<p>4kidsmom - I printed this out and put it in front of the couch for my guys to find! They’re getting up early today (1:00 pm) to watch football.</p>
<p>I like when my kids sleep in, frankly. It’s kind of like when they were newborns and took naps. The house is quiet and peaceful and I get to watch what I want on TV. It is like that feeling when the newborn finally falls asleep and you think “Phew!” Now that they sleep in longer, I can sleep in and still get <em>my</em> time.</p>
<p>Well, DS goes back today to clean the fraternity house and goof off the week before school starts. Since he basically started school with only bedding and a suitcase we are doing the furniture/big move this afternoon.
Wish me luck!</p>
<p>Good luck Mizzbee! The big move!! Bathroom caddy, fan, lamp, shelves, BBB linens…all that kinda stuff?</p>
<p>Yep, tv stand, bookshelves, television, game system (he earned it), more clothes, etc. He can hang posters, needed coat racks, etc.</p>
<p>I just dropped S off at school. I’d normally be sad but I’m so happy he’s able to go back that I am mainly relieved. His friends were arriving around the same time, and he seemed glad to be back. I really, really hope he makes the best of this opportunity and turns things around.</p>
<p>In any case, it’s out of my hands now. I have to trust that he’ll follow up in all the ways he said he would. I can see his grades, he gave me the password, but I’m not sure what I’d do if I saw he wasn’t doing well at this point.</p>
<p>I’m glad to hear he’s going back with a plan, and has given you access to his grades…that sounds positive to me. One step at a time!</p>
<p>OHMom - good luck with your son this semester. I would encourage him to go to office hours as much as possible. Even if he doesn’t need help, it is good to have a personal connection with people who are giving out grades. My older D had a very old math professor one time, and she was the only who used to show up for his office hours. He loved giving her extra help, sometimes he would tell her what to focus on a test.</p>
<p>I am happy to catch up on all of the 2016 students.
OhMom- my S college class of 2011 crashed 2nd semester of his freshman year. He made a decision that he didn’t need one of his classes for his major and skipped the final without consulting me or his advisor. He ended up losing his merit aid. The school was fine with him staying and being on probation but we were not. We had a talk about what went wrong. Had him see a professional. He really wanted to go back. I knew that coming home and going to CC would be a terrible move for S. He agreed to take out a student loan to cover the amount of the lost scholarship. He also gave us permission to see grades and to talk with his advisor. The worst part for S was that he did need that class and also another class taught by the same professor. In the end she was extremely kind to my S. At graduation she spoke to us of his continuing signs of maturity. Also I don’t know if your S has any LD or ADD but all the professionals we spoke with prior to S deciding on a school advised such students to just take 12 units their first semester.
On sleeping late- the son above is my late sleeper. He slept through many a morning class. When he moved back home after graduating he would still play video games late into the night and get up just before going to work. He got lucky that his first job required a 10 30 am start time. He is now moved out and has a job that starts earlier. He gets up for work barely but still sleeps late and plays video games long into the night on weekends. I just no longer have to see it.
My class of 16 is an early riser. She was up most days of the break before I was. She also packed most of her stuff Thursday and Friday since she knew she was busy on Sat. She got herself up Sunday morning at 7 am packed the car and was off to return to school by 8 am. I think that earns me a Bingo point.My S would pack at the last minute and barely make it by noon to meet up with his ride. Obviously the guy giving him a ride was not an early riser either.</p>
<p>OHMom, I too am happy for you that he can go back. We all have different ways that we parent, but with my S, we made it clear from the beginning, that if he didn’t keep a B average, he could return home and go to the state school. That if we pay, we get to see his grades, and then we continue to pay. Thankfully as of yet it hasn’t been an issue. But I do find as he makes more friends, and the socializing increases, the school work seems to take a hit. </p>
<p>Good luck to all on the second semester, freshman year! Class of 2016 (we hope, lol)</p>
<p>OHMom I was also happy to hear that your S could return with better support for him. My D is one of those who is tempted by the many interesting things she could do and take, and then gets overcommitted. Hopefully he can get a successful semester behind him and have a better feel for what he can handle.</p>
<p>S seems to have a charmed life, he struggled with a couple of classes mid-quarter and then managed to pull out a high enough GPA to make the deans list. He has perfected the ability to determine exactly how much work he needs to do and does that and no more. We keep expecting that to catch up with him but not yet, lucky guy. </p>
<p>He is also one of those late sleepers and we mostly let him enjoy that over the break. He was quite pleased that his first class isn’t until 10:30 am. His club sports team practices from 10 pm - midnight multiple nights a week. I guess he isn’t the only one who is a night owl!</p>
<p>“His friends were arriving around the same time, and he seemed glad to be back.” So happy to hear this OHMom!</p>
<p>Bringing this back near the top…</p>
<p>Any update on General Mom?</p>
<p>Still enjoying time with middle son here. Less than a week until he returns though…</p>
<p>S is back at school and is getting accustomed to his new schedule. At the very beginning, I’d encouraged him to consider grades as a learning experience in and of themselves. He was invited to an advanced level of the linear algebra/multivariate calculus sequence based his Calculus AB exam. His advisor and I suggested he accept, so he did. Well, he learned from his grade that higher math probably wasn’t going to be his thing. </p>
<p>I suggested he talk to his professor and ask, based on his grade and her experience with the course, whether he should stay in the class. They talked and he’s now in the “regular” multivariate sequence that’s more oriented to getting numerical results than to sketching proofs. Assuming he finishes the sequence next quarter, it will work as the prerequisite for anything he wants to take in the statistics department and he should still have more quantitative skills than the average psych major, he just won’t have the stress/anxiety level he experienced fall quarter. So far, so good.</p>
<p>The funny thing was how excited he was when he told me the story of finding a single opening in the 1:00 PM section where there hadn’t been one the last time he checked. I deadpanned, “Uh huh, Christmas miracle.” He really didn’t want that 8:00 AM section. :)</p>
<p>Switching from an 8:00 am class to a 1;00 pm class? There’s a GPA boost right there!</p>
<p>SteveC - I forgot that your S is a psych major. Do you have any insights about how to go about that? What to look for in a college, etc. I have a HS sophomore who says he wants to be a psych major. i know it could change, but for now anyway - what’s the smart way to go about being a psych major? He is signed up for IB Psych for junior year, although he’s still rethinking that - he may switch to AP Psych or put it off to senior year, just due to scheduling issues.</p>
<p>All is well here in the Lil house. D leaves on Saturday so we have a few days to get some shopping and “quality” time in.<br>
Early in the break we talked about summer opportunities for shadowing, internships and paid work. She spoke with 3 attorneys who coached her mock trial team and they were most supportive. She will shadow them this summer. One also said there may be an opportunity for paid work. She had put in an app for an internship with a local government agency and now wishes she had waited until after she spoke with the attys. Anyway, she will figure all of that out. </p>
<p>S’14 told us he will be working on campus this summer and will not be coming home. Two years ago, I would have been really sad about it but now that he’s a college junior, it feels good to know he is growing up and becoming more independent!</p>
<p>PinotNoir – I could probably write a novel, but I’ll try not to. :)</p>
<p>Big question is why psychology? If it’s in order to practice psychotherapy, graduate work in some field (e.g., MA Counseling, MSW Social Work, PhD or PsyD Psychology) will be in order, so it’s best to treat it as pre-whatever. Some psych majors will want to go to grad school in a research (i.e., not practicing) area such as social, personality, developmental, physiological, cognitive, etc. I should add here that a Clinical PhD is trained to be a researcher, but may legally practice, and many do. Many psych majors are pre-med. Some folks just major in psych because it’s a good general liberal arts degree with a good introduction to scientific method and quantitative techniques.</p>
<p>That said, if graduate school is in the picture, the most important thing is probably potential to do undergraduate research that will result in publication and/or presentation, preferably with a faculty member whose name will carry weight on a letter of recommendation. What S and I did was to come up with a metric that mixed overall undergraduate ranking with some graduate rankings in psychology (that gets the “advisor with weighty name factor”) and apply toward the high end of the metric. He was interested in the midwest/Great Lakes region and ended up applying at Chicago, Northwestern, Michigan, Rochester, Case, Pitt, Minnesota, Iowa, Michigan State, Indiana, and Texas (his in-state auto-admit safety).</p>
<p>As far as what to do now, I’m IB-ignorant so I can only speak to AP. AP Psych and AP Stats are applicable to the major by most of the schools where he applied. Much of academic psychology is attempting to more firmly establish itself as a science (as opposed to the leather couch, inkblots, etc. image many people have), so the sciences are a good bet, too. Writing skills are also important.</p>
<p>It’s a relatively young field (especially the parts that interface with neuroscience) and there’s still lots of interesting work to be done. Best of luck to your S, if that’s the direction he chooses!</p>
<p>Thanks, Steve! I will keep all of this in mind when I talk to him about it. Where does your son want to go with it?</p>
<p>SteveC, very informative post. I will be passing this on to a friend whose S is considering psych.</p>
<p>lilmom, D did the IB program, loved it. She took Psych SL, it was very similar to Psych AP (teacher said they could take the Psych AP test and do well). Let me know if you have other questions, I can ask D, she’s home for a few more days…</p>