I could see, perhaps, the teacher/lab manager having a rule about “no personal electronic devices” – both to avoid the liability of the device getting ruined by a lab accident, and also to prevent the distraction of the device causing a lab accident.
However, I can’t quite imagine where they’d have all the kids stash their phones during the class without taking on more liability or whether the kids would all agree to leave them across campus in their dorms when they might have another class right up against the lab…
So, it’s a weird hypothetical.
I know my 25 was in the habit of putting her phone in airplane mode during classes so it wouldn’t make any noise to distract her or upset the teacher during high school. So it wouldn’t surprise me to find her device “off the map” or “at previous known location” or something. We never did the “location tracking” thing, though, since she wasn’t out and about that much. And asking her to turn it on now would be super weird.
A bunch of my kids’ classes are very anti-computer/phone, apparently. My kid has accommodations to use a computer and feels weird using it for the first time ever! The anti-recording/AI vibe is strong … I don’t think they ban them from the room, but they aren’t supposed to be out.
D25 moved in a week before classes started and did 2 intensive orientation programs and now has completed the first week of classes (she has no classes on Fridays). There has been a random text here and there (with 1 photo from the FDOC taken by campus staff with a group) but tonight I got a 90 minute video call.
She is liking her classes and her professors. Already her eyes have opened to people of different genders, religions, and ethnicities. The one orientation was more multicultural and she admitted she had never been around that many POC in her life (and she was sad when the POC were making what she felt were racist statements to those not of the same background). One of her very best friends is a gay male but said one of her professors being nonbinary was the first time she had truly connected and talked to a nonbinary person face to face (she is not negative at all about this but said she made the observation as I asked what was different about college). We then talked about adjusting to college overall. I asked how her friends were doing and admitted many were seemingly having a hard time being away from home and she’s getting lots of pictures of friends crying. I asked why she thought she was doing okay. I brought up if she thought being from a split house with joint custody helped. She said not really. She felt that she toured lots of schools and felt confident in her school choice which helped (some of her friends had dream schools they didnt get into). She also pointed out that the last few years we let her take ownership of her schedule and responsibilities and she didnt feel “babied” like some of her friends. She said the biggest reason she felt that she was okay was because she knew she had lots of support at home. She knows that she has me, her stepdad, her grandparents, and her dad that she can call and we will help her through things but not just fix everything for her.
She misses her car but understands why we didnt let her have it the first semester. The food hall in her dorm is closed this weekend and she is debating her food choices. She isn’t sure she wants to walk across campus or if she wants to walk or uber to the main strip in town for off campus food options.
Anyways, she is doing all the things I wanted her to do in college so far. Meeting new people, getting out of her bubble, and figuring out who she is. She even said she was going to go do laundry and actually separate the lights and darks for the first time in her life!
Circling back to the how to acquire quarters issue. It turns out that there’s no Bank of America branch where he is, but his roommate’s cousin works at a local bank and was able to get him a couple of rolls of quarters. I love that he was able to solve his problem! I did suggest that he reach out to the laundry facilities department and tell them the app isn’t working in his dorm. It’d be great if it was fixed, so he can use the money I put on the account. We shall see.
Our elementary school was evacuated due to a bomb threat on Thursday. It turned out to be a hoax but scary nonetheless. Then, last night there was an active shooter report on the UGA campus where S23 is. This was also a hoax; there were other false reports at other Georgia colleges at the same time. Coupled with the tragedy in Minneapolis, it’s just a lot. I’m not a worrier, and I’m not particularly worried about my kids, but, really, what is wrong with people?!
S25 is all moved in! It was a wonderful move in experience at Rose. Everything was so well organized (the upper class students unload cars and move everything in for the freshmen) and the events were really well done and engaging. S25 really likes his roommates and his hall/floor seems great. Last night he sent me this which is the best message I could imagine:
My S25 is at West Georgia, and yeah, we got the same report. I was actually away for the weekend, and S25 was home (we live in GA, plus he doesn’t have classes on Fridays) – a handful of his friends stayed on campus, though. It was scary, and yet we’d heard about UGA first, so he suspected it was another hoax.
Had a short call with S25 yesterday. Among other things, he mentioned that he’s already been invited home with a friend for Thanksgiving. Apparently these parents are relatively local and were hosting a tailgate before the football game on Saturday, somehow (S25 wasn’t talking about it) the mom heard he was staying at school for Thanksgiving and she hustled right over and invited him to her house.
Thank you random mom. It makes my heart happy that he’ll have somewhere to go.
Glad he has been included with locals for Thanksgiving. We found families to be very kind at Clemson as we were across the country. Thought of you while watching the game. The television broadcast really honed in on the tradition of the hill and build up for the game. Hopefully you caught it and that your son might have been able to go. It’s a pretty amazing experience. Tough result though…
Yep, we watched the whole game (which was late and unhappy, so maybe not the best choice). S25 could only get one ticket for the season, which he got for this upcoming weekend v. Troy. While Troy isn’t the most exciting of the opponents they’ll be playing this year, I’m going to find a silver lining that maybe it will be a win for him to watch. Last weekend he did a lot of tailgating wandering about, then watched the game with some new friends in their dorm (which has a much nicer lounge than his dorm). He was disappointed to not be there in person, but enjoyed being with friends.
D25 did decide to audition for the student led dance club team and made it so that is exciting. She enjoys dancing and performing so this gives her opportunities yet. They also do their own choreo which she loves doing so hope its a positive experience for her!
She has joined Chi Alpha as well. A bit worried about this one. I am agnostic, she is Christian. I have read the stories about this organization being a bit aggressive and cult like (isolating students and guilting them into doing things). So far she said her college’s group seems very chill and accepting. They encourage students to do other groups and clubs and there are no mandatory meetings. They are some openly gay students in the group as well. I am keeping my eye out on this just as I did S23 when he rushed Sigma Chi.
The scholarship LLC she is in does have mandatory meetings and events weekly so overall she is feeling she is at a good place with clubs and activities. I am proud of her!
Well, here’s my drop-off tale. S25 arrived early at MIT so he could take part in a pre-orientation program in nuclear engineering–he built a Geiger counter, studied nuclear fusion, and did some experiments, all in just three days. Then I joined him in Cambridge, where we visited his dorm room, attended some panels for parents, and saw the sights. The final goodbye was hard, and the tears flowed despite my best efforts. Weirdly, MIT classes didn’t start for 10 days after that, so he had time to meet people and engage in “hacking” (pranks which I’m not supposed to disclose). His courses started this week and he seems excited. His favorite class so far is an econ course, taught by a prof who won the Nobel Prize a few years ago. As for the drop-off, the best part for me was meeting other parents in the hotel bar and sharing our feelings about leaving our kids–definitely helped to talk it out in real time!
I have no idea what my college kids schedules are. I am surprised at how many people seem to know what classes their kids are in at every hour each day.
I dont know my S23’s schedule. I do know D25s. She downloaded and printed off my laptop and then showed me the campus map and asked me if I thought she could make it to class on time.
@DeeH - the orientation time before homework/classes started was the best time of MIT for me, or maybe second to IAP (similar time in January with just MIT fun) - I hope it was a blast! I love that he made nuclear stuff…
Schedules: DS printed his out AND shared it on the family google calendar. My older two didn’t do this, I don’t think.
Homesickness: DS is having a harder time than any of us predicted. I got him a refundable ticket home for Rosh Hashana (two weeks from now) but we don’t have to use it, i.e. refundable. I was trying to get a bead on whether or not a lot of the Hillel kids (UMD) go home for RH or not, but my post on the FB group didn’t seem to come through and I feel weird asking again in case I just missed it.
(RH is a big deal holiday in case people don’t know on this Board. It’s more like Thanksgiving than like a weekend. However, it’s also mid-week and while DS would miss class on the holiday itself anyway, he has to miss a discussion the day before for the flight.)
