Thanks, @NorthernMom61!
Sorry to hear that @musictherapymom Hope she is better soon. I imagine it would be worse if she was stuck at school. My 19 year old cousin had to have emergency surgery on her finger after smashed it playing volleyball (D1 athlete)!in October. And she’s almost 7 hours from home. Now this week she has to have shoulder surgery but atleast she will be home for it. Good for you! @albert69
It’s S’ bday today. First one away from home 
I told him he could ask a few friends out to dinner - I even gave his future three apartment mates as an example. When I skyped with him on Sunday he mentioned the name of the fancy restaurant we treated him to over parents weekend. I think my eyes may have bugged out a bit because he quickly suggested that he would pay for half. I responded his friends may not like that kind of eclectic dining and would prefer something more familiar and suggested a Mediterranean restaurant with good reviews near the University. He decided to book something downtown close to the light rail line - it’s still quite a nice restaurant (the steak prices are more than nice)/. Today I asked how many friends will be able to make the dinner. 12. 12??!!! He must have invited half the floor! Need to set some guidelines for the next year’s bday dinner! He’s been pretty careful with his spending so this took me by surprise!
@singermom4 well first of all Happy Birthday to your son! A good thing he is paying half.
It ended up being 10 and though he offered to pay we said it was fine. I keep telling myself we could have been paying double at some of his other university options so a little splurge here and there is still affordable. However, not sure if his friends’ parents will thank him for introducing their kids to popovers, bone marrow, charcuterie, and duck (what - we’re only having chicken?)!
Strange things happen when college students go out. I didn’t go out much - only left the campus 3 or 4 times the whole semester, but one of my friends was always doing stuff with his floor. Funny thing was that there was only one other guy on the floor (besides him) that was <21. So, my friend would go out and do stuff with all these older people. He’d wind up the designated driver so the others could get drinks.
DS home and came bearing gifts - all thought by himself! Ok, so, they are more caps and such - but still! It is good to have him back home again! Glad to see others who are enjoying this too and hug to parents whose kids will have surgeries and medicines to take! @albert69 , good going there with all A’s! Keep it up! Wish you all very happy holidays , folks!
My DS will be home for only a couple of weeks. His school has a winter term that takes up most of January.
Fortunately, he’s close enough so that we’ve traveled up there for a couple of overnights, such as family weekend or to see him at a musical performance. Even if he limits the face to face to a nice dinner, it’s still a nice spot for a getaway.
DD won’t be home until the 22nd which feels late but her classes didn’t start until Sept 9. SHe’s finishing up a long term paper and a take-home final and battling a cold. Good luck to all those still finishing up and well-deserved congratulations to all who are done! yay @albert69 on your straight As! Healing vibes to your D @musictherapymom.
Mine is currently in the air crossing the Pacific. Due to arrive here at 10 PM tonight. I can hardly stand these last hours. Her last final was Thursday afternoon, the airport shutttle picked her up at her dorm at 6 on Friday morning for her 26+ hour trip. She too went into finals battling a cold, but felt like she did well. Can’t wait to give her a huge hug! Happy Holidays everyone.
Hopefully you have gotten to give her a few hugs already @NorthernMom61 . My D came home with a cold, too! I think this is #4 for the semester. At least I get to take care of her this time.
DS arrived home last night. It was great to see him and his sister who arrived home a week ago together again! His classes don’t start until Jan 19 but he has to travel back and forth to school for at least one, possibly two, bowl games with the band. Since they have to be back for rehearsal days before leaving for the games, he won’t be home nearly as much as we (including him) would like. Glad to hear of all the happy homecomings and wishing everyone who’s ill a speedy recovery so they can enjoy their time off.
Thanks everyone! I hope all your kids are doing well, hopefully the ones that are sick will feel better soon. I’m having a good time, relaxing and seeing some friends back here. This break is going by too quickly…
She’s home after a long but problem free trip. She’s home, she’s home, she’s home! We are all enjoying being together. She is loving home cooked food! We are so happy that she had a great semester. Thanks for everyone’s support.
My daughter may have just screwed up everything and lost her full-ride scholarship (which would mean dropping out of her dream school entirely). Either that, or academic/financial aid probation.
Her first grade came in… a 1.8 in calc. Which is painful because it’s the third time she has taken it. She aces the exams but doesn’t do the homework “because she already knows the material.” She sees no value in practicing something she knows. She was taking the class to raise her grade This is also why she got a low grade the second time around. And she thinks she failed a class that she decided halfway through she didn’t want to do anymore (a second major she decided not to pursue) and stopped any effort in that class, since it held no future for her that she could see.
She highly distracted by “better things to do.” Which would be skyping with her internet boyfriend and watching gaming videos (literally watching other people play video games). Because gaming itself is blocked on her computer.
If by some miracle she gets probation she gets another chance to do it right. if not, either home to community college or off to the military to grow up a little and earn the money she will need to return to college without that scholarship.
Sorry to hear about your daughter’s struggles @LadyArwyn. Hopefully you two will have some time to talk this winter break and try to figure out a game plan.
@LadyArwyn … I’d recommend calling the Scholarship/Financial Aid office at the school and confirming what their policy is. Different schools handle the GPA requirements for scholarship renewal in their own way. Some check after each semester, while others check at the end of the Winter/Spring semester only. They also have different ways of handling the finances during the probationary period. Some will continue to disburse the scholarship monies while a student is on academic probation, but some will require the student/family to pay for the probationary semester. Hopefully she hasn’t dug too deep of a hole for herself to work her way out of.
Sorry to hear about her struggles. Adjusting to college can really be a difficult thing for many students between the new workloads, responsibilities, level of autonomy, etc. I hope she’s able to get herself back on track. >:D<
My daughter has been home for two weeks. I can’t remember if I mentioned it here, but she is going to audition to change her major to Musical Theater, she scheduled it for February. Her voice teacher is supportive and invited one of the Musical Theater professors to sit in on her jury, which went very well. She is getting new headshots the day after Christmas (we got a great price from a friend of mine who is a professional photographer - he and I used to sing together and he is coming home from LA for Christmas). She struggled with one class, Harmony, but passed, everything else was an A or B, and she kept her GPA high enough to keep her scholarship, phew.
Unless, of course, she keels over and dies when she opens her only Christmas present, which is the only thing she wants in this world right now, which is a ticket to Hamilton. I’ll miss that kidney I had to sell to buy it, though.
I’m so sorry @LadyArwyn. I’ll be praying that she can get a semester on probation, hopefully still paid for. I know it can be hard to stay focused… not going to lie, I got teased many times throughout the semester for not doing a lot of the activities that were available and studying a lot. It is hard not to give in and ignore studying in order to have fun and not be seen as a stick in the mud. Hopefully she will find her strength and direction - and ability to do things that she may not like.
She wasn’t socializing on campus at all. In fact, she almost never left her room, except for meals and class. The gaming group is an online bunch with whom she has been online gaming for years. She has never even met any of them in person. And the boyfriend is also an online boyfriend.