<p>Overtheedge: Glad you will have your D home for a few days. She’s probably very happy to be home, too, and sleep in her own bed.</p>
<p>We get our S home for Christmas break, and I made him very, very happy last night. I ordered two sets of tickets for ice hockey games. He and his dad will have a blast. I get a pair of two, quiet evenings, although the older son will probably be home at that point from law school. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, my S sent me a text saying he went to advising with the business school, and it went very well. He was quite excited. His first experience with them was not good, as in, they told him that they did not know what he needed to take because he had so many AP credits coming in. In the end, he had to go to the College of Science for registration, as he wants to double major in math and economics. I’m sure he will give me more details when we chat later in the weekend. He also needs to go to the College of Science for advising before he can register. Oh, and he is running in a big cross country meet out of state this weekend, too.</p>
<p>I sympathize with those of you that won’t see your child until Thanksgiving or Christmas, but I’m glad to hear that they’re happy and doing well! In the Dark Ages when I was in college, I was in the same boat. My parents dropped me off freshman year and came to back to my school for graduation. I went home for Christmas and, sometimes, Spring Break. </p>
<p>@beadymom - I’m glad to hear that your S is doing so well and you had a great visit! The bike ride sounds like a lot of fun!</p>
<p>@twoinanddone - What a great surprise for your D, and such a special event to be there with your D at initiation! The sororities at my D’s school are all local (which I find odd), except one. So no chance of D and I ending up in the same house. I envy you! Enjoy your weekend! </p>
<p>@momreads - Glad you scored those hockey tickets! Sounds like your S will be thrilled! </p>
<p>Sitting at the airport waiting to board a flight to San Francisco for my grandmother’s memorial service. Kind of bummed that I can’t accompany my DH and DD to visit DS this weekend because he is making his first start in college. </p>
<p>And I will miss most of the game because it’s a night game and during the memorial service. Guess I’ll have to watch the tape later. </p>
<p>@twoinanddone - I never regretted not being in a sorority until I found out I can’t go to initiation, but could have if she was a legacy. She doesn’t initiate until January. We are going to her sorority’s parents weekend at the end of the month. Not being a sorority it wasn’t really anything I thought much about, but I have to say I’m glad I encouraged her to rush. These young ladies have been very supportive of her and have given her a structure and support system already. </p>
<p>Back in my day I went home for Thanksgiving and Christmas and the summer, and not even every summer when I started taking classes and got a job. It’s a little weird how much contact I have with D - parents weekend, fall break, sorority parents weekend - all things that just didn’t exist in my world in college. </p>
<p>eyemamom, some of the national sororities do ‘alum initiates’ so the opportunity to be in a sorority is not gone forever. Many adult join, usually because their daughters have. My niece also happens to be in my sorority, and my sister is extremely jealous so we may let her in (but she has to suffer for a while first). My other daughter has joined another house as they don’t have ours at her school, and it is a little sad that I can’t be involved as much. Her colors are better!</p>
<p>I loved being in a house in college, and many of my best friends for life are my sister (hence the one visiting me now). Both of my daughters’ godmothers are sorority sisters. My 80 year old father still meets up with his 80+ year old frat brothers once a year, and those who live close meet up weekly.</p>
<p>We hadn’t heard from D in a few days but after someone pulled the fire alarm in their dorm at 230 AM last night she decided to text DW and let her know what happened. Why it couldn’t wait until this morning is anyone’s guess!</p>
<p>She will be home a week from tomorrow for a full week of fall break. This is the first school that I know of that gives a full week off in the fall. It’s worse than her HS! </p>
<p>@twoinanddone How special that will be! I dreamed of that day but my daughter went to a school without a chapter of my sorority. Her best friend (that kid who is at your house as much as your own kids!) did join a chapter of my sorority so I went to her Initiation. She was also at Convention with me this summer, which was fun! It’s very cool when someone you are close to Initiates. </p>
<p>S is home for the weekend. It’s homecoming weekend at the high school so he was at the football game last night and has a date for the dance tonight. I asked him if it felt weird to go back into his old environment now that he’s used to being at college and he did say it was strange. Things are still going well for him. He seems to be happy, healthy and thriving He has joined RAK- the Random Acts of Kindness student organization and is having fun with that too It is nice to have him close enough that we can see him fairly often. His sister is in NYC and that’s tougher. She’ll be home for her “election day break”. </p>
<p>It is so strange to be reading about parent weekend and fall break when S just STARTED classes last Thursday! He seems to be settling in very well. He is interested in 3 girls but is spending more time with 1 in particular. I want him to take it slow and stay focused.</p>
<p>We will not attend Parent Weekend but are actually going to visit our kids for Thanksgiving. S11 is an RA and pulled duty so he can’t go home. S14 is ok with staying in LA. Since their campuses are 12 Miles apart it makes sense to come to them. This will also be our first holiday season without H’s mother, so it will be good to change things up.</p>
<p>Phone call from d yesterday. She’s enjoying one of her classes a lot and is thinking, “Maybe this should be my major”. Good for you, kid. Keep an open mind.</p>
<p>I realize AP makes the college board a lot of money and high schools are all over DE, but you know, taking classes at your college is a very different experience than either of those. Can’t help but wonder if D would still hate history if she’d taken a real college history class at her campus. </p>
<p>I’m sitting here watching a sleeping D:). No matter how old she gets, I still see that little girl when she 's sleeping.</p>
<p>We spent the day just talking and being couch potatoes. She still has a bad cold and just found out the guy she’s seeing has mono! She’s getting tested Tues am. It would be just her luck. She dropped a course this week to lighten her load. It should help her to get through the semester. </p>
<p>Other than the health issues which have been getting her down, and the nose piercing (did NOT see that coming - ugh!!), she’s seems great! She’s made some good friends, is writing for a national publication, and doing a lot at the Women’s Center. She’s been attending all sorts of campus events (or was until she got sick), and she and the roomie are still getting along wonderfully. I suspected the new romantic interest and she finally fessed up. If she does have mono, at least the two of them can stay in and rest and watch movies together on weekends until they recover. </p>
<p>It’s so good to have her home for a few days!</p>
<p>@ordinarylives – My kids go to a fancy-pants private high school which offers very few AP classes. It’s uncommon for a kid to take an AP course prior to their senior year. In addition, the teachers tell the kids that the AP courses are not substitutes for college level courses, and that especially in their areas of interest they’d be well-served re-taking the AP course at the college level.
I think that the AP courses may be most valuable for placing out of a distribution requirement in an area in which one’s not that interested. But as you noted, even then it might deprive a kid of seeing a different (and enlightening) side of a subject they may never study again.</p>
<p>My sons took lots and lots of AP classes in high school for a few reasons. One, they needed the challenge – the older son went to such a small high school that he had seven AP classes online. Two, there was no honors level so it was AP or classes with 25+ students. Three, they wanted to get ahead, and AP would allow for more options. It worked out well. My oldest son earned two degrees and had two minors. He also took some classes that he may not had if he had not had the room in his schedule. The younger son has been using the AP credit to cover his genEd requirements, and he, too, will be able to have at least two majors. So there have been some benefits. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, S did not have a particularly good race Saturday. Very chilly and windy. He said that his back “locked up” about 200 meters into the race. I instructed him to see the trainer to make sure it was okay. He said he needed to stretch more. The whole team did not do well, he said. At the end of the week is fall break, but they have another meet. This one is in Florida. Maybe it will be a tad warmer.</p>
<p>had a great weekend with D at home for the first time since August. We had so much fun doing a whole lot of nothing lol! Dad took her out to breakfast, she visited a friend, and I chatted with her for hours. On the way back yesterday we stopped in the city to see Idina Menzel in the Broadway show if/then. It was awesome!</p>
<p>so glad to see everyone’s kids doing fairly well but hugs and prayers to @overthehedge s gal who has mono. That’s kind of stinky!</p>
<p>Vanderbilt’s Family Weekend was last month, but we made our own this past weekend. It was great to see DD and meet all the new friends. And all the friends were available to be taken out for dinner and/or shopping, since there weren’t many other families around. Unfortunately, we brought fall weather to the south, but at least it wasn’t raining on Saturday!</p>
<p>Hi everyone, it’s great to hear that your kids seem to be doing well for the most part!</p>
<p>I don’t know how much this group knows about my D’s struggles in high school (I didn’t really talk about it in this thread) but there were times we were worried she wouldn’t even graduate, let alone get accepted at her first-choice school. So everything that’s been happening lately, her happiness at college, her immediate connection with an inspirational professor, etc, has sometimes seemed to good to be true. My H and I sometimes feel like we’re waiting for the other shoe to drop. So far things have been going so well! But obviously grades would be very telling. Well, this week D shared with us that she’d gotten the highest grade in her class on the biology quiz, and her first two major papers in other classes were passed back, both with As! I’m so proud of her I could burst. And so very, very grateful for her happiness and for her having found a school that’s such a good fit.</p>
<p>@staceyneil - I am so happy for you!! As a parent whose D has chronic health issues that plagued her in HS, I understand all too well the feeling of waiting for “the other shoe to drop.” I can so appreciate your joy and sense of relief! I have been relieved that my D loves her school, but afraid that her concussion and now, likely mono, will derail her. Ironic that two not uncommon ailments, instead of her chronic health problems are the cause of my current concern. After seeing her this weekend, however, I am hopeful because she seems so happy at her school and determined to overcome these issues. In 4 years maybe I can exhale:). </p>
<p>@Overtheedge, yes I’ve been following your D’s first weeks especially closely since I know what you’re going through too! So glad she is happy. That can certainly make all the difference in overcoming obstacles.</p>
He has joined RAK- the Random Acts of Kindness student organization and is having fun with that too