S registered for classes yesterday. We had a fun 2 days on campus together. After mapping out his schedule, he decided he will want a bike. It was difficult fitting in all the classes/discussion sections without having a couple things in far flung locations back to back. I wish I were the one heading off to school- I would even enjoy dorm life again!
Glad the visit went well @psychmomma! S and I travel to his registration visit on Monday and Tuesday, and I think weāre both excited about it. He has his draft schedule, which looks like a reasonable one that lets him jump right into some intro business courses while taking care of some core classes. And, no classes before 9 am. We did get him the sonic boom alarm clock for work and it seems to be doing the trick in waking him up - I feel bad for his roommate (and nearby dormmates) because S has to set it super loud to rouse him :). Iām realizing itās the first trip that just the two of us have taken together, so Iām excited about that, too :).
It was our first trip, too! My S isnāt very talkative, but we had a good time and plenty of conversations about the campus, dorm room, classes, etc. He is still searching for the perfect school t-shirt and sweatshirt. The stores had slim pickings but will certainly restock later in the summer.
Have fun @lifegarding! Take lots of pictures! I told my S if you humor me now (with taking pictures), I wonāt be bugging you as much on move-in day.
Back from the class registration trip. Had a great visit and learned a lot about campus life. He even has his ID card and found a roommate! Ordered his new laptop. Bundle deals on Microsoft products through 6/18 helped but the specs needed for engineering still made it pricey. It was a fun way to spend the first dollars from the college fund however. Now we need to get through all that info we brought home and complete the follow-up. I thought things would slow down a bit after this visit but now I am not so sure about that. Lots of details to attend to between now and move in day.
Thanks for the tip, @psychmomma, I will definitely try to get in some photos this time since weāll be on campus all day. @Cheeringsection I hadnāt thought about follow-up materials after the session, guess Iāll have to add those to our to-do list! Sounds like lots of our kids are beginning their college journey even in June - good luck to all!
Good luck to everyone whose kids are graduating this week! How have your kids been dealing with all the change?
SMH moment on our visit this week-S asked if schools ever change their colors. His HS had orange as a main color and now he has 4 more years of orange. On the positive side, the spirit wear companies are offering some shirts with navy or gray and white, sans orange. I swear- my kids came so close to choosing a school based on mascot and colors! Who knew those could hold such power!
Haha @psychmomma
@readingclaygirl my S seemed to handle the transition after graduation last Monday pretty well, I think because seniors had stopped going to class about a week before. During that time, he started working at his summer job and got together with a few friends - my guess is thatās how his summer will go. We go to his college registration meeting on Tuesday, so reality of the changes will probably settle in after that.
He did mention last night, half joking, that he thinks weāre going to visit him every weekend, or maybe every other weekend, or maybe at least once a month? 
His school is about 3 hours one-way driving time from our house, so I think he may be getting his hopes up too much that weāll be frequent visitors. I guess weāll be visiting probably every 6-8 weeks, thoughā¦we will miss him a lot, including his sister, and heās picked at college that at least is only 45 minutes from the ocean so there are lots of nice hotels we can stay at during our visits.
We have a graduate! Everything went smoothly and D gave a great speech which had me tearing up and laughing at other times. And for once, she didnāt speak too fast. Traffic was a bear because it seems like every high school in the region as well as UW graduated yesterday, and my older D almost didnāt make it in time, and my BIL from Canada cut it close, but it all came together. Weāre home recovering until later today when D has an EC (of COURSE she does). We spend this week getting ready for her party, and tomorrow she will speak to the graduating 8th grade. Then itās on to her internship.
@psychmama D has the same problem! Her HS colors are blue and yellow and so are the collegeās-she hates both colors, especially together! Luckily most college wear is available now in all kinds of colors and options-the windbreaker she bought is pink and sheās stealing the pink sweatshirt I bought. She did concede to blue for her sweatpants, though.
@readingclaygirl Iāll let you know over the next few weeks. It definitely doesnāt seem real yet.
Congrats on the graduation! Classes are done here but Prom is still a next Saturday and I have an exam the day before graduation. So there is still stuff going on. It will probably hit when graduation actually occurs. Iām getting excited but nervous, especially since Iām speaking.
Important to address before fall: final HS transcript, placement scores, housing/meal plan, immunization records, financial aid/loans, ID & transit cards, medical insurance, computer gear, property insurance, book purchases, college directory, drop/add/withdrawal deadlines, advisors contact info, meds, etc. So much!
Feel like Iāve been gone forever. Congratulations to everyone who has graduated and found jobs.
I am currently in a hotel room getting ready to bring D over to start her orientation. So last night we were checking into the hotel on campus at a state school several states away from home, and who do we run into? One of the other kids from her high school who is going here. Itās a small world
@krnBoston, the plan as of now is that our S will be coming home over Columbus Day weekend. Itās the weekend of his high schoolās marching band home show (i.e. the schoolās hosted competition). A lot of recent grads from the school try and make it home (sort of a mini-homecoming), so he figured it was a good chance to see some former classmates and see friends still in the band. Weāre betting we wonāt actually see him that much that weekend.
While, granted, weāll see him two weeks in a row, the trip to Rochester will be our first chance to see him on his new turf after we drop him off in August/see him at orientation.
Check out www.mybushome.com for a neat charter bus service that runs from RIT, UofR and several other northeastern schools. Weāre either utilizing that for him for Columbus Day or taking advantage of my motherās offer of a round-trip plane ticket each semester of his freshman year.
D keeps saying that she will definitely come back home in the fall to see the marching band show. I keep pointing out that this is not realistic when you chose a college 10 hours drive from home. Sheās convinced that she will convince someone with a car to do a weekend road trip to D.C.
D15 wisely pointed out to her that chances are she wonāt want to give up a full weekend of being at school. Then she pointed out to me that I should stop arguing with D16 because the desire is all about the loss of the familiar (high school) and fear of the unknown (college).
@dbjs70 That makes a lot of sense. Iām not sure why it didnāt occur to me that he would be coming home one of the weekends. How far are you? I know about the mybushome - I didnāt know if it ran Columbus Day. Without a hook like the marching band Iām not sure my son will be anxious to get home - Iāll wait and see. Iām sure you wonāt mind seeing him 2 weekends in a row.
Iāve been looking at plane tickets as well. I finally decided I just have to wait and see how he feels about things. Neither of us can predict at this point. My D is at school in Boston, so it is easy to see her for a quick visit. She doesnāt come home for any weekends, but thereās really no need - we can always meet for dinner. Iām going to miss that with my S.
@krnBoston, based on what Iāve managed to find out MyBusHome has a scheduled on Columbus Day weekend, but they donāt always have enough students to meet the minimum numbers which is why weāre opting to fly him that weekend. We figure weāll use the service either for Thanksgiving or Winter Break; Iām figuring for one of those weāll pick him up so he can bring home (or take back) extra stuff/laundry, etc.
Itās about a 6 hour drive (with no stops) for us. We did tell our S that if he went far away for school heād be stuck with us visiting for a āweekendā rather than us just coming for a meal. Heās been forewarned at least that he canāt expect to just ādrop usā for something else when we do come and visit.
All the talk about marching competitions made me compare calendars. Unfortunately, Dās fall break will be the weekend after the big competition I expect the band to go to. Bummer! Her spring break doesnāt match up with her friendsā or S19ās either. I guess thatās life.
Thinking of dorm mountain, any pro parents who have been through this before with tips on what wasnāt necessary? I was just remembering baby shower days or āmust haveā gadgets that seemed cool at the time but didnāt get used at all.
@LexieAnn My D13 commented at the end of the year that she could have brought fewer shoes and fewer clothes. She said she ended up wearing a lot of the same things, plus added school t-shirts, sweatshirts, etc.
?: We donāt get our health insurance through our jobs. We purchase it during the open enrollment period, directly from Blue Cross Blue Shield. D16 called BCBS today to inquire about having her prescription mailed to KY (we are in IL). BCBS said they cannot mail prescriptions across state lines nor transfer her rx to a pharmacy in KY.
One option is to have us pick up her prescrition here in IL, and we mail it ourselves to her at school.
The other option is to drop her from her HMO insurance here in IL and sign her up for a plan in KY.
I went to the web site at HealthCare.gov to look up qualifying events for signing up for insurance outside of the open enrollment period, and sure enough, listed under āChanged your primary place of livingā, thereās āA student moving from or to a place where they attend schoolā. Huh.
On one hand, it sounds like a pain in the butt. On the other hand, we wouldnāt be double-paying, right? The ~$2100 for comprehensive insurance through UK, plus our HMO at home.
Does anyone have experience with this?