<p>@texaspg She takes class to get ahead in science (taking chemistry over the summer opens physics for next school year plus our school does not have chem lab. CC has a great new lab.My daughter enjoys cc very much )
@Dragonflygarden Will babysitting for extended family member work?
Thank you everyone. It is a great community.</p>
<p>I guess I should be joining this thread now. Iām about to send D13 off for her freshman year of college, so time to start focusing on the second child. Amazing how much more relaxed I am with this one but it helps that S16 seems to know exactly what he wants to doā¦and itās very doable.</p>
<p>welcome cyclonehome! I am also sending my D13 off in the fall. Dā16 is my third. I thought it was going to be āeasierā the second time roundā¦but she found ways to give me a run for my moneyā¦and more!! 
DSā16ā¦a completely different fishā¦but I am not holding my breath with relaxing. I am sure heās gonna have lots of ideasā¦ heās just not sharing yet!</p>
<p>I, too, thought I would join this thread. I have mostly been following Parents of 2013 thread but DD13 is now doing a gap year (she will be starting college in Fall 2014 instead) and much of the discussion there is focused on dorm shopping, etc. </p>
<p>Itās about time I focused on DS16 anyway (though he has zero interest in college right now). Just dropped S off at a soccer camp for the week and when he gets home will have 2 weeks of team soccer camp, followed by a tournament and then official pre-season soccer begins in August. </p>
<p>I had to start nagging him to start on his summer reading. English wonāt be a problem just one book but based on Dās experience, APUSH is a lot of summer work!</p>
<p>Canāt believe how fast summer is moving!</p>
<p>S16 reporting in from his math camp and is happy as a clam ā made new friends (knew a few from previous summers), loves the academic environment and the new and intriguing classes and topics, having a ball. So one good.</p>
<p>His middle school aged brother is at a 1 week science camp and so far it is not going well. He is complaining about noisy cabin mates who use rude language (cussing) and kept him up at night. Bear in mind that heās the one who is an old man stuck in a 12 year old body (we call him the grumpy old man sometimes), but does anyone have advice? Heās not homesick ā he separates very easily, heās just kind of set in his ways. I figure thatās actually one of the things youāre supposed to learn at camp ā how to get along with others and negotiate things like bedtimes. This is not his first time at sleep-away camp, but it is his first time at THIS camp.</p>
<p>Hi! Momofzag! Iām here tooā(from the '13 group)
Piesquared: I agree with you; camp is mostly getting the kids used to being away from home in an environment that hopefully allows them to learn how to work/live with others without parental involvement. Good to know your older son '16 is doing well and loving his experience. Perhaps younger son is showing his āhomesicknessā by not allowing himself to engage with these ānewā types of people? itās only 1 week. My bet is heāll survive. You may want to get feedback from the director or the counselors, though. It may help to prepare him for next summer, whereever he goes!</p>
<p>DS16 did an Engineering camp at MSU this summer. He roomed with a rising senior who had a 36 ACT, which added to his intimidation. He enjoyed the camp but said that Chemistry and Physics (both of which he will be taking sophomore year) would have been very helpful! LOL! I told him not to worry, he will have light bulb moments this year and go āoh, now I get it!ā
He leaves again to do a service week with his youth group in a couple of weeks. Hopefully that will go well also.</p>
<p>Momofzag, you should share a little of your DD13ās college gap year storyāI think itās inspiring and interesting to see how things work out. And a big āHiā btw. Welcome to CycloneHome too. </p>
<p>DD16 finished Driversā Ed and passed her test and now just needs to wait for her late fall birthday in order to cash in her certificate for her real license. I remember feeling a little sad about how much less time I spent with DS13 after he got his license. Having to drive them around enforces some togetherness and conversations that lead to great opportunities when your child is 15. On the other hand, canāt wait for her to drive herself to all her activities on her ownā¦talk about ambivalent!</p>
<p>piesquared, wish I had good advice for your 12yo! I think sometimes itās good to have kids who are set in their ways, though, maybe theyāll be less likely to do wild experimenting later in high school? Trying to find a bright side for what Iām sure is an adorable āgrumpy old man.ā</p>
<p>ETA: Wish I could get my STEM daughter to do just a little more reading. Unfortunately, she has no required reading from her otherwise great school. Hoping to get her to finish <em>The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks</em> this week. Maybe <em>My Antonia</em> and <em>Huck Finn</em> later this summer?? Wish me luck. :)</p>
<p>Well, the good news is Mr. 12ās inner geek surfaced and he has fully embraced his science camp. I thought he probably would, but you can never be certain.</p>
<p>Unfortunately the friend he went with (one of his best friends) has been uncontrollably homesick. He almost went home yesterday, but now I think heāll make it through the week. He has been crying every night and my son is torn between loyalty to his friend, uncertainty on how to help him and feeling like heās being disloyal because he actually likes it. </p>
<p>S16 is supposed to check in every day or other day ā just a quick text. This has fallen off majorly and is probably a harbinger of his life in college ā where I expect weāll hear from him when he needs something (or heāll do without).</p>
<p>So glad for all our new drivers. Itās the start of a different era, no?</p>
<p>DD16 is back after a three week āso you think you want to be a doctorā course. Great experience of living on a college campus, meeting people from all over, making friends, learning how to navigate a new city and campus. Now, sheās at a tennis camp and will be playing 6-7 of hours of tennis a day. Sheās been tapped to work in a doctorās office ā has to first volunteer 100 hours, and then will start to get paid. Sheās pretty happy about having the opportunity.</p>
<p>Thatās awesome carlson2!!! Good for her!</p>
<p>DSā17 is surprising me! Heās been reading up a storm! I am beginning to feel less worried about him. He is taking Guitar lessons this summer and reading and hanging out with friends. Goes to Sleep away camp in a weekāthen Band Campā¦Boy, this summer is flying by!</p>
<p>Summer sure is flying by. We were out of the country for three weeks - it was wonderful to be with both kids and the rest of our family again. Really, really fabulous!</p>
<p>S left for a three week soon after we got back - he called a couple of days ago and is thoroughly enjoying himself. He comes home next weekend, is here for two weeks and then it is back to school in mid August. Canāt believe it! After much agonizing, we decided that we would let him fly to school by himself - it didnāt seem worth it for one of us to fly with him, rent a car, drive him down to school and then have to come back. It is the sensible thing to do, but gosh, it feels awful :(</p>
<p>my DS just went away to sleepaway campā¦I miss him too. They grow fast though!</p>
<p>DD went to a sleepaway science camp last week. Sheās back and has a friend visiting from out-of-town for a week before we go away for vacation. Canāt believe theyāll be sophomores! On the Class of 2013 list, everyone is announcing their childās ālaunch dateāāreminds me that these three years will fly by and weāll be launching our 16ers before we know it too. Of course, some of us, like you arisamp, already haveā¦</p>
<p>D16 finished driverās ed and got a permit. Driving is just not clicking for her so we have her signed up with an instructor for more driving time in a car with a second brake. I wonāt go out of the neighborhood with her. She overthinks everything and fixates on things that donāt help her. Driving instructor says she just needs more practice. Yeah, right, just not with me! DH went out once with her and says no more.</p>
<p>She is finishing up her club sport summer season, then a week of vacation and the high school sport season starts! She also has a week of theater camp in August. Even though school starts Sept 3, our summer ends early.</p>
<p>dentmom4: I have gotten driving instructors for each of my two older kids. Yeah, I drove with them a bitā¦but, I found it was much better when they were learning from a āspecialistāā¦</p>
<p>School starts next week already! Iām not ready for summer to be over. What Iām discovering though is how much easier the back to school shopping is for S16 vs. D13. With school uniforms, I think I only need to buy him a couple of new shirts and heās good to go until we get the lists for each class after the first day. This is a good thing - means I can just keep focused on shopping for D13 who leaves for college in 3 1/2 weeks.</p>
<p>Unless you have to buy marching band shoesā¦and the feet just seem to grow every month!!! :)</p>
<p>S is back from camp. No plans for the next two weeks before he heads back to school. Heās relaxing at home - and already bored :)</p>
<p>He did get his schedule and has to buy the books for all his classes. He needs to go through his things and make a shopping list - oh, but that can wait! probably until next saturday (he leaves next sunday!).</p>
<p>drmom - I totally get the comment about shoes - canāt believe how often and how much we seem to spend on shoes!</p>