For CCC, since we will have to pay bills, we can have income based fee structure like my old daycare.
We paid $1000 per month (maximum), but some people paid nothing or $100 per month at Family Star.
If we don’t go with a traditional domain, we will risk getting caught in email spam filters. :-B
Prom here isn’t for another week. D is going with a couple of her friends. None of her close friends drink, although some of her more peripheral acquaintances do.
Actually, D has to be a member of a random drug testing consortium for her summer job, so I have back up there, just in case she decides to get curious about weed, heh. But honestly, between how stupid she finds the behavior of the kids at the HS who drink and do drugs and the behavior she’s witnessed from groups of 20 and 30somethings at work, she finds the whole intoxication thing to be pretty distasteful. One of the things she looks for when reading about colleges is how prevalent Greek life and the “party school” reputation of a place - both big negatives as far as she’s concerned. She’s not sanctimonious about it and she doesn’t care if people do some, but she just doesn’t want to be surrounded by people for whom partying is a big priority.
Been there @thermom. It became glaringly clear in middle school that the local high school was not able to offer the kind of education that the Spykids wanted, so they were enrolled at a prep school. We are thankful that we have this option. Other friends with TAG kids did not have the income and it’s been a rocky road for those students.
Fabulous! @itsgettingreal17. That shiny diploma is probably all we need. 
Sounds familiar @IABooks! There were days I just wanted to scream.
Hiring CCC.org to chart your dc’s course through the murky college waters? Priceless.
Fee to light fire under you dc? FREE
@SincererLove Are we married to the same man? LOL
My kids prom they have a dinner/dance until 11 and then the kids leave and go to an after party being thrown by friends. There is alcohol. My D16 has tried it, and will drink at occasions - homecoming, new years prom etc. It has worked out well that my D tells me every time she drinks and there is always a designated driver. I would rather her tell me than lie and do it anyway. You can’t imagine how many parents don’t know their kids drink. Example - this new years my D16 and 4 of her closest friends went to a party. The kids all sleep at my house because their parents then won’t find out they are drinking. I’ve always told them that if their parents call me I won’t lie. Well, cops busted the party, one girl was throwing up and an ambulance was called (she was just drunk but she told the cops someone put something in her soda) and her parents found out. I had 2 parents call me and they were all totally blindsided that their girls were drinking. They had been drinking for over a year and they had no clue. My D17 tried it just recently at prom (after prom) She told me she was going to try it - I gave her the rundown. As much as I don’t condone it, I know I can’t stop it if that’s what they want to do. I’ve seen the strictest parents kids drunk over and over. It doesn’t stop them, it just makes them sneakier and want to do it more. Please don’t think I am saying that any of your kids are doing this…I think most parents who are on cc are extremely involved in their kids lives.
Prom here is only for Seniors so I honestly don’t know if there is an official after party but I don’t have the sense that there is. More typical is kids going out to eat and then a party elsewhere as some have mentioned. There is an all night lockdown type event for kids right after graduation to help avoid stupid behavior. S is not going to prom, almost was with a friend but she seems to have found a real date or at least that’s my impression.
As for drinking, S is not into the party scene at all, nor are his friends. Plenty at the HS are and many of them are top students but that’s not his crowd (the party part, not the top student part lol). He has been to a few that have had both pot and drinking and didn’t care for that scene at all. That said, pot is much more prevalent around here. I don’t think the fact it is legal has really changed that at all though. He has tried it but has zero interest in doing it on a regular basis. We have a very open relationship about these things and I’m not naive. He will be exposed to it, either now or in college or both. I need to know he can handle it and make smart choices. He is very very good about making sure he is not in a dangerous driving situation, he has equally paranoid friends about that stuff. But he also knows that should he find himself in a bad spot, all he has to do is call and we will get him home, no questions asked or repercussions. I am glad he can be honest and open about what he has done and not done so far. Alcohol scares him to death due to his biological father but he definitely has seen examples of moderate/responsible drinking at home. as well as when someone has not been responsible at all. We will let him have a taste of something if he wants to try it but so far he thinks it’s all pretty nasty lol.
He is more likely to stay out too late playing board games with a small group, or trivia, or drinking coffee with his group at a diner, post show than he is to be at a party.
That said, he has been invited to an overnight at a friends brothers apartment, at a school/town high on his list where there would be a small party. The mom won’t let the friend go…unless S can go with him. I am not really sure what that accomplishes or how I feel about it. He’s been invited to several college overnights with friends that are older and I’m going to have to figure that one out too, some at schools of interest and others not. So far I’ve just stalled.
@greeny8 Truth!
@2muchquan I’ll do a tour update Monday or Tuesday after we see another one that day but we did tour one yesterday that had nice options. They had dorms that were completely alcohol free, alcohol free areas available and one that was gender inclusive. However, the honors dorm didn’t list those as options. Doesn’t mean it wasn’t there, it just might have run out of room on the page. This was our fourth tour and the first time I’d seen any of these as options. Perhaps they were there at the others but it certainly didn’t come up.
My S17 and D19 are not into partying (S did not go to junior/senior prom and typically avoids school dances). Both kids are currently attending a graduation party (one of several they were both invited to recently, for graduating seniors involved in some of the activities/teams that my kids are on). I am not too worried about drugs/alcohol at these parties (from what I know of the kids hosting them, they are sensible/trustworthy types; also I am confident that S will not try alcohol or drugs knowing he has to drive home). D hates the taste of alcohol (like their dad, who does not drink), but S likes it, and often asks for a sip of whatever I am drinking.
Relatedly, I think the 21 drinking age in this country is a big mistake. It deprives young people of the opportunity to be socialized into responsible drinking within a family context. Instead, they end up figuring out how to negotiate/manage alcohol among a lot of other inexperienced and often irresponsible kids after they have gone off to college. I appreciate the many good suggestions from other posters about things to discuss with kids to prepare them for these experiences, and I will try these myself! But, I’d also like to have a chance to do more in person modeling/socialization before they leave home.
I know that drunk driving is a big problem among teens, and I think graduated driver’s license laws are great (and I think they should include very strict prohibitions against driving with ANY alcohol or other substances in one’s system during the first few years of driving), but I would prefer 16 or 18 as the drinking age, and a culture in which drinking in moderation, with meals, around adult family members is normative for people who chose to do so. I think this would also encourage many families to engage in more open problem-solving around how to avoid driving under the influence.
What she said ^^
Some states allow minors to drink in a home setting. We may legally offer and serve our kids and any minor who has permission a drink. My kids aren’t interested in alcohol. I tried to get D to try it before she left for college, but she said no, even when I told her it was legal! She has tried alcohol in college. The upshot is that “beer is disgusting”, mixed drinks are ok in small doses and as long as she mixes her own, and she won’t touch the punch because someone has to take care of the friends who do drink the punch. She is the DD (or designated walker since they really don’t drive anywhere to drink). S is more into playing games than partying, so if it interferes with gave, then it is out. I guess having nerd kids is a good thing!
My kid hates the taste of soda. She never drinks it. Ever. She says it burns her throat and makes her chest burn. It took years just to get her to try a Slurpee. She does enjoy a good snowcone though. Here in the south we have at least three snowcone stands within 5 miles.
I have minimal worries about beer and hard liquor. If she was ever going to try alcohol, it would need to be dressed up like a snowcone. She did try a frozen margarita of mine once and she liked the flavor. She is a huge control freak so I suspect she would not like feeling out of control. But we do talk about it frequently, how it “lights” up neuro pathways in her brain that are genetically wired for addiction, etc.
I used to think we were allowed to offer alcohol to our own kids in our own home, but this fall, kids’ HS sent out a letter to all families saying that in our state giving alcohol to minors is illegal, even at home. I’m OK with a law against giving alcohol to other people’s kids, but am annoyed about the intrusion into my own family. I must admit, I have not researched the law myself, but have become more hesitant to even offer sips of my own drinks to my kids, while feeling very resentful about the whole situation. (Not that either of my kids has ever expressed interest in more than a sip anyway).
@carachel2 She may like Pina Colada 
Her denist will like (or not like) her not drinking soda.
Definitely nerdy crowd if alcohol talk leads to neural pathways and receptors 
8-|
Agree with you @262mom on your post 4950. Seems it would be more sensible that way. My D is a little bit innocent/naïve, and I don’t think it’s good to be heading off to college that way, so even though she is not a partier, I encouraged her to attend a HS party last fall. She thought this was quite funny by the way, that her mom was the one who really wanted her to go. We talked about what might go on with drugs/alcohol being present and I even mentioned, if the party got loud, neighbors might call the police or something. I just wanted her to be prepared for things. Anyway, she basically hung out with the non-drinkers/non-pot smokers and thought the kids who did that stuff acted crazy and she had a few stories to tell (I am thankful every day that I still have a teen who talks to me). I figured kids would sneak stuff into the party and/or the parents (who were present, but I don’t know personally) might look the other way, but I did not expect the parents to go out and buy more alcohol when it ran low. So it turns out I am naïve as well, I guess. My D said there is no peer pressure to do these things, the kids that do don’t really care if someone else does or doesn’t, so that’s good. I’m glad she has found like-minded friends who don’t want to party, at least for now (I know things can change at this age, so am keeping lines of communication open). On a related note, her school does the “Every 15 Minutes” program to curb drinking and driving (details can be found on Wikipedia if anyone is interested). They do it every other year and I guess it is happening next week at her HS. Reading the Wikipedia entry, it seems that effectiveness is favorable in the short term, maybe not so much in the long term. I guess it makes sense, the impact of these experiences will lessen over time. Probably why they do it now before Sr. Prom and Graduation.
My teens do, I think, stay away from alcohol at present. Either way, though, we’ve made sure they’re very aware of the history of alcoholism in their mother’s family (in multiple branches, in fact) and of other addictions in mine.
Might not do anything on that score, but it’s good to know your potential weaknesses going in.
I am impressed by all the open communication people seem have with their kids! Mine just returned from the graduation party they were at, and I asked them if there was any alcohol. They said no, and I believe them. They said they think there is alcohol at some graduation parties, but not the ones they’ve attended so far (mostly hosted by kids on math team and similar stereotypically “nerdy” activities, but you never know). We were more worried that they would get lost on their way home (which they did, but they figured it out eventually and made it home safely). They are both somewhat innocent/naive too, and I can relate to the feeling that I would kind of like them to experience some partying with peers where drugs and alcohol are present so we have a chance to talk about it before they go off to college. But honestly, it also makes me a little nervous (especially if there aren’t parents around to supervise) and I’d much prefer to just let them have an occasional drink at home if they want to.
@carachel2, my D is a control freak also, and that is why she doesn’t like alcohol. We used to tease her when she was little. S is just too type B to care what other kids may be doing.
I didn’t know if all of you had seen this SAT converter page. https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/sat/scores/understanding-scores/sat-score-converter
I am curious to know how schools are going to use this info. The raw conversion for new to old results in a different score than if you enter subscores and schools only look at the math and reading subscores and remove the writing subscore (not the essay, but the grammar/mechanics questions.) I would suspect that it equates more closely to the English ACT section.
I wonder if some schools are going to continue to only look at M+CR. What do you think?
Oh, I also wanted to mention that FSU is no longer requiring the essay for 2017. After @Gator88NE posted UF was no longer requiring it, I decided to check FSU bc originally they posted that they were.
Here is their new wording:
Florida State University requires freshmen applicants to submit at least one set of SAT and/or ACT exam scores in order to be considered for admission. Beginning with applications for 2017 admission, writing section scores are no longer required by Florida State.