<p>Good morning all —</p>
<p>**9 days (or less) to Thanksgiving break **</p>
<p>We are into SINGLE DIGITS!</p>
<p>(Based on kids touching down at home on the Wednesday before TG. Some kids may get the full week and will land at home sooner.)</p>
<p>Snoozn- great to “see” you. And nice to hear about shawbridge’s and VAMom’s visits with kids. Also I will keep your warning in mind, boysx3- nice words to manage expectations.
momjr- my D works 8-10 hours a week. At least that is her assigned hours. She often picks up other shifts for students because she finds the circ desk also her socialization much of the time. (She does not like parties so does not want to spend all the time holed up in her room or waiting to interact with hallmates.) </p>
<p>There has been a real uptick in socialization by D with a wider crowd of people since Halloween which confirms that she is beginning to “find her people”. She is making connections and actually going places with others instead of just taking care of herself and doing most things on her own. Was out two nights in a row this weekend, which is unheard of for her. That’s the good news. </p>
<p>The bad news is that she has 3 mini papers in one class, and a big paper in each of two other classes, plus a concert to prepare for in the next 4 weeks. She is not fussed but I think there is going to more of a crunch than she thinks. Ah well, this is what freshman year is for. </p>
<p>On a positive note (at least for D), her FA was revised to reallocate $ due to major budget impact of October snowstorm on the college. Her gift aid was reduced by $500 per semester but her work study was increased by a commensurate amount. For her this is good because she was putting in extra hours but not putting the hours on her time sheet so she would not exceed her FA. Now she can get paid for all the hours she works. (Of course we have to come up with increased cash for tuition, but we are ok with that.)</p>
<p>Good morning! Wow, in a week we will have reached “the holidays” that seemed so far away this summer. I mentioned that to my D yesterday and she said it was SO WEIRD. I think she’s really getting that “two home” feeling. She said she missed her dad, friends and pets the most (perhaps in that order - her sister and I didn’t count because she saw us last month), but she doesn’t seem to be absolutely pining, either. I’m just really grateful she’s become so comfortable and happy where she is. </p>
<p>A big key has been that she has been getting into the city, seeing a play almost every weekend. She is fortunate that she has several friends who also want to do this, so she has someone (or many) to go with every time. We talked about spending money - all she wants for holiday present is money for more tickets! But so far her budget is working out; she hardly buys anything else. She has remarked that kids who party go through money a lot faster than she does.</p>
<p>shawbridge - I don’t envy you as a parent if your D decides to transfer (just because of the paperwork, packing, moving, etc.), but on the other hand it shows a lot of careful thought on her part. If my D had decided to change majors, she almost surely would be transferring - or perhaps it could have happened for another reason - and I know we’re all ready for this in some way or another. Best wishes to her!</p>
<p>snoozn - I’m so glad another rough transition has found some equilibrium! I understand your concerns about your D “buying in” at her U, but I bet she’ll get there over time. She sounds too happy and involved to resist it forever. I did make friends with my housemates my first year, but I know it wasn’t until my second year that I really made friends with a select few of them and also with people I was meeting in class, who shared my real interests. I do think it’s wonderful that your older D can help her sister in a rough time. When I was your D2’s age, my oldest brother graduated from college and moved to our area. Having him for my “friend” really changed my life.</p>
<p>kinderny–
I have never heard of a school changing its FA in the middle of a year!</p>
<p>emmybet, ShawD does want to stay where she is, but is anticipating staying in Canada. She prefers Canada. You can apply to all Ontario universities with one application. McGill is different.</p>
<p>Packing would be a pain and not. She has to move out of her dorm and would be moving to an apartment. We were probably going to move her stuff to her grandmother’s house over the summer, if they didn’t take possession until September. So, we’d be moving it either way (unless they were to take possession this May and ShawD, as is her wont, found some nice strong young men to move her). Even there, they might need our car.</p>
<p>The one thing I remember is that when I used to go home from college, my parents used to treat me as if I was the person who had graduated from HS and not the much changed person I was (or at least thought I was) – more socially skilled, more accomplished, more mature. I think one of the lessons I took away from this is to look for and allow the growth. Therefore, we relax rules in sensible ways (no rules for ShawSon at this point). No curfew, etc. But I will be trying to do this in a variety of ways – asking for their opinions and knowledge, etc.</p>
<p>Re momjrs question concerning part-time jobs this question was raised at one of the discussions at our Family Weekend two weeks ago. Ss college allows a maximum of 12 hours per week for on campus jobs, citing research that anything much over that has been shown to be detrimental for a full-time student.</p>
<p>I appreciate the heads up on time constraints during the upcoming holiday. I expect to have DS home on the couch on Thursday. After that, I think he will be busy visiting friends, which is fine with me. Most of his friends will probably also be tied up with family on Thanksgiving, so it should work out. </p>
<p>I’m feeling so special today. I got the pressure letter about Final Exams Care packages. According to them they want every student to get one of their packages–go figure! :rolleyes:<br>
Since my DS wouldn’t eat about 1/2 of what’s in there, I think I’ll send my own. Also, our church puts together care packages for college students. My younger DS was helping put them together last night at youth group. I think he will feel appropriately loved! </p>
<p>Hope everyone has a lovely week planning for the return of our wonderful students. For those who won’t see their kids, I hope they all have plans to celebrate with friends on campus.</p>
<p>Thanks boysx3 for the reminder - talked to DS last night about the holiday. We are traveling to him, and I think he’s a bit anxious about having us on his “territory” for a couple of days. He also mentioned a big physics lab due Friday (I don’t think that’s fair!!) - but I get it. We haven’t seen him since August and I think he’s exhausted/excited and we have to tread carefully so as to have fun without infringing. He will also hear about a program he’s been working in that will make its final cut next Wednesday; it is something he really wants but he’s also realistic about chances. More pressure. Did volunteer to do laundry - he said he had changed his sheets once so far. TMI!!!
Best part - he’ll be home 3 weeks after we say goodbye. Piece of cake after 3 months!</p>
<p>Oh - and I did remind him that anyone welcome to join us for Thanksgiving dinner - I don’t want any kids staying at school to feel left out. He does need to get me numbers though! Going to a buffet place so making it easy all around.</p>
<p>Can’t believe next week is Thanksgiving! D txted me asking for her flight info, then added: can you put $ on my debit card? Freshman semi-formal tickets are going on sale.</p>
<p>When she comes home, I’ll have to ask her if college includes an academic component. You know, where you go to class, and learn stuff. So far all I’ve heard about is cross country, and parties.</p>
<p>Well we have something extra to be Thankful for- S1 just got a job offer for a summer internship (he is in his junior year, ChemE) at a Dow Jones 30 company. He’s thrilled and will be working (they have internship housing, fully furnished apts, including linens) about a 10 hour drive from our house. I’m sad he won’t be around this summer but somehow a days drive seems close compared to how far away the kids are now. Commonly held belief is a successful summer internship ends up leading to a permanent offer the fall of senior year, so it could be that 50% of my kids will be virtually launched by the fall. wow…</p>
<p>fogfog, so glad your son had a fun time (I was going to say “successful screw”, but that sounds all kinds of wrong, haha!).</p>
<p>shawbridge: I keep reading about the health care industry being one of the only thriving places to be, so kudos to your daughter wherever she ends up as long as it’s nursing.</p>
<p>Everyone else, glad things are going well and everyone’s excited about the upcoming visits from our babies 
:D</p>
<p>Yalemom: Congrats to your son on landing a great summer internship. Succesful internships can lead to job offers, and even if they don’t they look good on a resume.</p>
<p>yalemom - congratulations on the internship! That’s great news.</p>
<p>Quiet weekend - didn’t hear much from D. Lots of tests this week - she told me she was busy studying Sunday after spending her time volunteering on Saturday. Texted me a few times this morning - she is not feeling too good. That, along with the tests, have her in high stress mode. Ugh - what can one do from afar? Sent her some virtual hugs and some “you can do this” texts. Here’s hoping she gets through this week…</p>
<p>S is headed for a knee arthrocentesis tomorrow morning - have been warned that this can be painful. I’ve tried preparing him for the pain, but am also preparing myself to deal with a very cranky laid up teenage tomorrow. Here’s hoping for a calmer, stress free week next week!</p>
<p>momjr, you asked about how many hours students usually work at college. My daughter, like samuck says, worked between 10 and 12 hours weekly. My older son worked 10 hours a week for the first year but it was too hard for him to manage his time so he didn’t work at school after that. Our youngest son just works three or four hours a week, but was hoping for more like 6. He has talked about picking up a second job if he can. He doesn’t qualify for work study though and the kids that do get first dibs on most campus jobs. He loves his part time job and told me that he would do it for free. He assured us that he wouldn’t mention that to the Prof that hired him. Something with cloud computing.</p>
<p>You can sense the excitement as the countdown to landfall is in single digits. DS’s school has the week off. We used frequent flyer miles to pay for his ticket resulting in a Sunday afternoon arrival with a late Friday departure. Since Thanksgiving dinner includes only my parents, DH, DS and me, we moved it to Monday so son can spend Thursday and Friday with his friends while they are home. We’ll see him from Sunday til Wednesday. We can’t wait.</p>
<p>Oh, Arisamp, so sorry to hear that your S will have to have the aspiration. Here’s hoping that it brings him relief or more answers, whichever is the goal.</p>
<p>Yalemom - congrats to your S on the internship! That’s awesome news and will, at the very least, look great on his resume but hopefully will lead to a job.</p>
<p>Well, I am now officially paying attention to AvonHSDad’s countdown posts (have to admit, I had been averting my eyes since I would not be seeing my younger D). Anyway, DH came home from his weekend trip and took the decision completely out of my hands… she is coming home for Thanksgiving! He was so happy at the thought of her coming home that I felt like a Scrooge (I know, mixing my metaphorical holiday characters) so I just went online, found the best deal I could and booked her flight. Older DD drives in on Tuesday and younger DD flies in on Wednesday so we will have a happy Thanksgiving for sure!</p>
<p>Hello, friends. I’m so glad to see and read that you all are still here. I feel like I haven’t “visited” in a month or so.</p>
<p>Last week, DS2 survived one of those bad Murphy’s Law weeks. Roommates’ obnoxious lab partners being rude in their suite. Roommate borrowed alarm clock and didn’t reset it so DS2 missed Calc class and a quiz. Stomach virus the next day and an afternoon of sleeping that caused him to miss deadline for turning in a lab report. Fortunately two lowest quiz grades are dropped and the Physics TA let him email the lab report. </p>
<p>Can you believe it’s almost Thanksgiving? DS2 will follow us home on Saturday after the Mizzou football game. They are out all next week. We have a full week planned–two Mizzou basketball games in Kansas City, hosting Thanksgiving dinner, Black Friday adventures and the (possibly last) Mizzou vs. kansas football game–also in Kansas City. Some of our family’s favorite memories are from Thanksgiving week. We plot our Black Friday strategy for days and enjoy the hunt together.</p>
<p>DS2 registered last Wednesday for his classes–five days before freshmen because of his AP/IB credit. His schedule worked out well: Honors Calc III, Physics II, Honors English Comp, his first nuclear engineering class (a seminar on nuclear “uses”) and a Honors College arts class where they attend concerts, plays and exhibits on campus. They do research before and critiques or projects afterwards. Sounds like a nice break from his heavy tech schedule.</p>
<p>If you would, send some positive thoughts his way tonight and tomorrow. He applied to be a member of the Alumni Association Student Board, a group of 50 Mizzou students who help the Alumni Association plan all the traditional events on campus. He wrote the five essays answers, made the first cut, got an interview, made the second cut and had second interview yesterday. He should find out if he is selected tomorrow or Wednesday. It would be a great honor and opportunity. I was surprised he decided to apply and his essays made me cry.</p>
<p>And he has a Physics test Wednesday and Calc II test Thursday!</p>
<p>I’ve written way too much–making up for weeks away. Now time to go back and catch up with you all!</p>
<p>YaleMom, vicarious congrats on the internship.</p>
<p>OWM-sending prayers for your son to be selected. What a great honor getting this far.</p>
<p>proudmom - so happy your kiddo is coming home! And yalemom - great news re the internship. Wonderful to hear the good news from everyone as kids are definitely stretching wings in good ways - even tho always hard to hear when things not going well or kiddos feel ill. Won’t we all feel better when we can actually lay eyes on them?!</p>
<p>OWM - fingers and toes crossed and prayers said. Keep us posted.</p>
<p>Proudmom - so glad DD is coming home</p>
<p>Yalemom - super news on internship</p>