Parents of the HS Class of 2017 (Part 1)

Parents Forum Class of 20xx Community
33001

“Quite that suddenly” like a band-aid being pulled off. My son is going to have dinner with friends next week who started classes this week so he can say goodbye to them before he leaves.

Funny story…My son has 5 friends attending the same school. Two selected each other as roommates. The other 3 wanted to go into random roommate selection. Two of those kids who selected random selection ending up getting matched to each other! I told my son that obviously the algorithm worked well at identifying two people that were perfect for each other. They were shocked and a little bummed out but decided to stick with it.

33002

That happened to me too 30 years ago when there weren’t algorithms to match roommates. Best friend was going to same college. We didn’t want to room together. Thought it would be too much. Lived in dorm with 4 person rooms. Figured I would know his 3 roommates and he would know mine. 6 new friends. We got our room assignments and were in the same room. Was now 2 new friends. We didn’t room together the next year. And never were friends with our first year roommates. Still friends today though.

33003

My daughter wants a UK roommate. She says she’s not going all the way to Scotland to hang out with Americans. :slight_smile:

33004

My son finished his first week of classes and has not flunked out.

33005

We opted for an early moove-in paying $50, and S17 is all moved in at UT since yesterday.
He complained that I was making a “princess bed” with a memory foam pad and then a mattress cover.
He must have not read the internet memo to freshmen “… let your mom make your bed … let her hug you…”
We are hunkering down in hotel room in Austin. No rain yet.
As S19 wanted to travel with us, I changed his SAT registration to Austin High School. I am not sure if that is happening or not. Will have to see tonight.
When I travel, I usually bring rain with me.
Apologies to all Texans for bringing Harvey with me. :frowning: :open_mouth:
Hope everyone in the affected area stay safe this weekend!

33006

S19’s SAT test at Austin High School, Austin, Texas is cancelled.
Oh, well.

33007

@payn4ward, sorry to hear. I’m worried for everyone in Texas and so sorry for the kids who have SAT re-scheduling to worry about on top of everything else.

33008

My wife flew with our youngest last weekend to move S17 in to his dorm. Like the other two, we set up for him to call us on Sunday evenings. So far, he has called (my wife, not me) every day.

“Mom, did you buy laundry detergent?”
“Mom, how many of these pods do I put in and do I break them first?”
“Mom, what’s a dryer sheet?”
“Mom, do you know my bank account number?”
“Mom, where are my finger nail clippers?”

I hope he has stuff to talk about with us on Sunday and not just more life-skills questions.

33009

Dd called me earlier today. She is settled in and says that her schedule is not stressful at all. She did ask if I could order her a scientific calculator and have it shipped bc she only took her graphing calculator and it is not allowed. I ordered it today along with her favorite tea (which will make her smile way more than if I had ordered her a box of candy like I do for her brother). :slight_smile:

So glad we moved away from the Gulf. I was worried that this yr was going to be the yr of Gulf hurricanes. So sorry for everyone in its path.

33010

@Magnetron Enjoy the Sunday call no matter whether it’s just life-skills questions - at least he’s talking to you. We got a lot of that at the beginning of summer.

“How long do I cook this for?”
“How much rice should I put in?”
“What does simmer mean?”

It just shows you’re still needed.

@RightCoaster That’s always a bonus!

33011

We get random texts with those type of questions. “Where is my laptop,” “where are my retainers”, “How do I deposit a check?” “Can you please send me my computer headphones and microphone?” At least I know he is OK.

33012

D17 turned 18 yesterday. It was bittersweet that we weren’t with her but she told us on Wednesday that a group of new friends had told her that they were picking her up at 6 p.m., so I’m guessing she had a fun evening.

33013

It is so nice to see the kids are all settling in.

@RightCoaster I was wondering how your soon was. I’m so glad you posted! Wonderful to hear he is settled in and survived his first week of classes. It’s a wonderful experience. Like your son, I went to college in the city not far from home and my study abroad experience was fantastic. It will give him the same experience as the kids who are moving a good distance from home.

@payn4ward Hope your family is doing well this morning.

Praying for all of those effected by Harvey.

33014

Just have to state that reading CC affirms that Dd made the right choice in requesting a private room. Worth every extra cent to make sure she isn’t stressed to the max by total incompatibility that could lead to a flare. When you think about their dorm room being their only place of sanctuary, yeah, some situations are definitely incompatible.

33015

S17 called me on Tuesday in a panic that he needed an entire list of things for his drafting class, which meets once a a week on Friday. He said the prof would be ok if they didn’t have it this week. I managed to figure it out on Amazon and get the stuff shipped to him, the stuff has started to arrive at the dorm. He texted me to thank me profusely and to tell me that he learned more in three hours of this class than in the entire year of the class he took in hS.

I am actually speaking with him more than I did his senior year and with a lot less yelling! It’s funny, he is texting me a lot, but hasn’t sent me any pics, while my friend, whose son is at the same school, is getting pics all the time but no actual words.

He seems to be getting on ok with his roommate. They stayed in on Friday night, ordered out food from a local restaurant and watched separate Netflix shows while S17 played online D & D with HS friends and the roomie knitted. S17 is happy he chose the honors dorm as his RA told him there have already been 40 “incidents” at the regular frosh dorms.

33016

Sending dry wishes to anyone in Texas!!

We still have 3 weeks until drop-off day. The quarter system has its pros and cons…

DS17 and I had a great time viewing the eclipse in Idaho. DS21 and DH stayed home because high school started the day of the eclipse. It was nice taking a week-long mom/son trip before he heads off to college. I’m going to miss him!

We’ve started a bit of dorm shopping. So far, I think he is mostly set for clothes and things that can be bought at BB&B, Staples, and CVS. It’s an odd move-in situation, since he doesn’t learn what House he’s sorted into until 2 weeks after drop-off, so will have to move again then. Won’t know AC, room size, # of roommates, lofting situation, room fridge, shared kitchen equipment until then.

I don’t think we’ll need vacuum bags, as we are driving and he insisted on the thinnest comforter we could find and no blankets. (It’s supposed to get up to 105 in his college town this week.) He also insists that he doesn’t need memory foam, as his bed at home is pretty firm and he did the vinyl dorm mattress thing last summer with no problem.

He is about 7/8s done with the summer online math course (Transition to Mathematical Proofs) and getting good grades on that, but he hasn’t started reading the shared reading book (“Lab Girl”). He says he can get textbooks as hand-me-downs from sophomores for free, so I shouldn’t worry about purchasing books. We’ll see…

Ours just has a FB page, not a private group (so not many comments on their posts). They post photos from parent events, share posts that the college posted, and a picture of a squirrel on campus every Thursday. There is supposed to be a webinar for parents about what to bring this coming week.

In other news, DS21 is doing well so far at his new high school. (Not the one DS17 attended, and 10+ miles away.) He is suddenly interested in academics and talks with us when he gets home! This is a real improvement for him, and we hope it continues.

33017

I moved D in at Oberlin this past week and she starts classes on Monday. So far the transition has been very smooth. The orientation was really well done with some activities geared towards the entire family and breakout sessions for students and parents respectively. The level of music talent there is as phenomenal as one might imagine. I thought the food was pretty good and fellow parents were congenial. The kids seemed down to earth and friendly.

I doubt she will become best buddies with her roommate but they seem to be similarly tidy and mutually respectful so it should all work out.

She got all of the classes that she wanted and all of her books are purchased and should arrive tomorrow when classes begin.

I am happy and relieved!

I have gotten texts about little things (where does the stamp on the envelope go?) but overall she has been navigating basic life tasks by herself pretty well. I’m hoping that things continue as well as they have begun.

@Ynotgo My D21 has also transferred to a new school for HS and so far so good. Glad your child is thriving!

33018

S17 called me yesterday - nobody else was home. He sounds great. He had done battleship in the pool with a group of guys from his floor. He and his roommate state they have the best floor and best RA. He decided to try ballroom dancing club on Saturday night. He was wearing jeans and a polo shirt and the guys on his floor stepped in to get him ready like a group of Dads loaning a shirt and tie. He got to dance the waltz to “Burn” from Hamilton. He has definitely found his place and his people! He is happy with his classes and professors and looking into other possible clubs/organization.

33019

First day of class for D17! She sent an email this morning (before i got up, due to time zones) that she’d successfully found her first classroom in time for class, which had been one of her big worries. So that’s good. Still weird at me (and, I think, her), but very, very good.

33020

I think there is a natural concern for a lot of kids about being able to find classes. My daughter told me last week she had walked pretty much the entire campus one day with a girl from down the hall and in that process, they located all of the classrooms for each of their respective schedules. Within a matter of weeks I would expect the notion of finding their way around campus with be second nature but initially, I think there was comfort there in finding each building.