@homerdog Nice new avatar!
I find your comment about knowing they have a life separate from us humorous. Kids take a long time to realize we parents are more than just parents. By the time they realize we have a life separate from them, we have to let them have a life separate from us. Some sort of strange circular karma or something.
Want to get really teary, start shopping for graduation cards at Hallmark. 
Today is Dās last full day of school, so crazy to me. They all dressed up which was cute, nothing fancy just sundresses. Oh boy, while I was typing that she walked in from school holding her cap and gown, even more crazy to me, Iām sure she was just at 5th grade graduation a few years ago!
@homerdog I like your new avatar except that makes me tear up too. That was the exit we took every summer to visit our friends in Maine for the last 20+ years. This winter the friendās parents sold the house so it looks like our very long tradition is over. 
They did sell it to a relative so maybe one day we will be invited back. Until then you will have to tell us every last thing you ate and do when you are in Brunswick so I can live vicariously through you. 
Iām scanning the posts, and seeing the word ātearā a lot, and now Iām just going to avoid reading until I have time to risk tearing up myself. Lol.
Just updating. Even after getting a great financial aid offer from Vanderbilt. Gulp. S19 is sticking with Hobart & William Smith. As my ex husband put it, what more could we want for our kid than to have the opportunity to make such a decision? So yay! The process has come to an end. I think I have aged 12 years in the past 18 months. But at least weāll be much more acquainted with the landscape and which pitfalls to avoid once D22 has to start looking.
Even though I had a head start picturing D19 at W&M next year (because she did ED), I wasnāt able to picture her not being here! Itās like magical thinkingāsomehow she would have a wonderful experience there, but still be here at home, too. Today, she said, This time next year, Iāll be coming home!" It took me a minute to realize that she meant after the end of her freshman year. Iām finally starting to picture her absence here and not just all the terrific experiences there.
I think @homerdog nailed it
We still have D21 and S24, but this is the beginning of the end of an era, and I feel an impending sense of loss of purpose. I will have to slowly figure out what is going to bring my everyday life the fullness and meaning that living with our kids has.
Way to go, @Trixy34 ! Youāre done, and how great for your son to have actively chosen Hobart & William Smith and be committed.
Three more weeks! Iām just hoping that D19 will survive. We were just notified that D has used 8 excused absences from one of her classes. If it reaches 12, the system automatically changes the course from credit to pass/fail, and the kid would need to petition to get it back to graded. Not a HUGE problem, since my kid has far more credits in all categories than she needs to graduate, but it will require a bit of back and forth, if the college doesnāt like the change, so either sheād need get her counselor to explain, or run around submitting the petition. So no more sick days unless sheās miserable enough to go to the doctor, and no more āmental healthā mornings. Just three more weeks, well, 2.5 more weeks.
Sheās not taking any of the AP exams, since Midd does not accept more than a couple for credit, and the only intro courses she wanted to skip are covered by last yearās APs. So she is finishing the finals for the AP courses these weeks, and one early final (seniors need to be finished before finals week).
Her end of the year showcases of her dance school are on Friday after graduation rehearsal and on Saturday, while Sunday is graduation. So that will be a crazy weekend. Prom is next Friday.
So 2.5 weeks until last day of classes for seniors, and 3.5 until graduation. We can survive, I think.
@MWolf - Iāll say a little prayer for your daughter that she doesnāt have to miss any more days. The showcases are after school ends I take it? I hope. Sounds like sheāll really need to recuperate after that weekend.
Anyone else have a school that charges ridiculous amounts for prom and grad nights? I know the school goes all out and does really amazing events in fantastic venues, and Iām sure low income students donāt have to pay, but come onā¦ $150 a ticket at a public school?! After 4 years of parent fundraising?!
@SJ2727 our prom was $150 a ticket. Included limo style buses down to Navy Pier from the Chicago Suburbs, dinner and dancing at Navy Pier ballroom, tickets for the Ferris wheel and bus home. Most kids also paid another $70 to go on a private boat cruise after the Navy Pier part of the night.
Lots of families donate to a fund to help pay for families who may have trouble paying for the tickets. Almost all of the 700 students go!
@SJ2727 Wow, that is a lot! Prom for S19 was 55, and thereās some all-night grad night thing )that heās not interested in) thatās 75, I think, at Dave and Busters.
Congrats on the final decision @Trixy34!
Our prom was $160 a person (public school) with reduced prices for kids who couldnāt afford it. If I recall the reduced price was still not cheap though. Plus the money was due the same week they had to pay for their cap & gown and for their senior trip to Universal which was just under $100. A few of Dās friends have to pay for everything on their own and she said they had a tough time coming up with all of that at once. Prom price only includes dinner and dance but it is at the nicest resort in our area. The kids say they would rather it be cheaper and at a normal Marriott or something!
@homerdog Your kidās prom was pretty early in the semester, but it sounds like it was a lot of fun. Navy Pier + Ferris Wheel + cruise sounds like the perfect prom. We still do not know if D19 will have a prom date, but perhaps this Fridayās date will supply one. If not, sheāll probably go with another friend or two. It will be at a ballroom in a downtown hotel, I donāt remember which.
@MWolf well graduation is May 22nd so there arenāt many weekends left. This last weekend wasnāt great because there are AP tests this week but next weekend is sandwiched between the two AP weeks so thatās not great either. Then, thereās just one more weekend and graduation!
Our prom was $15 a ticket- thank goodness! They even had gluten free food for my celiac junior. Music, food, photo boothā¦ thatās all they needed anyway.
Prom at $15 per person for us also. Grad night is $20, but they promise youāll get it back when you show up. One of the benefits of a small town and lower costs (for certain things) and less pressure. I found the video mentioned a few posts back of Race to Nowhere. Good stuff. I am a product of both worlds. I support an education that develops the individualās potential and creativity but am also very competitive. Iāve tried to support without being overly pushy. The definition of āoverlyā is what is up for debate.
With both girls graduating (HS and college) we recognized one last opportunity for a family vacation where itās just the 4 of us - possibly never to happen again. So we going somewhere special for 10 days without all the home distractions.
Congratulations @Trixy34 on being all settled.
I donāt know whether to feel better or worse that others also have such high ticket prices!!!
Yay to those of you who donāt.
Prom was $40 for my daughter. No grad night, so no cost there. Cap and gown was $35. Yearbook was $55, including the hardcover and name embossing upgrades.
I think prom was $65. There is an all night grad party that costs maybe $75 but S19 wonāt attend. I think the yearbook was $85 and I really hope we actually ordered one (they start selling them in the fall and DH āthinksā he sent a check in).
I would pay for graduation tickets if I could, but we are stuck with just 4 per family.
It is so strange to me that S19 is basically done except for a few assignments and 2 more AP exams. D16 graduated much later in June and had finals as late as the 12th. Son just sort of wandered out of the school and came home at lunch time today and we didnāt hear anything from attendance.
Wow, just read through about 3 weeks of posts! Congrats to everyone and your kids. Such a wide array of schools, so exciting.
D19 had her last AP exam today. She still needs to go to school and button up some final missed assignments due to being sick last week. Last official day is next week with graduation on the 19th. She had a great time at prom ($45 per ticket) with her boyfriend and another couple. Her Senior Shootout team made it to the final four (she & a teammate were the only girls left). She had fun, but glad that it was over. We have our new puppy at home, so we have been very busy with him and our older dog. Grad party isnāt until 6/2, have a tent rented and not much else figured out. She can get some ideas from events between now and then. No senior skips days, but the senior class is having an early morning cookout in the school parking lot tomorrow morning (pretty tame prank).
She is my firstborn, so this has all been new to us. I think we navigated it all pretty well with some help. Looking forward to a short break before starting all over again with D21.
Looking forward to checking in periodically to see how orientation and this fall goes for everyone.
Wow. Iām shocked at the low price of some of these proms! Maybe itās because our prom was in Chicago? I donāt even know of a hotel in the suburbs where we could have had prom for $50/person. Our track banquet at a local hotel is $45/person and itās just dinner on a weeknightā¦no music, etc!