Parents of the HS Class of 2014

Parents of HS Class of 20xx
12601

<p>@itsv‌ so sorry to hear the bad news.</p>

<p>Question here. Whenever we go somewhere for more than a day, I always turn off the main water break to avoid flooding inside the house while we’re away. Sometimes I don’t remember. One time we went to Florida for a week and I forgot to turn off the water that goes inside the house and was worried the whole time because few months before that we had a problem on one of our bathroom upstairs.</p>

<p>Now that I think about it, maybe I should turn off gas as well. So, is there a bad side effect of turning water/gas off while away? I can’t think of any but maybe you guys know something that I don’t. </p>

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<p>We have turned off the water many times with no problem, but turning off the gas would mean no heat which could mean frozen pipes for us. </p>

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<p>@itsv , so sorry that you are having to endure this stress, especially now. I can’t even imagine. @Classof2015 , too bad your ex is being such a pill. I went through something similar when I graduated HS. Hope your son rolls with it and has a great graduation day. </p>

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<p>2018dad, IIRC you’re in California–does your house have an earthquake shutoff valve? The big worry here is a gas line break because of earthquakes, and the shutoff valve covers that. </p>

12605

<p>@itsv, I am truly sorry to hear of this. Our neighbors went through the same experience and they were out of the house for a long time. I also have a soft spot for Craftsman houses, as we used to live in one. Sounds odd, but I hate to think of one of those very special homes being injured like that. I do hope and pray that you will get special time with your family despite your circumstances. Sounds like your daughter is a trooper!</p>

<p>@classof2015, sorry to hear about your ex’s attitude. It’s too bad he can’t behave more as an adult for the sake of his son.</p>

<p>We had good news this week. Looks like my husband has another job offer! We are very relieved. </p>

<p>@12dandelion, wow, a June 27th graduation! I’ve never heard of one so late.</p>

<p>@2018dad, our gas company asks us NOT to turn off the gas unless we smell it, even after an earthquake, because they are the ones who want to be the ones to turn it back on. </p>

<p>Good luck to everyone with your graduation plans and college orientations! </p>

12606

<p>@calla1 great news about the job offer! Really hope that works out for you. </p>

<p>S14 graduates June 24th, Prom is May 31st, he’s asking a girl today. He would have taken the Stats AP test today, but there is a baseball game and several players are in the Stats class. Coach asked them to pay the extra to take the test on a later date, 4 boys (including S14) are doing that. The season wraps up next week then, if we’re really lucky, playoffs. On top of that, S15 has League Finals for swim today. He qualified in two events. </p>

<p>@classof2015, my parents have finally started to attend the same events and actually are even nice to each other. It took a long time, but was aided by distance for the last 20 years. I hope it doesn’t take that long in your family.</p>

<p>@itsv, we had a similar disaster when we first moved into our current home, washer line, we learned that water pressure is different in different houses and we should have replaced the hoses when we moved. I hope you get through it quickly. It was not fun.</p>

12607

<p>I am so far behind! I’ve been out of pocket for almost two weeks - getting to know parents from DS’ school on their pages and FB groups! I just wanted to say as I’m going through all of the older posts:</p>

<p>@AvonHSDad - thank you so much for captaining our wonderful cruise! It was delightful!!</p>

<p>@2016barnardmom - CONGRATULATIONS on Michigan! </p>

<p>@Overtheedge - Congratulations on Sewanee! Sounds like a great fit with the medical help and option of gap year!</p>

<p>@3Tallblonds - Congratulations on CALIFORNIA!! And hope you are doing better!!</p>

<p>@akmom124 - Congrats on Brown! And love the coincidence of Great Grandfather & Daughter being Class of '18!</p>

<p>@SoWest - Congrats on Big State U along with full ride! I’m sure it was hard to turn down the outside scholarship!</p>

<p>@NewHavenCTmom - Congrats on YALE!! So happy for your D! You are such a good mom and are raising a great daughter!</p>

<p>LOL @seattlemom! “I’ve been lurking to avoid having to serve a shift behind the bar” Congrats on Chapman!<br>
And I also have a '21er (DS2 is in 5th grade) and like you said, I’m not a young one either! ;)</p>

<p>@calla1 - sorry to hear of your husband’s layoff. Such a hard time to be without a job!</p>

<p>@petraelise - would love to see the prom dress. In your comments, it sounds like you made it? I bet it’s lovely!</p>

<p>@momreads - I just read your post about your son’s classmate getting newspaper attention for less than impressive results. That is just not fair! Why has the track coach/AD/principal/anyone at the school not brought your son’s breaking multiple school records (along with academic accomplishments) to someone’s attention? That’s just crazy!!</p>

<p>@minnymom - congrats on the scholarships!! That’s awesome!</p>

<p>I’m still catching up but wanted to send this along. :slight_smile: Only 9 pages behind now!</p>

<p>DS is getting excited for his plans at Alabama. He and his 3 roommates got their dorm assignment last week and he’s been participating a little on the school FB page and meeting others on his floor! I’ve been enjoying the parent FB page. I’m so excited for him! </p>

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<p>@itsv, thinking of you and your family and here is to the hope that you will get your house back to how it was if not better. </p>

<p>We can’t turn off water or gas during winter months for the fear of frozen water pipes, we are recommended to leave the water dripping. But we typically turn the water heater off. </p>

12609

<p>@itsv, so sorry to hear about your situation. Not only because of what you must be dealing with at a very busy time for your family, but also because I am a lover of Craftsman-style homes. I am wishing you the very best and hoping in the end that your house is better than ever!</p>

12610

<p>@itsv - I am so sorry! How overwhelming! Keeping you in my prayers.</p>

<p>@Calla1 - So good to hear about your husband’s job offer! Talk about a quick turnaround!</p>

12611

<p>@Calla1
That was quick! Congratulations to your husband!</p>

12612

<p>@itsv — so very sorry to hear your news, certainly not something any one ever wants to deal with, but especially at such an important time for your family. Best wishes that the repair process goes very smoothly and that you can enjoy some of your summer family time at home.</p>

<p>@Calla1 – wonderful news!! Very happy for you and your family!!</p>

<p>@beadymom‌ – lol, yes, I did make the dress and was thrilled to bits when the head of the Clothing and Textiles dept at school gave me some lovely compliments on it. I will pm you a link to pics as I get the feeling I’m not supposed to really post them here, and the avatar thing is just too small.</p>

<p>Orientation at UCSC is mandatory, but they offer different options, either 1 day, 3 day, or online. D14 is doing the 3 day option for about $340 (extra $130 pp or so if parents want to attend the last day). The campus is so large, and with all those trees and hills not as easy to navigate as some other schools we visited, so we felt the multi day option would help her get her bearings. The orientation is in late July, and they do their class registration while there. Classes don’t start until the very end of September.</p>

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<p>@itsv So sorry to hear about your house issues! I also have a friend who went through something similar, while on a cruise. They lived in their RV in their driveway while it was being repaired and it did take quite a while  </p>

<p>@Classof2015 I hope your ex-husband rethinks this. I think your son should probably talk to him. It may help with future events if your son does things like hand him his graduation ticket. Can he get additional tickets? Perhaps he’d feel more comfortable going if he can take a grandparent or aunt/uncle or something. Your son can let him know he doesn’t have to actually sit anywhere near you. Your break up is pretty new. Hopefully over time, this will get easier.</p>

<p>@calla1 That is fantastic news! Perhaps this is a good reminder for kids who have been redirected that life throws us curve balls sometimes but things work out in the end </p>

<p>S is signed up for orientation at Michigan but waited so long he’s in the last session. His class selection may stink. He’s getting involved on Michigan’s Class of 2018 Facebook page and I’ve been getting involved on the parents of Michigan students page. I signed up for parent’s orientation too but I’m really not sure I need to go. </p>

<p>I’m in full “get ready for the party” mode, including getting my house in shape because my dad will be town. I’m glad the party is at my ex-husband’s house!</p>

<p>Last night was Senior Honors Night and S14 received the following: Recognition for class rank (top 20 are recognized), Phi Beta Kappa Award, Downriver League Academic All Star (having a good GPA while participating in a varsity sport), and, the big surprise- The Award for Academic Excellence from the English Department. Each department selects one student to receive an Academic Excellence Award. My BarnardGirl also received that award two years ago. It wasn’t the department I thought would recognize him, but I’m very proud </p>

<p>They gave out all the local scholarships. I really got on S14’s case for not applying for any. After the ceremony, he said “I know you’re going to say I told you so, but I really should have applied for some of those scholarships” DUH!!! Some kids walked out of there with about $3000-$4000 in scholarships ranging from $500-$1000 each. Some clearly gave a scholarship to every kid who had applied. He’s a goof sometimes. </p>

12614

<p>

We usually give cash gifts of $25 to $50 or sometimes giftcards to Target or Amazon.Our S-2011 received in the neighborhood of $2300-$2400 which was mostly cash with a couple of hundred in gift cards. We let him keep 10% for summer fun money and the rest went into his college fund for personal expenses, social stuff and extra supplies and sports and workout related items.</p>

<p>@itsv - I can relate as I am in the property management business and we deal with water problems more often than anything else. If they haven’t already, your insurance company will recommend a quality remediation and restoration contractor. As stated above, be sure to check for any signs of mold of moistue in walls and other places. If you had flowing water for more tha a few minutes (which you obviously did), your home will need to be checked from top to bottom. It’s a terrible situaiton to be in. Living out of a hotel is no fun as we had to do it back in the 80’s when I came back from a Florida trip over Christmas and found our boiler had shut off and every heating line and radiatior in the house had frozen solid and broken. There was about 2 feet of water in the basement. Not a pretty sight.</p>

<p>@Calla1 - Congrats on the job offer for your H.</p>

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<p>@calla1‌ - Great news! That was really fast! I know you must be relieved. </p>

<p>@itsv - I’m so sorry to hear about your house. I can understand you being heartbroken. It’s never a good time for an unfortunate incident like this to occur, but this is especially bad timing. I hope you are able to get it repaired quickly and restore normalcy in your life. Think how excited D will be to return home to her room on the first break from college.</p>

<p>@Classof2015 - You and your S have my sympathy. It sounds like Ex-H is being a selfish jerk. I hope for the sake of your S that H will at least attend graduation even if you don’t sit together. I agree that S should give him the tickets and tell him how important it is to S that he be there (and behave like an adult!). </p>

<p>@2016BarnardMom‌ - congratulations on S’s awards! </p>

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<p>From articles on Brown’s website it looks like they may take between 20 and 50 from the wait list between now and mid-June. They want 1560 in the class and that many accepted their offers of admission but they said 20 students have requested a year deferment for a gap year and they expect 35-50 will request that. S14 emailed his admissions counselor and updated him on the new awards and re-affirmed his commitment to go there if accepted. </p>

<p>For graduation gifts of friends, we usually go with $25 in the form of cash or gift cards- Amazon, Target or Bed, Bath, and Beyond are all good for kids going to school and planning to stay in dorms. Amazon can be used for text books or dorm stuff. I’m picking up a bunch of them so I have them at the ready as I need them. Whatever we don’t use as gifts, we’ll use for S14’s dorm stuff or books. </p>

12617

<p>Picked up DS-2011 at college and hauled him and a very full carload of stuff home yesterday. DD had her last day of high school classes yesterday. Just one AP exam, a couple of finals and her senior Genesis Project left. Graduation is in 19 days. Grandparents arrive from Oz in two weeks to share in the graduation celebration, the grad party and subsequent graduation cruise (I get to relax - no helmsmanship required on this one). </p>

<p>The end of the school year is coming on very fast!</p>

12618

<p>Just got back from D’s Senior Recital - 10 songs in 5 languages. Still can’t believe my kid sings opera…where’d that gene come from? ! She and the other performer, a fellow senior, wore their prom dresses & are heading straight out to prom with their group of friends after the recital. They looked so beautiful, so grown up, oh my.</p>

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<p>my2sonsfromca: Your son and his teammates may regret not taking the AP stats exam when offered. The makeup exam is much harder, my son’s teacher said. She had one girl miss the exam Friday. Don’t know if she will make it up or not.</p>

<p>Son '14 said the AP stats exam was “the easiest exam” that he had ever taken. But, he’s a math kid. Went to his track meet following the exam, and he did okay. He was very disappointed with his performance, but there were a lot of things going on, too. First, the stats exam. Then, a two-hour drive to get to the meet. Then, about 20 minutes before he was to run, the skies opened and it poured. Lightning suspended the meet for a while, and he had already completed his warmup and was ready to hit the track. He also had not had a meal since an 11 a.m. lunch. So, he was pretty spent halfway through the race.</p>

<p>He just walked in the door a little while ago from prom and after prom. Had a wonderful time. Took the top girls’ runner as his date. Look for him to sleep most of today. He has AP Physics B Monday, U.S. government Tuesday and two AP econs Thursday, Again, a long week. Oh, and there is a track meet Wednesday.</p>

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<p>@sowest – thanks – it sounds like I’m not the only one who’s had to go through this.</p>

<p>@calla1 – congrats on your hubby finding something so fast! And yes, H is being a big baby.</p>

<p>@2016BarnardMom – that’s a good idea. I have the invites at work (which in our school don’t imply a seat at graduation – that’s done separately) but I think S should hand it to him. And you read my mind re: other relative – when I first got H’s toxic email, I texted my nephew and asked if he and his wife could come. He said yes right away and S is psyched they’re coming! So we’ll have a family celebration after all.</p>

<p>@overtheedge – you’re right – If I know him, he’ll stand at the back to watch but not sit with us. So we’ll have joint custody of the graduation ceremony, as it were. </p>

<p>Happy Mother’s Day to everyone! Gone are the days when S would make something for me in school (buttons glued to a picture frame with a photo of him inside) but I’d be happy with a big hug.</p>