My daughter went to orientation at Baldwin Wallace this weekend. We stayed in Cleveland and got to explore the Gateway District - very nice! We didn’t get to explore as much as I thought we would, though, because they had a lot of parent sessions. We set her up with a checking account, I already set up the monthly billing, and we got her financial aid form which was updated with the scholarship she won from the local orchestra and chorale. We didn’t get to see inside the dorm she’ll be living in, but we did walk up to the quad and it was really calm and quiet.
We’re taking a full (16 of us! all kids, spouses and grand kids) family vacation over the 4th. Immediately after getting home on Monday the 6th, our baby, S’15 heads out on his 4 day/3 night ‘Nature of Life’ Biology adaptation excursion. The Nature of Life series helps CBS undergraduate students build community, create connections, and develop the skills and habits of mind that research shows contribute to success in college and beyond.
Then its all work and no play until move in day in late August.
DW and I booked a beach house for this winter. We’ll be wintering in Florida for a couple months after the Holidays! B-) It’s time to find our “new normal”
Congrats everybody! We’ve launched 3 prior to S’15 and I feel like a leather-ed veteran. Not much melancholy yet…although DW is starting to show symptoms of Empty Nest Syndrome :-S
Is there anybody else who still hasn’t started shopping full in force for their kids’ dorms? I want to try to start moving the process along, but I’m not sure what stuff I should suggest we get first. School supplies, like notebooks and stuff? Sheets? Bathroom stuff? I’m trying to decide if suggesting I shop for stuff on my own is a good idea… probably not.
“Is there anybody else who still hasn’t started shopping full in force for their kids’ dorms?”
Raises hand
We have not started our shopping. D just graduated Friday, and is booked this week with various things. Maybe this weekend, we will start.
We have a very small pile in the living room. Mostly from gifts… and the list is laying on top of the pile. We have an exchange student here for 5 weeks so I have a feeling we will be a part of the mad rush in August.
DS doesn’t even know that a shopping list exists yet. I started it months ago. He has had too many other things on his plate. After vacation, he will be introduced to the concept of shopping. I know he isn’t a fan, but he will participate.
It’s not that I don’t want to do it, it’s just that I’m not sure how to start and everyone’s always so busy.
@albert69 We are probably going to buy the stuff at BBB here and pick it up at BBB there, so we don’t have to lug so much stuff. We’re still trying to figure out what she needs.
Thanks for the support, everyone! I won’t have much time to do shopping while I’m moving in, so I’m going to have to bring a lot with me. My dad and I are probably going to dash out there, do my orientation, move in, then he has to get back home. My mom and sisters are taking classes here, and theirs start the same time as mine. It sounds like my little sister will have her wisdom teeth out the day I leave, to make things even more nutty. So my mom can’t really go to drop me off because she needs to take care of my sister.
We have not done much shopping yet. Hoping to order here and pick up there. I am thinking of this as an " empty nest in training." To me, it’s not really an empty nest until they officially get a job and move out ( or at least that’s what I keep saying to myself!). Every time I pass the HS I get teary eyed. This is not going to be pretty LOL.
@LadyArwyn Get an exchange student! You can give them back after a year! 
We hosted one through YFU.
@albert69, I’d suggest getting the bedding and towels for the dorm so you can wash everything before you get there That will get the chemicals out of the fabrics. That will also let you get the bedding you want rather than the bedding that is left over. You’ll need to find out if the dorms are standard twins or twin XLs. Twin XL can be more difficult to find. I might save some of the class-specific supplies until you know what classes you have, unless you are one of the lucky one who has your schedule already. There is a dorm packing list for your school at http://webs.wichita.edu/depttools/depttoolsmemberfiles/housing/New%20Resident%20Packing%20List%202013-2014.pdf. (hope the link works. I Googled Wichita State dorm packing list) The list is a guide, but it will give you an idea of what you will need when you start your shopping adventure. Also, Bed and Bath may have a school-specific list. The BBB list had items my D could not bring to the dorm, and that was very helpful.
@mtrosemom Thanks, that’s kinda what I was thinking. I have that list from WSU. The beds are extra long twins. Thanks for the suggestion about BBB, I’ll check that out.
I’ll ask D1 right before she moves in what she still needs (that she knows of). And I’ll ask her again once she’s been there a month or so. I’ll probably send her care packages at school, something small maybe weekly.
Congratulations @mdcmom on your son’s epic speech! I sounds like it was a hit…and fun…making the ceremony memorable for everyone.
I have definitely started shopping with D. We have a lot already, but are stalled because she can’t find the ‘perfect’ quilt for the bed, and that will affect color choices for other things. 
The other day I made a quick separate list of Dad sort of things to buy and sent her and her dad out for a shopping trip best done at places like Home Depot. I think he enjoyed that, since though he doesn’t want to shop much for the other stuff, I was beginning to think he was feeling left out a little.
She got to sign up for classes at orientation and has already changed it around a couple times. At first she wasn’t going to take chemistry because her major doesn’t require it, but now has decided it would be wise in case of a future change in major…so now she has to take an online chemistry placement test. She is waiting for the access code to that…her whole new meticulously planned schedule now depends on her doing well on this test. lol Fingers crossed!
We don’t have to do much for supplying dorms, because 1) my kids are very tall, so they already sleep on twin XLs, and my daughter will just bring her own sheets and blankets - comforts of home. She has always had her own towels, which happen to be pretty new, etc. I can’t think of a single thing she would need for dorms that we don’t already have.
With one exception.
My son was in dorms a few years back, and I strongly recommend either purchasing a new mattress for the dorms, or buying a really nice bed topper to make the mattress less bumpy or rock-hard, or concave, as the case may be.
We are waiting on buying things until orientation next week. Hopefully will get ideas from other parents and students as well as some specifics about the room.
In the room description, it is noted that bookshelves are not included. What kind of shelving is good for a dorm room?
S will have a single so does not need to coordinate purchases with anyone.
We are planning to rent a ‘micro-fridge’ to avoid lugging it back and forth.
Also, the university allows drip coffee makers so we’re not sure what to get - the easier to use but more expensive and non-evironmental Keurig or a drip machine.
S is not particular about colors so I will probably get to pick out the bedding - lol!
@singermom4 consider a Keurig with a reusable metal screen “cup”.
So, invitations have just been sent out for my graduation party. It’s going to happen! Several people have already said yes! Tell me, is it ok these days to use Evite for a graduation party? With the wide swath of people we wanted to invite, the only thing they had in common was that we knew their email addresses, but not their mailing addresses. So I figured it would be best to do it that way, plus it would be easy to tell who was coming. I think my old-school mom is cringing a bit inwardly, but she let me do it that way…