomach is 80% better (but she is still coming home this weekend). Her ankle has improved to about 65% so she was downright chipper when she skyped us during dinner. At least part of that was because she attended her first full day of classes and loved them. We have an (almost) happy girl again. She also continues to meet new people and is finding more folks with whom she shares a sense of humor. Hurray!</p>