How is everyone doing, going into this final stretch before our children embark on this new adventure? When is the first day your school?
Have your children gotten more excited, nervous, etc…
My daughter’s first day is Aug 22 and move in day is the 20th. I am in prep mode and making sure we get what we need shipped, as the school is about 19 hours away and we certainly can’t fit everything in a suitcase!
My daughter went through a short period of nervousness, but is excited beyond belief! She cannot wait to board that plane in a few weeks. Most of her “friends” here have stopped speaking to her and are completely unsupportive of her decision to go. This choice is 100% unheard of out here, so its a very foreign idea for them to grasp. She taking it pretty hard, coming to terms with the fact the girls she’s been friends with since Kindergarten, aren’t true friends at all… She is 100% ready to start this new chapter!
I’m so sorry to hear about your daughters friends. Girls can be cruel this age.
Our daughter starts after Labor Day. We are very happy to have some more time with her before we make the long drive up to her school. Decided to drive her up instead of flying the first time. Making a family trip of it- Stopping to see family and friends along the way.
She’s been all over the place this summer. Mostly excited, but there have definitely been some anxiety and nerves. Dare I say moody! Which is extremely unusual for her. It’s a lot for them to take in and process. She had toe surgery in the spring, so most of her summer has been spent focusing on getting back to the dance studio and training. Her friends all start school August 1st. I have always known that this would be a long month for her-waiting… She doesn’t do 'idle’well. We toyed with the idea of finding her something to do in August but ultimately she just wants to spend time with us. Especially her younger brother who now points out on a daily basis that he’s going to be an only child. I think she’ll be 100% ready to go by September if for no other reason than boredom!
will love to hear first day stories from everyone…
Daughter’s school starts in September. She just started to review last year’s math with Aleks, one hour per day, as we are a bit worried if she has forgotten everything after months of complete rest from academics for the first time.
As she became a teen and has developed new interests - politics and pop culture - her regular friends group has naturally changed to those who share common interests to talk. She believes that she is now quite good at making new friends, and is excited to do that when she gets there. BUT, she is also greatly enjoying her vacation and has no problem waiting another month until the school starts.
This Summer she did no outside home activities - no class, camp or anything, except semiweekly climbing team practice and some occasional purely social activities with local homeschooling gatherings.
Her sleep schedule is completely messed up and day and night are 180 degree switched. I don’t know how to fix that, hopefully the jet leg of flying to the school will help fixing it.
My DD will not start until after the holiday, and in fact drop off is September 7. First year students then immediately depart for a camping (i.e. bonding experience) which will be fun for her as she’s an outdoorsy type. We have been buying this and that but not going overboard until we know more about the living arrangements. I’m certain she is quite eager to learn about her roommate which I would expect to be any day know. She’s an athlete with a long season during the spring and summer and that will keep her busy through the very end of next week, really giving her just a couple weeks to wrap her head around everything. She’s re-reading the official summer reading book to pass time.
DS is very excited to return to school for his second year at the end of Aug. He has been working all summer, except for a week at scout camp, and has been training with his old team in preparation for the fall season at BS, so it has been nice for him to re-connect with his old friends. At the same time, it has been great to see the friendships he’s made at BS…he’s gotten together with several local friends this summer, and just returned from visiting his roommate a couple days. The school is hosting a get-together for new and returning students and their families in our metropolitan area in a couple weeks, which should be a fun way for the kids to see/meet each other before we go back. All students show up at the end of Aug, but classes don’t start until Labor Day.
Registration is September 6th, orientation is on the 7th and first day of classes is the 8th. AppleKid says that going to BS is surreal and can’t totally believe it’s going to happen. But the check was sent, so it’s going to happen!
Summer has been all about sports. Mostly training and competing in AppleKid’s primary sport, but also participating in instructional programs, playing club and going to camps for two new sports since 3 different seasons are required at school. We’re traveling for a big competition in the primary sport next week/weekend, then a week later AppleKid is off to camp for one of the secondary sports. We’ll travel just a little bit after that to see family, but AppleKid2 starts school on the 29th so we need to be home to get ready. There really isn’t much time left for fretting; too much to do.
Since we are driving fools, we will be making the road trek to install AppleKid at school over Labor Day weekend–fun!
Is anyone going through “fouling the nest” with their BS-bound kids? I think it typically affects kids heading to college but a friend asked me if we’ve noticed similar in AppleKid given that school is quite a ways from home. She sent me this link to an article which I thought was a good read: http://mobile.nytimes.com/blogs/well/2016/06/15/the-teenager-with-one-foot-out-the-door/?_r=0&referer
We’ve seen some snarky behavior this summer, but who knows if it’s because of going away soon or if it’s had more to do with waking up at 5am for training or just general teenage angst or a little bit of all of the above. Despite the snarkiness here and there, I would say that that AppleKid has actually become more affectionate with us and we’ve been having some really good conversations about expectations and being ready to face challenges in the coming school year. It worked out well for us to have AppleKid2 at camp from mid-July to mid-August so we could spend some “only child” time with AppleKid. Like copperboom’s younger child, ours also likes to mention the imminence of being the center of attention at home.
It great to hear that AppleKid is having a very productive Summer! DD is vowed to watch all the popular TV shows and movies that she never watched, and has been relaxing a bit too much for my taste. I decided to continue not approving buying a Nintendo DS or playing video games other than smart phone brain teaser apps, although I acknowledged her that it has been ultimately her choice for a long while now. Hopefully she can forget about it once her school starts and she gets busy again.
Even without playing them, she is now master of all popular video games - their story line, developments, setting, history and what not through reading websites and watching youtube videos. And Marvel characters - I was shocked how much she knows about them including their creation, history, sale of rights between movie companies and so forth, without reading any of the comics themselves.
I don’t think it’s fouling the nest, but going through teenage hormone surge, and massively experiencing pop culture for the first time makes it difficult for dd to be a very reasonable and patient person as she has been.
She showed that she can change her sleep schedule at will by going to bed early and waking up early morning to do a major outlet cloths shopping. Apparently most of her still fitting pants don’t meet the school requirement having holes, etc. So I don’t worry about her sleep schedule any more.
We are living Sep 7th night to deliver her to her school on 8th, hang around the weekend and come home to see the empty next on Sunday. We will see how it feels.
So that’s what it’s called? Fouling the nest! This is so evident in our home. I had no idea what was going on with this kid. Now I understand!
My son starts school Sep 3, though he is hoping to get a pre-season invitation which would move his start date to Aug 28. He went to a fun non-academic sleep away camp in July and is now in a fun non-academic day camp. The week camp ends, we will go on a family beach vacation with our extended family and come home just in time for pre-season (or a week off if he doesn’t get invited.) My son runs XC so he has been running early every morning before camp. Last night, my son met some of the XC kids and re-met the coach at an open community track night. They were so warm and welcoming! 
He is very excited for school to start.
We are almost done with clothes shopping for the early fall. My son lives in athletic clothes, so he needed shorts with a button and belt loops, khaki pants, collared shirts and dress clothes. I was very happy to discover that he still fits in to kid sizes for his dress clothes.
Now he just needs to finish (start!) the summer reading and math work!
Aside from a week of old-fashioned camp and a week at the beach, GoatKid has spent her entire summer training and competing in her sport. She is also volunteering as an assistant coach in said sport at her former school. As of August 1, when dorm assignments were posted, her primary activity has been to obsess over room decor with her roommate. Their wish lists are reaching the critical point if crashing Urban Outfitters website. Can’t share more though, my cover has been blown. (Beware of CC snitches!!! -lots of emojis–mine don’t work for some reason). Said GoatKid, “I can’t believe you got that weird name. People would think we’re raising goats!”
@goatmama You’ll know your screen name has hit the big time when you make it into you kid’s school’s yearbook. This may or may not have happened to me. Oops. #gusmom2000 
My dc isn’t going away to school but is starting a middle school that is a very different choice for his peer group. We went school supply shopping yesterday (for the first time ever for ds!) and now we just have to order a few things we couldn’t find. The school has made a lot of changes that were just in the idea phase when we applied, and we are so, so excited about it.
We are flying tomorrow night. Opening events start following morning. It’s really happening.
@SculptorDad Wishing your daughter much happiness and successful learning tomorrow and in the years ahead! Report back and let us know how it all goes.
@SculptorDad Wishing you and your family safe and smooth travel and happy move-in!
Best wishes for SculptorDaughter!
Lesson from the first day of school: Daughter learned that the two AP classes she is taking mean a lot more homework than she thought. She needs a new backpack because her fancy backpack is way too small for all the books. And East Cost is humid so she needs tanks and shorts to survive the late Summer.
Otherwise everything seems to be in order and she is really enjoying the experience.
BTW, what do you do about an amazing senior who is teaching freshmen how to bend all the rules?
“BTW, what do you do about an amazing senior who is teaching freshmen how to bend all the rules?”
Remind your daughter that she has been given a great opportunity and not to blow it by bending rules. They may not catch everyone but they do catch enough. And depending on the severity of the infraction, many schools require reporting to colleges. Remind her that people she meets might be nice, friendly, interesting, but they are not all good role models whether 3, 13, or 30 years older.
Thanks. I don’t think she will risk anything. But it’s always better safe than sorry. I will give her your advise.
I advised my daughter that there may be students who because of their “history” with the school, may be granted leeway in some instances where she will not. It’s not a chance worth taking.
You let the freshmen learn how to bend them. 