<p>EmmyBet, for most people, calculus can be most useful in helping people to think more analytically (though I am not sure whether most people who stop there actually get that out of it). Statistics taught in a non-formulaic way is way more useful – I’d venture to say that if well taught it could be the most useful course people take as it lays out the logic of making inferences from data and making decisions under uncertainty. These are things that all of us do every day and that major decisions (should a drug be approved, should I take a drug or have surgery or do nothing, should I launch this new product) are or should be informed by. [ShawSon has math as his second major and I am urging him toward more statistics, but he needs to take Algebra (Groups, Rings and Fields) and Real Analysis to complete his major. Both are very hard, neither is likely to be very useful, but both will really teach him to think abstractly]. </p>
<p>Fogfog, ShawSon found multivariable calculus pretty straightforward. Once you get the idea, to him, it seemed like the same sort of generalization from 1-D to many. I remember him saying that it was sort of obvious once you got the idea. Tell kiddo to look for the pattern.</p>
<p>Had our first Skype conversation of the year with ShawD. Not sure why we didn’t do it before. She seemed happy, happy, happy. She’s just a joy to be around. After visiting ShawSon this weekend (he’s in a great place – profs love him and get how unusual and unusually smart he is, a bunch of friends, a nice GF, enjoying life), we decided to fly up next weekend to visit ShawD. She is thrilled we’re coming to visit.</p>
<p>ShawD – glad you had good skype session! It’s wonderful, isn’t it? Like they came home for an hour, then went back to class.</p>
<p>D was asking is S’11 could come visit this coming weekend. Problem is, with 5 days left to book it, the flight was as expensive as her Thanksgiving trip I booked 5 weeks ago. So I had to say no. Then D said “can’t he fly standby?” He’s 15. What if he can’t get a flight at all? They don’t think of these things. So the trip to see D will have to wait.</p>
<p>Am I the only Bills fan on this thread? They lost. Again. To me, football is “the crying game”.</p>
<p>Class of 2015, we found that the prices was pretty high for this weekend’s trip, which I booked a little while ago, so I used frequent flyer miles. If you have any, that might be a way to enable your son to go.</p>
<p>holliesue - I loved the stamp story. same stuff with my D. she asked for a school hoodie. I suggested she walk 4 blocks and buy one. she said she liked getting packages. Hmmm. she turns 18 in about a week. I have not seen her since August. I CANNOT wait for Thanksgiving. </p>
<p>The holiday stress is starting here. Does anyone else fear that there may a new wrinkle with kids back under “house rules” and the pull of old friends and perhaps some changed friendships? Add to that traveling older parents with health issues and certain expectations of how it should all go. I will do my best to be chill and focus on the positive! </p>
<p>D is taking lots of math to differentiate (hehe) herself from the other social sciency types. After this term’s Calc III it will be more applied math versus theoretical which should be fun! I am a finance professional and I think of my work in terms of calculus every single day. I also use a lot of stats and econometrics. I advise more math!</p>
<p>shawbridge- I totally agree with you regarding statistics. I took it as a rereq in a Master’s program, and as it was not formula based it was like learning a new language to describe events, outcomes and expected occurrences. I blackmailed my H into taking it with me and we actually had a great time. (Took it as a summer class at Cal when we both were in our late 20s/early 30s so it was also eye opening to be back in college with late teens/20 somethings.) I think it could be useful for D in her natural science undergrad program, but I totally support her avoidance of Calc at this time as she never got a sound basis im math concepts beyond Alg I in her h.s. project based learning program. </p>
<p>D called all excited- her adviser got her an early registration slot (tomorrow p.m.). She says that until she finishes her Div I (e.g. general ed requirements) there is no sense taking other classes as they will not count towards her Div II (e.g. “major”). So it is going to be a rather light schedule. She will take an Agricultural Science class (with her current favorite prof), Music (Chorus), (Yarn) Spinning for her community engaged learning class, and she has designed an independent study to meet a Social Justice distribution requirement. She wants to undertake an oral history project and create a website to present the results of the interviews and add’l research she will do. She approached a prof in the correct dept with her goals/objectives, project design and the sources. Prof was most impressed (thought she was a junior as she “got” what she needed to do) and while she can’t supervise the project, she is going to try to find someone who can. So all is good with D.</p>
<p>We’re looking forward to Thanksgiving (for the most part) here. My SIL and I alternate places for the actual dinner and this year it’s her turn! My in-laws fly in from Colorado and we’ll also have family from NYC and Southern New Jersey. We’ve always spent Thanksgiving and Christmas at our house and had my folks and my BIL and his family come here. Our house is bigger and we had the first kids. I do get stressed about the cleaning part before everyone comes, but once the day is here, it’s all fun.</p>
<p>I guess there are benefits to living across the country from family. We have never been “expected” to show up at holidays. DH was in the Army for 26 years and the closest we were ever stationed to family was a 10 hour/18 hour drive from his/my family. So holidays are as calm or hectic as we choose to make them. We have gone on family vacations during thanksgiving twice before DS started college. With college, he only gets the 4 day weekend, so that’s out. We invite friends and have a relaxing, enjoyable day. Here’s hoping that you all have the same! I reminded my DS that we’d be glad to have a friend come for thanksgiving if he knew someone at school who wouldn’t be able to home. He thought that was a great idea, since he thought it would be terrible to not have a place to go for Thanksgiving.</p>
<p>DS was home this past week, and it was nice. He reverted to the kid on the couch, and that’s what made him happy. I think it was a good week for mental recharging and needed down time for him. As for issues with rules, he only went out with friends twice, was home at midnight on one occasion and 1am on the other (where he walked to a friends house and stayed there). Biggest problem we had was his 18 years of training on toilet seats (down please) had been totally obliterated in just a couple of months of school! :rolleyes:</p>
<p>I’m having DH’s parents this year. I’m looking forward to it since all my family live downstate and in CT we are the ones who always have to schlep. </p>
<p>The winery yesterday afternoon was lovely. We sampled 14 wines between the two of us and came home with several bottles, some cheese, maple syrup and a cranberry horseradish chutney. Then we browsed the shops in the village and had a late lunch. </p>
<p>Boychild texted DH while we were out. They came in 2nd in one race and 7th overall - out of 15. He said it was a really nice day for sailing on the Charles.</p>
<p>Shaw - happy to her you are having great visits with ShawS and this weekend with ShawD.</p>
<p>AK - Yeah for power! We went close to four days without, I can’t imaging just about a full week - had to empty both refrigerators and freezers…</p>
<p>HollieSue - Love the stamp story - Sometimes I feel like they are at the end of a rubber band…at one moment they are moving into adulthood but at the next they snap back into kiddieland…</p>
<p>Re: STEM…I am a true believer in experiential learning…four years of theory-based learning in today’s world of instant gratification is a long road but if it is combined with some real life application I think more kids would stick with it. </p>
<p>Well, today is the 60 day mark for D and I am happy to say she seems to be over the hurdle. I spoke with her last evening and she is back to her old happy self. Yeah! She has changed her major and has made more like minded friends. She is now navigating the city and it is no longer overwhelming. She just has to finish the semester with a good GPA and she can go directly into her new major without having to go through an interim step like many other students. Because she was initially accepted into a selective major, transferring out (not due to poor performance) allows her to bypass the interim process.</p>
<p>Everyone is excited about the holidays at our house. There was some holiday drama starting with our extended family but I think I have mitigated it…I just told everyone that I was cooking dinner, serving it at 3:00 at my house and dessert will be served at 5:00. I am having a later dinner this year because many of the kids have football commitments earlier in the day. Everyone is invited and I need to know one week in advance if they were coming for dinner or dessert. So far, I have 18 coming…there was some back and forth and I just said, “So does that mean you are coming? or not?” All I hear is blah blah blah, he said, she said, but what I really care about how many tables do I need to set up. There will be enough commotion that day so DH and my kids have just decided to stay out of the extended family fray…and when everything is over, we will all look at each other and just say “That was great” and have a laugh or two over some silly stuff that happened during the day."</p>
<p>VAMom2015, we did not have a big problem relaxing rules for ShawSon. First, he had a gap year. But, before that he would negotiate with us. In HS, it was a) call when you switch houses; and b) be home by X. He always did both and if he wanted to miss X, he would call, explain, ask for permission and get Y. Then, given his perfect delivery, we said yes when he asked to call only when he left our town and went into Cambridge or Boston. The time limit (be home by X) basically went away during the gap year (if not before). He knows that if he behaves in a trustworthy manner, he gets our trust and can do whatever he wants. And, hard as it is to believe, I can’t think of a commitment he’s made in several years on which he hasn’t delivered or renegotiated in advance to another commitment that he’s met. While he had lots of other issues (serious LDs, serious health problems), his approach to life has made that part of parenting easy.</p>
<p>We’re trying to communicate the “earn our trust, you get our trust” to his younger sister. She mostly gets it, but sometimes says, “You let ShawSon do it when he was my age.” We do draw the line of safety issues – ShawSon is a very large young man (6’4" or so with a big frame) and despite his mild manner, it would be foolish for people to mess with him. [He’s smaller than the football and basketball players at his college, but not many others]. ShawD on the other hand, while tall and remarkably strong (15 years of serious yoga and dance will do that for you), she’s thin and female and cute. So, there are things we just don’t say yes to or say yes if you can bring along ShawSon or an equivalent person. We’ll see when (if) she comes home for the summer. We are talking to folks about getting her a place at a local hospital.</p>
<p>EB: Glad that the race went well. It sounds like boychild had a great weekend.</p>
<p>Vamom: I’m glad that your son had a nice visit and home and had a chance to recharge.</p>
<p>Shawbridge: Glad to hear how happy your kids are. A visit to ShawD sounds like a good idea.</p>
<p>MOB: It’s great to hear that your D is happy with her decision and should have an easy time switching majors. I understand how you feel about trying to nail down the number of guests for Thanksgiving. I usually have the same issues with my family. There’s always plenty of food, but the table logistics are tricky. One year my nephew “forgot” to mention that he was bring two friends for Rosh Hashana, and I had a bit of a melt down when we had to sqeeze in more seats at the last minute.</p>
<p>Classof2015: Sorry your team let you down yesterday. Ours pulled it out at the last minute Worth staying up for.</p>
<p>Glad to hear that powerless are once again empowered. </p>
<p>We were in Boston this weekend for a bat mitzvah, so we got to have a nice visit with D1 as well, without snow. Well, there were teeny bits left in a few nooks and crannies, enough for me to throw a snowball at D2. MUCH nicer than what people went through the previous weekend during the official parents weekend, plus we had no trouble getting a dinner reservation to take D1 out to something a step up from the usual student fare. There’s something to be said for doing parents weekend on a weekend other than parents weekend. </p>
<p>Remember back when we were all obsessing about what to have our students pack, and one suggestion was an extra phone charger? I had that on the list, and D1 pooh-poohed it. Well, let me suggest to all of you that you encourage your students to buy a cheap one now, so that if they misplace or lose one they’ll have another ready to go. D1 left hers in our hotel room, an hours drive from her campus. Oops. Or, buy one on meritline or monoprice and throw it in a care package. </p>
<p>Does anyone have a good source for shipping fresh pineapple, ideally pre-cut? There was fresh pineapple on the dessert menu on Friday night and Saturday lunch, and D1 took a huge amount. She said that they get plenty of fresh fruit in the dorm, but that pineapple was a huge treat. Which makes me think it would be an excellent care package, but it might just be too expensive.</p>
<p>VA: We encountered the “seat down, please” issue, too! All those years of training, gone!</p>
<p>ST: No idea if you can ship fresh pineapple at a reasonable price, sorry! Is there a Whole Foods within walking distance? My son is lucky – his dorm is across the street from a Whole Foods. I bought him a gift card to WF and encouraged him to buy the pre-cut fresh fruit and he does it! If not Whole Foods, I know that our local grocery store has pre-cut fruit available in the produce section also. Just thinking that a gift card to a store might work if there is one within walking distance.</p>
<p>Also, as far as the phone chargers…I sent S1 off to school with two and he left them both at home when he was home for his fall break! Ay yi yi. Off they went in the Halloween care package. </p>
<p>S2 informed me that phone chargers are the #1 item left behind in hotel rooms and, if you travel and leave yours at home, chances are that they will have one at the front desk that will work with your phone. I know that doesn’t help if you’ve left yours there, but might help someone if they’ve forgotten theirs when traveling.</p>
<p>Slithy–does the college bookstore sell chargers. I know I saw the universal ones at my DS’s school store.</p>
<p>Look at the local grocery stores and see if any of them have delivery services for the pineapple. There’s peapod dot com that delivers in several states. May be cheaper to pay their delivery fees rather than try to find some online place that will expedite shipping? It’s a thought–I have not used their service, but have seen their trucks delivering in the neighborhood (usually very early in the am).</p>
<p>Shaw–I’m with you on the different rules for different kids! My younger DS would probably go off and never come home if he was given the freedom to roam (he’s a HS freshman). He’s always wanted to push the parental limits on his freedom, and we have to rein him in frequently. Older DS (college freshman) is more of a homebody and also a total rule follower, so we don’t really worry or put too many restrictions on him.</p>
<p>Question (as this group is a fountain of knowledge!): Do your kids use noise cancelling headphones for studying? Have any recommendations? The Bose ones sound great (ha! pun intended), but are $$$$. Any others that work well. DS really wants some, and I can understand why!</p>
<p>We offered D noise-canceling headphones as a birthday gift this summer, and she tried lots of them. She thought they were “weird” sounding and decided instead that headphones that have padding that goes all around the outside of the ear would be fine, and much more economical. She did get a Bose pair and really likes them, hasn’t said she wished she had gotten the noise-canceling ones instead. H had some noise-canceling headphones that did not wrap around the ear (they’re large but flat-surfaced) and she says hers are better than his.</p>
<p>VAMom-^^^Your two boys sound just like mine…same ages too. We don’t need to have many rules for S1 but S2, I worry.
S2 uses Beats by Dr. DRE headphones for studying. They are not exactly noise-canceling but they sure look like ones because S2 can never hear me calling him (loudly) when he has them on.</p>
<p>VAMom, I gave ShawSon a pair of AudioTechnicas (Audio-Technica ATHANC7 Noise-cancelling Headphones, though there is a newer, cheaper model) that I used to travel with. Pretty good and about half the price of Bose from Amazon. He wore them every minute of the day – sleeping his freshman year (though I doubt he wears them to bed with GF), exercising, studying, walking around campus, listening to his textbooks – for two years and they broke. He now asks for cheaper ones that are disposable. He likes these: TDK NP100 Stereo Headphones. I may get him the newer, cheaper model for Chanukah.</p>
<p>I bought ShawD ABLE PLANET NC200W True Fidelity Foldable Active Noise-Canceling Headphones (White) from Amazon.</p>
I reminded my DS that we’d be glad to have a friend come for thanksgiving if he knew someone at school who wouldn’t be able to home. He thought that was a great idea, since he thought it would be terrible to not have a place to go for Thanksgiving.</p>