<p>Congrats to all the new grads!! 5 weeks to go here!!</p>
<p>Congrats @ordinarylives and @4beardolls! And @student4ever
can’t believe you have 5 weeks! My S has three more days of school (if you can call it that) and graduation next Wednesday. Somehow in that same time period I’m packing in a job interview, a grant proposal draft, three nights of camping, and hosting my parents from out of town. Never a dull moment.</p>
<p>So d is running out of steam with the boyfriend. While I certainly think he’s a really nice kid, I’m really not going to throw my .02 in on whether she breaks up or not. However, they are taking her on a very expensive trip in a few weeks and now she doesn’t know what the right thing is to do. Her plane tickets have already been purchased by them. It’s not like she can’t stand him, she just knows they’re not going to make it. Does she go on this trip?</p>
<p>8 days to go until graduation. D’s student portal says only 92 days until NSO!!! Finalized the grad party menu with the caterer today. Have 10 days to finalize the headcount. D’s BF’s prom is this Sunday. Her grandparents arrive incountry late Saturday night. It will be a very busy weekend!</p>
<p>Son '14 is ticking off the things he must complete to finish high school. Yesterday, he said he did his final project for AP econ. Last night, it was his government term paper. Still needs to do a powerpoint for government. Has a few lab reports and a test for AP Physics. Has a report for AP stats.</p>
<p>Oh, he has the conference track meet coming up Thursday. He is slated to run three events … and still make it to the senior scholarship night. He cannot be in two places at once, and the track coach is making his life difficult. He refuses to tell Son '14 if he can leave early to make it to the awards. Now, Son '14 can win a couple of conference titles, but isn’t receiving recognition for academics just as important? He knows of one scholarship he will be receiving, but there could be more. Son '14 is torn, and his coach has not been in the best of moods lately. So he may need to skip the academic thing just to keep his coach happy. So glad that this high school track will be behind Son '14 soon. If he never returns to the school to visit, I will not be surprised. He is not upset with his academic teachers, but there is some disappointment with the athletic side.</p>
<p>Senior skip day #1 was yesterday. DS slept until noon, then hung out with his buddies until dinner time. Pretty low-key, and rumor is there is another one scheduled for early June, when the amusement park will be open. </p>
<p>Today he is off on an AP Gov field trip. He’s taking the Metro with a group of friends into DC to visit the Library of Congress and the Capitol. He’s already been to both places several times, and actually once got a private after-hours tour of the Capitol from a Congressman (DS and the Congressman’s daughter are classmates) so those are old hat. But later he is part of a small group of students who will meet Justice Alito for a Q&A. Alito happened to have room in his schedule today so that is why they are meeting him – no ideological bent to that choice. Since they are going to the Supreme Court he had to dress in a suit, and I had visions of him several years down the road, commuting to work on the Metro in a suit. </p>
<p>In contrast to those of you whose kids are done with HS, my DS is loving every minute of these last days. He is so very close to his friends and he is really quite fond of his school, the teachers, coaches, and counselors. He told me the other day that although he is ready for college and really looking forward to it, he also doesn’t want to leave his school. My daughter will not be attending the same school, and I also feel the same way. I’m not ready to leave his school either! </p>
<p>Congrats to the recent grads and grad parents! You did it! </p>
<p>@student4ever:) must be in NY or New England as we are, school does seem to go on 4ever in June! Last day is June 16, grad is June 26. “Senior give back” day is Friday, when the seniors are released into the community to do good works. It’s probably a first for some of them 
hopefully just a continuation of volunteer time for most. My D will be at a local history museum scanning and photoshopping, it’s funny because she currently does the same at a different local history museum. But her end goal is museum work, and at least it’s an indoor gig. Lots of kids help plant community gardens or do yard work, even if it’s a bad weather day.</p>
<p>Her AP Lit class will be watching movies until school is out; with the caveat it has to be a movie based on a book and they have to read the book first. So, today we’re going in search of No Country for Old Men. I don’t mind one more reading assignment, I do mind having to find the book on short notice. </p>
<p>@petraelise while the signature thing sounds ridiculous to me, my husband would say ‘sounds like my job.’ Very often when he finishes something major he has to spend the next day or two getting signatures from the higher ups before the work can proceed. I’ve never heard of it being required for graduation either, but sometimes it is a strange new world we live in. </p>
<p>Just booked go2girl’s one-way ticket to Nashville. Of course, I also booked her winter break flights so it’s not quite as emotional as one would think! Congratulations to all who have graduated! We are ten days away. Still a couple of finals in the mix so it’s not completely over yet. But I feel a bit of relaxation setting in. It’s been such a grueling year! </p>
<p>I’m planning on doing the food for her graduation party myself. Going Tennessee barbecue with pulled pork sliders, macaroni and cheese and baked beans. Grandma is making anchor sugar cookies as a nod to Vandy. </p>
<p>I am still giggling about the lovebirds graduation gift! That takes the prize! </p>
<p>Congrats to everyone who has survived graduation! Now you can look forward to dorm shopping and a hopefully restful summer. We still have 2.5 weeks to go before the big day. DD has stopped bringing her backpack to school since she’s mostly watching movies and doing in-class projects. She says she’s mentally done with school but still enjoys it because of her friend group. Finals are in two weeks.</p>
<p>I just finished a big spy mission so now I can concentrate on the graduation stuff. Caterer is coming today to talk food, house is being prepped for painting. The greenhouse still has three gaping holes in it but I’m hoping those can be repaired this weekend. I have two quilts nearly finished and a third in the beginning stages. If I don’t sleep I might get it all finished.</p>
<p>@ordinarylives the bird gift still has me chuckling. I’m glad you found them a good home. What were they thinking? It certainly will be the most memorable graduation gift. One of DD’s friends received a poisonous frog for her 10th birthday from an uncle. I thought that was the craziest gift ever, but the birds are right up there.</p>
<p>Count me in the long way to graduation – not til June 21. S is still watching movies in school. You’d think they’d put all the seniors to work making license plates or something.</p>
<p>June 24th here. I feel like we are last but I think I read someone was June 27th. S14 took his last (makeup) AP test today, he was worried about this one but says it was easy. Hooray! Now begins senior ditch days, Prom the 31st and a bunch of goofing off until the last day of instruction, June 20th. So exciting! He is doing a unit on Personal Finance in his Econ/Gov class so at least there will be something useful this last month. :)</p>
<p>I haven’t visited this thread in a while, and it is nice to see so many graduating and moving forward without issue, though I see a few have had hiccups. We had our own hiccup with a recent discovery of termites in one part of the house, which the pest control people said they could address on June 5 – the day of S’s graduation. Good thing they reassured me it would not be calamitous to postpone it for a few days after that.</p>
<p>My S did his best, but he still fell a little short of overtaking his competitor for valedictorian. Reports of her senioritis were apparently somewhat exaggerated. He was okay with that, in part because he found out he won the outside scholarship he coveted right about the time he learned he would be salutatorian.</p>
<p>@eyemamom , if you don’t mind advice from a male perspective, I would say that your daughter should pull out of the trip. Maybe I am mistaken, but it is my guess that the trip is being provided by the parents under the false impression that the relationship is strong and sustainable. It could prove to be very uncomfortable for your daughter to go along under those circumstances.</p>
<p>@eyemamom I would also say decline to go on the trip. It will be very uncomfortable for everyone. And that much togetherness? How fun for everyone if things come unhinged between the couple while on this trip.</p>
<p>I thought our grad was June 27 because it’s been on a Friday morning forever, but when we got the announcementts I found out this year it’s Thursday June 26. Good thing it will just be my immediate family attending, so it was just a matter of husband switching his day off. But, really, a Thursday morning? :-?? </p>
<p>I was also mistaken about awards night. We got a letter today that she will be included in the ceremony next Wednesday. Don’t know for what, so that will be a nice surprise next week. </p>
<p>Her long night of prom celebrating has led to a horrible head cold. I’m glad she’s done with exams and her classes are all in ‘watch movies all day’ mode. </p>
<p>@austinareadad and @ordinarylives - thank you for your perspective! It’s hard to know what to do and I was actually wondering on some level if he’d enjoy his family trip more without her if things are strained. Plus who wants to take some kid on vacation to a wedding only to have her break up with him? She doesn’t want to go on the trip now (must be serious - who doesn’t want to go to hawaii) She’s asleep on the couch now, stressed and exhuasted over this. I’m 99% certain the dad bought her tickets using his airline miles. How do we go about offering to make this right by them?</p>
<p>This post-graduation week found my Class of 2014 kid hanging out with friends, taking on daytime hours at work and doing placement tests prior to class registration. Passed on Vanderbilt to head east for college. Now we are gearing up for the big grad party this weekend. I will never use Regrets Only again vs traditional RSVP with date as we dont have a good sense of our guest size. Ughhh…Had a quiet celebration with extended family on the actual day, which was lovely.</p>
<p>If they bought the tickets with miles there’s a good chance he can just cancel and redeposit them with no penalty. At least that’s the way it works for DH and United. </p>
<p>S2’s graduation is May 30. Awards night is Sunday - they called to ask us to attend. I know he is getting the one AFL-CIO scholarship, but hopeful that another 1 or 2 local ones might materialize. And he is still waiting to hear about a few bigger ones.Fingers crossed!</p>
<p>Moonmaid, I wish your son all the luck at the awards! Son '14 announced, in rather a nasty tone, last night that he would not attend the senior scholarship awards. He would go to his conference track meet and stay for the whole thing. That was his obligation, he said. Well, he had to be in two places at once, and no one could give us clear direction as to what he should do since he already had qualified for the state meet in four events. We really wanted him to split his day – run two things and then go to the awards. He said no. Also, told me that I did not need to come and see him run. I blame the lousy communication we receive from the coaches. So glad that this will be over soon. It has turned our home upside down. Even his grandparents weighed in, and they thought I had a good compromise. Again, blame it on the coaches who never gave him permission to leave.</p>
<p>Senior awards night was last night here for DS14. He wanted to stay home and watch the Stanley Cup Playoffs but we went. He received some unexpected awards and I’m glad we went. Senior breakfast today and then more graduation practice with the big event on Sunday. Family starts arriving tomorrow. Excited for him yet a little sad for me.</p>