<p>ldinct-my d has only told me about one grade so far this semester. I have decided not to ask at all and am waiting to see what the grades are at the end of the semester. It is very hard for me as I constantly monitored her grades through HS! I am trying desperately to treat her as an “adult”. REalizing that I can’t do the work for her and she is the one who ultimately will have to deal with the consequences! Easier said than done I know…</p>
<p>Indinct - Sorry to hear about your son. I don’t know that I have the answer. I do know that I followed grades closely in hs and have backed away as much as this mother can. I get the ‘highlights’ but very few details. I know about tests after the fact and not too many exact grades. I know the classes he’s rocking and the one he’s putting extra time into, so I’m not totally out of the loop, but not enough to keep my nerves on edge. I could certainly look online and see his grades as I have log in information, but I don’t even want to go there…not even ONCE. Hopefully by next semester both you and your DS will find a bit more breathing room more comfortable and you will not feel so on edge. It really is hard to find the right balance. Gentle hugs to you!!</p>
<p>Sorry for your worries Idinct.
My D won’t get grades per se, but narrative evaluations. I know she has had some challenges this semester, but also know she worked hard too. I have really, really tried to not know about her deadlines and classwork particulars in order to avoid micromanaging (or just worrying in silence). H and I are not going to ask to see her evals, we figure it is her business. I am sure they won’t be stellar, she has a real issue writing papers (in part related to her disabilities), but she is happy, relatively healthy, and should have no problem getting credit for her classes. As her undergrad major (Ecology/Animal Husbandry) is not really related to her career goals/ MLIS (other than getting her the valued “science literacy” for admission to these programs) we don’t think that decent but not exceptional evals will hurt her. She probably will get really good evals from her two science teachers. I must admit after the trauma/drama of grades at her h.s., I love that she is now learning for learning sake.</p>
<p>Morning All…Counting down the days.</p>
<p>EAO–I like the advent calendar idea. I am going to look for the ones with the chocolate (often German made). Guess I need to think about those little something-specials for the care package.</p>
<p>Grades–we have no clue–though get the feeling the first round of exams was “ok” (ie not the As during hs APs etc) AND get the feeling the second round went “much better”…We will see…we know that kiddo is rocking the physics lab with As…and the For language is high As…We are interested to see how the Multi var calc is “curved”…
This is a conscientous kid AND between class/sport/social its a busy busy time. So we are hands off.</p>
<p>MathMomVT Thanks for mentioning the postage has to be done online…I am going back to look at it. I ordered the boxes last night. I thought I read 7-10 yet am happy to here I either read it wrong or it goes faster.</p>
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<p>The knock on the door came at 6:30. I don’t know about breakfast, but he did get to the kiss the 50-yard line of Faurot Field inside historic Memorial Stadium as a new member of the Alumni Association Student Board. </p>
<p>I am crying happy tears over my first cup of coffee. Who would have thought this possible a year ago? I am so proud and happy. </p>
<p>ldinct: after last week’s alarm fiasco and missed quiz, I was a paraonid mom this week. Kept texting “Good morning. Have a great day” every morning just to see if I would get a response that would indicate he was awake and at class. Yesterday he texted, “Mom, you don’t need to do this every day.” He was on to me. Hard to let go, but let go we must.</p>
<p>Things are so competitive now- grad school, job market. I only told my older 2 to get above a 3.0 and that would be fine. Not so anymore.</p>
<p>Oh well what can you do. I think it will take some time. Funny I didn’t micromanage S in hs, apart from making sure he was up and there every day. I never saw papers and grades until semester end. There would be the occasional progress report about an issue but that was it.</p>
<p>Hooray for OWM S! Cheers for Arisamp S knee news!</p>
<p>It is my D’s 18th birthday today. I miss her. I brought champagne to book club and bagels to work in her honor. If I cannot celebrate with her, I’m going to celebrate without her! We see her in 5 days, but who’s counting ;)</p>
<p>First really cold day here after a ridiculously mild (for here) October/early Nov.</p>
<p>WAY TO GO OWSON!!!</p>
<p>I am so thrilled for both of you! 
Yes, it is amazing what a difference a year makes. You always show us through your gracious attitude and unwavering support of your kids in all situations how family sticks together and beautiful things happen. This is really something to celebrate together. Hugs to you and goooooo Mizzou!!!</p>
<p>Happy ‘giving birth day’ to you mnmomof2! Raising my glass to you today!! I hope your DD has a wonderful birthday.</p>
<p>Congratulation OWM!!! I don’t know why, but I 'd had a feeling he was going to be chosen! 
What a great way to usher in the holiday weekend!!</p>
<p>EAO- Just reading about your endeavors exhausted me! But I bet the it made the time fly, which is always good when you’re looking forward to something :)</p>
<p>indict- I have the same problem with non-responded-to texts, only in addition to thinking he overslept I also create doomsday scenarios in my mind like has he come to some great personal harm or was abducted or something ridiculous like that (I really have to work at not freaking out when I don’t hear right back from either of my kids. I realize this is my problem, not theirs).</p>
<p>I echo the hands off approach to grade inquiries, come the end of the semester if there appears to be issues, I can always become more involved semester 2.</p>
<p>German advent calendars: If you have a Cost Plus World Market anywhere near you that’s the place to go for them. I was there this past weekend and they probably had 6 to 10 different ones to choose from ranging from $5.99 all the way up to $39.00, lots of choices!</p>
<p>OWM - YEAHHHHHHHHH!!! I’m so happy for you and your ds!!! (but I knew he would be selected, I just knew it!!!)
Arisamp - fantastic about the quick recovery!
Mnmom - Just a few more days and you can celebrate a belated birthday! </p>
<p>Re: grades - Let’s just say ds is one to share info, especially the info that he feels he needs my forgiveness for, or stuff he needs to get my “approval of”, like bad grades - the “Mommy says it’s going to be ok” stuff. So, I get grade info in droves. Physics (fogfog - glad someone is rocking that class ) he has two grades thus far, 44 and 62. Yes, and the avg for those were 35 and 60. Class grade also incorporates quiz and homeworks which, funny that, haven’t been given back to them. So as far as my ds thinks, he has a 50 avg in that class so he goes to talk to the prof and apparently because he did all the homeworks that equals a B, maybe a B+. I don’t get that. So, for a good grade in that class, you have to master maybe half of the material? Seriously? (ds claims that he gets the material, gets the homeworks, just hits the tests and doesn’t know the material in them) I am hoping the following classes don’t keep up that mentality.</p>
<p>Congratulations, OWM S!!</p>
<p>**6 days (or less) to Thanksgiving break **</p>
<p>:) Yes - just 6 days to go! Thanksgiving is a week from today! :)</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>And - Congrats to OWM’s S!</p>
<p>Okay all my fellow lego moms…let me tell you how hard it was not to buy and send THIS:</p>
<p>[LEGO®</a> City Advent Calendar | LEGO Shop](<a href=“http://shop.lego.com/en-US/LEGO-City-Advent-Calendar-7553]LEGO®”>http://shop.lego.com/en-US/LEGO-City-Advent-Calendar-7553)</p>
<p>Bluedad held me back about a month ago in the lego store, telling me Bluejr would be home before the advent calendar was done…still so awesome!!</p>
<p>Hurray for OWM’s S! It has been an honor sharing this momentous year with you.</p>
<p>My D is one who has to maintain a 3.0 for her scholarship, so she worries about grades to a certain extent, more the occasional panic than anything else. Everything she takes is personal evals and papers, virtually no tests, which is good for her, but she still wonders. I think getting one semester done will help her feel she knows how this works. We need to submit her first semester grades to get a local scholarship she won last year (to prove she went to school and passed, that’s all), but after that I doubt I’ll see many “report cards.” It is definitely a whole new world. </p>
<p>I’m excited and a bit nervous about her visit. It will be wonderful, but it will disrupt the equilibrium we’ve all so carefully achieved! But - that is also part of this whole new world. I know that in the long run it becomes a very nice experience: when they arrive, and when they go back, too. </p>
<p>Last night on FB she posted that she whooped a bunch of boys at video games. Now I’m absolutely sure she’s found her niche!</p>
<p>Trader Joes has advent calendars with chocolate - $1.00
Will be picking up some toothbrushes, too bad sheets are expensive ha ha. Not even asking about the status of those. Based upon the numerous wet towels he has always had in his room, wonder how that is working out? Ah, the little things. I used to send S1 with a 12 pack of white socks every semester, never saw any socks in between, I think he thought they might be disposable.</p>
<p>BI- That’s AWESOME!!! I think I may have to pick that up for S1, although if his underlying Lego passion is still there, he won’t be able to control himself and will open all the doors immediately! When he was a freshman I did send him a Lego kit(Star Wars, I think) for Easter, it was a huge hit, he and his roommate put it together in about 1/2 and hour but they got so excited and were like little boys :)</p>
<p>Oh, blue! We are mothers cut from the same cloth. I get email updates from Lego since DS2 is still a Brickmaster member. Ordered this calendar about a month ago! I believe it is the third Lego advent calendar in our collection.</p>
<p>Shawbridge, I’m amazed that you are even able to function at all flying back and forth around the world in a matter of days. I’d be in the loony bin after the first day. </p>
<p>Arisamp, glad your son’s surgery went so well. +++ it’s all sorted now. </p>
<p>Not sending any care packages to boychild. He’ll be home on friday and if he needs anything can bring it back to school with him. Also, the dining hall is open 24 hrs starting with reading days through finals so no need to send any goodies, either. </p>
<p>Idinct, sorry you are having trouble backing away. I did also after the horror which was middle school but I forced myself to keep my mouth shut. I didn’t even ask if he had homework to do when he came home from school. Now, we hardly ever talk about his classes and never ask about grades. He brought up that his midterms were difficult but that he thinks he did OK and we haven’t inquired further. I had to take a leap of faith to trust him when we switched his school and I have to trust him now that he will do his best. </p>
<p>I’m sure I have it easier also because he rarely calls and most of our contact is by text, and not that often either, but that form of communication doesn’t lend itself to in depth conversation and I never initiate contact. Also, he doesn’t have any classes which give frequent tests or quizzes and his “homework” is reading - so his final grades will be based on his midterm/final and/or papers. </p>
<p>OWM - big congrats to your son!! You must be over the moon. </p>
<p>re legos: It was a happy day here when I finally was able to give away all the legos. I was so fricking tired of stepping on the darn things in my bare feet. </p>
<p>Picking up boychild tomorrow afternoon somewhere in Massachusetts. I am so glad I don’t have to drive all the way to Maine and back.</p>
<p>It’s always great to sign on and see good news.</p>
<p>Hurray for OWM’s son on his well-deserved honor.</p>
<p>Arisamp, I’m glad to hear that your S’s procedure went well.</p>
<p>Happy Birthday to Mnmom’s D! I’m sure that she will enjoy celebrating with friends at school and then again at home. Mnmom, it’s a nice idea to have your own celebration.</p>
<p>Sorry for your worries Idinct. A lot of freshmen struggle. It sounds like your son is trying to turn things around, which means he’s on the right track.</p>
<p>Before D2 left this fall, we talked about how important it was to attend class. Recently she told me that in her friend’s econ class they had a problem where they divided semester tuition cost by class hours to see how much they (or their parents) paid for each class. The students were shocked at the cost and realized what a waste it was to skip a class.</p>