<p>To set expectations, could some present BS parents chime in on how they handle BS vacations and long weekends. How did your practices change over the course of your child's 4 years?</p>
<p>Are vacations family time?</p>
<p>Vacation time?</p>
<p>Enrichment time?</p>
<p>College visit time?</p>
<p>Or non-stop sleep? Crash and burn? BS is really tiring.</p>
<p>Freshman and Sophomore years they come home and fit into whatever family programs we had arranged. Junior and Senior years they come home and had their own agendas. Most of the time it fit in with our vacation/enrichment/family time, but not always:)</p>
<p>College visit time should be started the summer before junior year. Completed during BS school long weekends and holidays. The weeks between Thanksgiving and Xmas break are good college visit days because most sports end Thanksgiving (unless exams are going on)Break.</p>
<p>Ignore their sleep habits.</p>
<p>I meant to start college visits the summer AFTER their junior year.</p>
<p>Better yet, start college visits during spring break of junior year. Most BSs get a l-o-n-g vacation in March -- it's almost 3 weeks at S's school. With an older D in college, we've found that her spring break overlaps one of his weeks. Last year, when S was a junior, we did the family thing with all 4 of us, and still had time to do several college visits.</p>
<p>S comes home, eats his favorite home-cooked meals, visits with his sister, sleeps in, etc. Plays some video games (not too big on this in general), watches some crap tv, maybe visits with friends from home, plays soccer, goes snowboarding if its winter, maybe visit relatives, etc. Really just a time for him to relax and enjoy.</p>
<p>vacations we do something as family
LWEs are crash and spend time with old friends</p>
<p>Go skiing......</p>
<p>Sometimes kids who live relatively locally will bring home a friend from across the country. It's a nice getaway for students who live too far away to go home -- and as parents, we get to meet their friends.</p>
<p>Thanks, cnp55, for being willing to host another student during the long weekends.
Although the school seems to be on the lookout for international students who can't
always go home for long weekends, those of us who live 8-, 10- or 12-hour drives
from the school face a similar dilemma. The winter weekends pose the greater challenge
because of the changeable driving conditions. It takes some courage for a freshman to
ask newly-made friends for help in this way.</p>