<p>Most of you must be at school or you soon will be. How is your chosen school measuring up to your hopes and expectations? Are you pleased with your dorm, your roommate, the food? Have you gotten books yet, started classes?</p>
<p>My son started at NMH last Wednesday. So far, he is loving it and has met many wonderful people. He called me today to say that freshman orientation was a lot of fun, sportscamp is going great, and he was off to purchase his books. His schedule is as he had hoped and he is looking forward to classes starting tomorrow.</p>
<p>I'm in Boston right now. Fun! :) I'd be here even if it weren't for Andover, though; I've been coming every summer since I was two months old, since my grandma lives here. We're driving up to Andover on Saturday. Really glad that I've been in Massachusetts for a few weeks now, so I've got no jet lag.</p>
<p>IM HERE! MY ROOM IS HUGE!
my roommate is coming tomorrow.
i got my books and classes start monday.
this is better than i expected
and as for the food, i havent tried yet. but I guess i'd have to deal if its bad</p>
<p>Good luck to all of you! Us old codgers will keep you in our thoughts and hope you realize your dreams! The world is your oyster, kiddos. Get cracking!</p>
<p>We dropped my 9th grader off at Westover yesterday and when they took the cell phone she realized that she lost her life line to Mom and had a mini meltdown. It was tough. Dropping off my senior at Middlesex on Friday. W She has been interviewing for the last week at various colleges and Universities from Pa., up state ny and mass. Its been a long week.</p>
<p>Best wishes to all the students. For the Parents, hang in there it just may be tougher for us.</p>
<p>Westover does not allow the students to have cell phones during the school week. In addition, they lock the students out of the social networks during school and study hours. They feel that these internet social networks can lead to antisocial behavior. They do have a point.....</p>
<p>Wow, no cell phones during the week? I would panic! I understand no cell phones during study hours and at my school our internet gets shut off during study hall (if we need to use the internet for something, we have to go to the library) but I would hate not having my cell phone to call my parents or friends or for takeout.</p>
<p>I move back into my school tomorrow, I'm a senior and really excited about going back and seeing all my friends. :)</p>
<p>I'm with arky on the no cell phones during the week. </p>
<p>Yes, they can be a distraction (along with the social networking websites), but I'm of the opinion that they do need to learn how to deal with these things. </p>
<p>With my D's school, they do collect cell phones at the beginning of study hours and return them at the end. They don't allow them (and ipods) out in academic buildings.</p>
<p>And at Wednesday and Saturday sporting events a lot of texting goes on keeping track of scores at away games and the like.</p>
<p>And I'm sure kids without phones adds a bit to the freshman parent anxiety level - except for seasoned pros like prepparent.</p>
<p>Cell phones are a curse and a blessing. One must take the bitter with the sweet. Instead of dealing with situations themselves and working things out, a child might just pick up the phone instead. It's a safety hatch. But it also makes them not quite as independent. Then again, knowing that they've got that tether, they may be a step or two more adventurous and accepting of challenges -- confident that they've got a connection back to parents if they fall flat on their face.</p>
<p>During the summer, Junior started out with a cell phone while away. Then, with all his calls home, Mrs. Maker and I toyed with the idea of keeping it at home for a few weeks...but he soon became less text- and call-needy so we didn't pull the plug on his cell phone. And by the end of the summer, we actually had to call around to get him to check in with us once a week.</p>
<p>As for Westover's policy, I assume they have a phone on the hall. At some schools, a student's cell phone is all the telephone service a student has access to. If there's a phone on the hall -- or landline phones in the rooms -- that's not so terrible.</p>
<p>This summer, our son went to the Naval Academy for lacrosse camp. He does not have a cell phone. We dropped him at the airport, saw him off to the terminal (don't like that you can't go to the gate without a ticket). Sure enough, his plane was delayed. He used the PAY PHONE to call us, he had gotten all the camp numbers out for us to call because he was worried about the pick up time on the other end. He figured out what to do. </p>
<p>On the other end, the paperwork we received had said "when we pick up your son, we will hand him a cell phone to call you and let you know he's arrived." Interestingly, that never happened and we eventually called the camp (a couple of hours after his plane landed) and they got him to call us. I think they probably figure most of the kids had phones and called themselves.</p>