Parents of the HS Class of 2016 (Part 1)

Parents of HS Class of 20xx
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" I do feel that the only media immune to obsolescence would be a flip-book or a rock etching."

Aah, the flip book. Wonderful.

Sooo interesting there, @fretfulmother, that you have a family reading curriculum. I don’t truly have one, but I did start my little guy in on a few titles which I enjoyed, just to get him away from his intense interest in military warship, military history and Eastern Bloc geopolitical affairs.

I started giving him titles at the end of May, and he read one then, The Dog Days of Arthur Cane. This is a book with an eye toward heightening interpersonal and cultural sensitivities and respect, told through the fantastical (and stereotypical and probably racist) happening of a young boy (protagonist) who is transformed into a dog for the summer by the witchcraft of another boy who has been taunted and teased by the protagonist.

Then I got him to read Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. (Of course, he quite enjoyed this one. Told me that he had the oddest sense of not being able to enjoy reading it in the daytime as much as he did in the late evening. Go figure.)

I checked out one title, The Watsons Go to Birmingham, just for fun, which I think he has no intention of reading.

He’ll start his official summer reading list at some point, but he’s kind of jazzing on not being quizzed right now. Generally, I ask questions, but I’m tired, so I just let him talk to me.

My college kid is actually reading (at my suggestion) John Knowles’ A Separate Peace, at my urging. So much of what I remember of that title will resonate with my son, and some of it will probably sting, but I found the other day as I described the mood of a piece of music that he introduced me to, that I was in fact describing the last moments of A Separate Peace. I’d asked him to read it for years, and so he reached over to the bookcase and picked it up.

Hey, fret, do you have a '20 kid?

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Thank you for those book suggestions, @Waiting2exhale!! And yes, I do have a '20 kid. We have three school transitions this fall :slight_smile:

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@dyiu13 : Thanks for the music resources above. I believe I may have been at one of those sites when I found the field songs. Will certainly go into the treasures at both.

I have thought about a question you asked regarding book titles we may want our child to read before the undergraduate experience is completed, and I keep coming up blank (weirdly).

I have touched upon one title more than once, and tossed it, at it is an anthology of writings by women of color. I think I will let my mind go through poetry titles and see if that is where I land. I think it will be.

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@Waiting2exhale - if you keep suggesting books, you will need to buy stock in amazon. :slight_smile:

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@Waiting2exhale As a not-from-the-East-Coast girl, I did not read A Separate Peace until after HS. I was then working for the man, a prep school mate of the author’s, upon whom Knowles based his main character, Finny. The man and the character were two peas in a pod. Fun!

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Being who I am, I read “…working for The Man…”

I didn’t even think other people read that title, to be honest. No one in my life seems to know it, and certainly no one who knows of it (in my life) has thought about it twice.

I think about it as much as I think about Tale of Two Cities. Of course, I also think about Valley of the Dolls a lot, too.

My childhood was a little…heavy.

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“@Waiting2exhale - if you keep suggesting books, you will need to buy stock in amazon.”

Yes, @fretfulmother, I missed getting in on the diaper company/paper product company stock when I was making those folks richer than rich - may as well reap more than one form of dividend from the reading!

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@Waiting2exhale My D enjoyed The Watsons Go to Birmingham quite a lot! That was years ago, though. And I am from NH, and A Separate Peace was required reading in my honors 8th grade LA class. I read and reread it many time over the years. Powerful book. What a small world @dyiu13 ! Even I can’t claim such a close connection! But I believe we have a member here whose D attended the boarding school where the book was set. And I did visit the beach in the book many, many times, though some years past the book’s setting.

What a great site this is-so many “Six Degrees of Separation” moments!

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We are taking the same approach as @RyanG1207. We are basically paying for room and board and a small amount of tuition. We agreed on an amount he should save from working, plus he is taking a small student loan. If he runs short, we will help him, but we do expect him to be responsible.

I can’t remember if I posted here? Did anyone’s kids rush already? S pledged Fiji. Seems like a good choice as there are a lot of journalism majors in that fraternity. I told him I have already checked out the pics from their Moms’ weekend last year and anticipate having a great time this spring!

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Yes. We’re not going overboard by any means-- don’t have the ability to do that even if we could. But we’ve crafted a plan that, combining what he has in savings, a reasonable allowance, and a second-semester job, will keep him in pizza and guitar strings well enough.

That also was a consideration when he finally decided which school to attend. There were definite advantages to Boston and DC, but spending a couple of years comfortably in Tallahassee instead of scraping by in Chestnut Hill or Foggy Bottom still allows him a good year abroad as an undergrad, which was a must-have for him.

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Our daughter has had a checking account since she was 13 years old. She has been getting an allowance every two weeks. She first gives to our church and then transfers some to savings. She doesn’t get a whopping amount of money but it’s gone up each year. She got her first job this summer and it’s been pretty exciting seeing her face when she gets paid (it’s also funny how spending our money is easy but spending her money seems to be a little more difficult LOL!).

She’s not overdrawn her account/bounced any checks so she’s doing good so far (we/she also get alerts everytime she spends any money). Since she will be at Foggy Bottom for four years and there are no branches for our bank in that area, she will have a local account (joint with us) to allow her to access cash if needed without incurring a fee. She will also have a credit card (with the same bank for emergencies). If she decides to use it for other expenses, she knows she’ll have to use her allowance to cover those expenses. I wouldn’t mind her using it and paying it off in a timely fashion to build her credit.

Here’s the thing, we’ve advised her that she’ll be responsible for graduate/law school. If she damages her credit it will affect her ability to obtain funding for graduate/law school.

:wink: :slight_smile:

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So far behind on my message board reading! And it’s July! Counted remaining weekends and it looks like a max of 7…might be less depending on what first year class they put my D in. Sounds even closer when I realized I will only put one more tank of gas in her car. (She got 1 tank a month from us during school) She’ll be at a school where freshmen aren’t allowed cars, so I’ll be making that call to the insurance company on the way home from move in weekend.

I feel like things are a little bit in limbo–can’t make some ‘dorm mountain’ purchases until she’s assigned a roommate. Don’t know when she’ll actually have to be at school until she gets some sort of notification of her class schedule. Can’t research book costs/options til she has the schedule as well.

She has a set of deadlines for various items that need to be turned in like health forms, course picks, financial aid requirements. Some she had done well in advance, some must not seem as important to her. I’m doing my best to just sit back and let her figure it out, or suffer whatever consequences there might be. (Hard for me, but I know she has to be the one to do things on her own.) I guess the big lesson for me is that everything can get done, even if it’s not on my timeline. (Excuse me while I sit and repeat that over and over, thinking of the state D’s room is in at the moment. LOL)

I think I’ve crammed about every type of doctor/dental/eye appointment possible in this summer. I need to check health insurance coverage stuff and map out the closest providers for her, just in case. Hopefully the quality of healthcare available at college has gotten better over the years. Back in the day we renamed our student health ‘student death’. :))

Sending good vibes to all those waiting on AP scores!

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@HappyFace2018 Funny to think our kids might have been classmates! S16 liked GWU-Elliott quite a lot, but economically it just didn’t work for him. The recession and a twin sister both had a big impact on what we could afford, and even with extremely generous merit aid, it would have been just too tight for comfort. He’s pretty happy with his choice, thank goodness. Good luck to your D!

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It’s such a personal decision, but no allowance here. She hasn’t had one since grade school. We’ve offered money on an “as needed” basis. She has worked since Sophomore year. As most people who have been hanging out on this thread know, she picked the financial stretch. We have a set amount of money for college expenses we have promised for years. The grant from the school, Stafford loan and our contribution JUST cover tuition and room & board, leaving everything else for her – books, travel, food beyond 10 meal a week food plan, personal supplies (although we will keep her on our cell plan). Anything she can’t cover will need to come out of additional co-signed loans she will be responsible for. I feel like a meanie, but she knew our limitations when she made her choice.

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AP scores are here!! I did not ask for details but DS said they found a way to get them today. He did well enough to get some credit so that will loosen the schedule up a bit in the future. It also gives me confidence that he is headed in the right direction since I know he can handle the math and science and actually enjoyed those classes. :smiley: =D> #:-S

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Congrats @Cheeringsection . DS16 also scored well enough to exempt some classes. It’s about time for some good news.

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@LexieAnn My daughter’s IB Diploma results will be published tomorrow and we are on pins and needles! She feels confident but said it was the hardest three weeks of testing she’s ever been through. We are prayerful and thinking positive about it (she must attain 24 of 45 points to earn the IB Diploma). I reminded her that her college admission was not based on IB predictor grades and she’s already a GW Colonial so #RAISEHIGH!!

@petrichor11 I completely understand. If she wasn’t an only child her attending private high school and GW would not have been possible. While we did not receive any aid because our EFC was pretty high, she did receive the Stafford loan and a really nice Presidential Academic Scholarship. We’ve paid a pretty steep tuition bill for her private high school so when the Stafford loan and scholarship got us within a comfortable range, thank God, we knew could do it. Thank you so much

:slight_smile:

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@Cheeringsection and @carolinamom2boys Outstanding! Congrats to your kids and both of you!!

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My DC got a 4 on her lone AP test for senior year. Her school only has a total of 36 credits of Core Curriculum requirements so even with her paltry 2 usable AP scores, she made a small dent. Actually, if she had taken more than one AP history or more than one AP social science, they wouldn’t even help with core requirements. Her AP Psych takes care of her social and behavioral sciences requirement and her AP World takes care of her “historical perspectives” requirement.

I think I had 60 credits of Gen Ed requirements at Penn State back in the 90s - I had to suffer through P.E., too!

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@sseamom …"But I believe we have a member here whose D attended the boarding school where the book was set. And I did visit the beach in the book many, many times, though some years past the book’s setting…

“A Separate Peace” was set at Phillips Exeter Academy which John Knowles and my father attended. My father attended before WWII. I attended for a year in the late 1970’s. There was a movie made of it starring Parker Stevenson. The movie was shown at orientation. The film was actually shot there.