@icbihtsu, good to know. Our school deadline is 7/15. We were told to go ahead and apply.
We get two days for colleges, but they want proof. Used ours up for scholarship interviews.
I thought you applied for the Plus loan through the school, so wouldn’t you need to know which school they attend anyway?
Taking DD out of school early tomorrow to head up to Colorado Springs for appointed students day at the Air Force Academy. We just wrote the school a note. Principal is excited she got in.
I had heard that we get 4 days but I just call in the absence then it’s excused.
Getting geared up for prom this weekend. Rent the runway dress(es) arriving tomorrow, appointments for hair, nails, and makeup booked, dinner reservations made, etc.
Next thing on the agenda is the graduation party. Gotta start organizing that I guess.
Did someone say graduation party? I’m knee-deep in planning ours! Just ordered the cakes this afternoon. Yes, cakes. D has invited well over 100 people. Gonna be a crowded house!
DH and I thought we could get away without a graduation party. DS did not want one at all. But Grandma (my mom) really really wanted one and volunteered to cover part of the cost. DS eventually agreed but is doing the “smile and nod” a lot. He’s her first grandchild and he found it impossible to say no. (Mom lives with us and has taken care of my kids their entire lives.) So, she’s already booked a banquet room and has moved on to the guest list. We have a large family, so it will be about 100 people, including close family friends, DS’s classmates, and a few teachers. I find myself doing the “smile and nod” too.
Did not even think about how many days the kids can have off for colleges until reading this thread. My daughters go to different ( private) schools so I just looked at their policies…D18’s school does not have a specific policy. She took 2 college visit days this year (both were taken for accepted students) . Not mention of a cap on them. All of our visits were on vacations or days they did not have school ( which happens a lot in private schools). D20’s school had 3 excused college days junior and senior year ( good to know). The day we flew back from Feb break visiting two schools my daughters missed school…notice on D18 it is a college visit and on D20 it is a personal day. While we are very conservative with the time we take off because they have too much work to catch up on I don’t know how those of you have strict policies do it. I would go crazy if a school tried to dictate that to my family…with all the pressures of life, work, budgets sometimes you just have to take the day.
Graduation is a trip to Disney with 3 friends so there is no big party. We will have a family party ( about 40 folks) later in the summer which will be more like send off party…however D20 has somehow pressured me into a large Sweet 16 which is looking like it will be one day after D18’s prom and 3 days before her graduation. I am twitching already.
Final note booked the flights for move in weekend this morning ( had the hotel room for about 6 weeks) so it is getting more real.
For anyone taking their first child to college this summer, be warned that teenage moodiness can be at record levels pre move in. The anticipation builds up, and even the most mild mannered teen looses some charm, and otherwise patient parents get emotional. 
Last year, my older son’s move in date coincided with the eclipse which was perfect. We took a long weekend at the beach just before move in (South Carolina) to try to alleviate the pre-move in stress. Sitting at home waiting day by day for the big move was clearly not going to work. The beach trip was great, but levels of anxiety were clearly building each day. I was not prepared for the level of moodiness in the 24-48 hrs before move in. I talked to other parents who said that they had issues for weeks.
I can’t believe the attendance policies here. I totally understand teachers not being able to modify their schedules, but a reasonable amount of time off is needed to actually visit schools. I wasn’t prepared for how much would be pushed to April (my older son had everything done in late March), I am not very flexible with my kids attendance in general, but this is important. Fortunately, our school district is flexible, and we didn’t miss a lot of school for snow so classes aren’t behind before APs. .
oh @VAMom23 you have confirmed my worst fears about move-in! :-SS D is already wound tighter than a drum about it. Layer on top of it the big family move scheduled to happen about a month and a half before college move-in, and D22 starting her first day of high school in the new state the day before we leave for D18’s move-in and omg, we’re gonna be a hot mess over there in TX! (And not just because of what I keep hearing are rather hot summers )
Lots of deep breathing going on in my house for the next several months, we’ll be hunting out moments of zen wherever we can find 'em! :-bd Just when I thought I was stepping off the roller coaster…
@1822mom You are just getting in a different car for the next coaster ride! The other thing I seriously underestimated was the impact of my older son’s transition to college on his brother. It was a tough Fall at our house.
Long time lurker! DS’18 undecided still. Accepted: USC (Presidential Scholarship-Interviewed), UCB, UCLA, UCSD, UCSB, Northwestern, WashU, WakeForest. Denied: Stanford, Yale, Princeton, Penn. Waitlisted UChicago,Vanderbilt, Rice, Emory. Narrowed to 3 - USC, UCLA and UCB (attending Cal day this weekend) Tough decision! DS is very indecisive which he unfortunately gets from me. Hopefully after this weekend he will have clarity.
We are having the party at out house. DD has invited about 100 people but around here grad parties are of the open house type because so many overlap. So I will not have 100 people at my house all at the same time. Our pool will be open by then so it’ll be in the backyard. I do need to find a DJ though. And a foam machine. DD wants a foam machine lol.
Wow, I know someone else said this, but Texas’ absence policies are crazy! Our school is really great about letting kids take off for legitimate purposes. But the reality is that a lot of ground is covered each day, so it’s really unwise to take off too much time so most kids try really hard to avoid missing school. Guess the kids are living the reality of an adult world, where if you want to take time off work for vacation, the week before and the week after are usually brutal at work.
@1822mom just thinking about your D and all her upcoming transitions. Maybe a nice graduation present would be to buy her a plane ticket to go back to where you’re now living so she can stay with her friends and visit for several days over her college winter break? It might make her feel like she’s not closing that chapter of her life if she knows she can still visit. Transitions are hard!
Yes @melvin123 that’s a good thought, she is already planning a return trip in early August before everyone leaves, in addition to extending invites to anyone she hears might be travelling in the vicinity of our new home to come stay with us ;))
My in-laws still live in the area so we will be making frequent trips back, that was part of the deal when H accepted the job, but with D18 away at school she may miss out on some of those trips.
And you are right again @VAMom23 ! I have been very concerned about my D22’s transition after D18 leaves, especially since she is starting at a new school. They are very close. :-S
Ugh. It’s a bumpy ride ahead, but in honesty, we (as a family) knew this year was going to be a challenge for all of us. I’m hoping by winter break we are all feeling a lot more stable in our new environments! ;
Texas is crazy about missing school. My DS has missed school a hand full of times in the last 3 years all do to orth, drivers test etc… Might have been sick once in 3 years. The first six weeks of this semester he was called in for truancy!!! All do to college visits and one last period absent. He is in Track and come to find out head coach put him down as absent when he was with his coach. I had a fit about this. He had already told his AP about his college visits and when she pulled him into the office she was like “oh, I remember you saying that you would be gone for these days” I have had to fight to get this out of his file. 2 days for senior year is just not enough time for kids to visit and pick a school.
We are going to have a joint party with one of S18’s buddies, at our house. Probably about 100 people. Pool will be open and I will smoke a Boston Butt for pulled pork tacos. He also has a party graduation night that is set up for his class and immediate family.
Let’s not paint all of Texas with the same broad brush…it’s a big state, lots of room for different attendance policies. :))
Our large Texas public school district has a very reasonable attendance policy. A certain number of college visits (four maybe?) do not count as absences at all, nor do any school-sponsored events (sports competitions, music competition/performance, debate, robotics, ISEF, you name it). Active students end up missing a LOT of school days but are not considered absent for any of those days.
Now if a student participates in a non-school-sponsored EC (for example, rowing or equestrian) any time out of school for those events is considered an absence. It can be an excused absence which would not result in any disciplinary issue, but it does count as an absence the same way an illness would count. If the parent neglects to sign the student out then the absence is considered unexcused and can result in disciplinary action.
For documented medical issues there’s never been a problem with a large number of illness-related absence unless the student is unable to learn enough to pass the courses. For instance one friend’s son had a bad concussion and missed a lot of school days with the recovery but was able to keep up. Another friend’s daughter had a “mystery illness” in which she’d be fine for days at a time but then debilitating symptoms would bring her down. Lots of missed days due to the illness itself as well as endless doctor visits to try to figure out what was wrong (in the end it was some rare virus). The girl was a strong and motivated student and was also able to keep up academically. For both the students mentioned there was never a question that they’d be forced to repeat a grade, or to have any disciplinary repercussions.