<p>First Chicago audition 1 month from today!!!</p>
<p>Yep! Even sooner, leaving for Boston U one week from today! And three other auditions before Unifieds.
I’ve been a super geek over Christmas break and made my D and I a very cute cosmetic kit out of a thrift store train case. Then I found and labeled small bottles for all the different cosmetics we need over all our travels. The cosmetics are packed and ready to go! I also made a packing list for everything else we need for each trip, since we need almost the same items for each trip.
Huge storm headed our way today so I’m glad we don’t have an audition this weekend. :-)</p>
<p>Aren’t you the super efficient/creative one, dramamom?! <em>I</em> will be the one packing, printing more resumes/headshots and overall rushing around at the VERY last minute!!</p>
<p>You go dramamom0804 - that’s my kind of obsessive preparation! LOL I have found that after 3 I have relaxed a little, didn’t even look at my list for the last audition. I have 2 bags I just kept packed, the bag of medicines and “the things to do in the car bag”. His next audition is local it will be interesting to see if I have to run back home for anything. I always pack to leave the state as if I’m going to a 3rd world country that won’t sell ibuprofen or whatever I think I’ll need.</p>
<p>I’ve built a pile in the corner of the living room of things to pack for auditions. I’m an out of sight, out of mind person so I need the visual reminder. I was supposed to return to work today, but our school district cancelled, and most likely will tomorrow. Son is off for the week but I just woke him up and will be giving him a to-do list. His next audition is two weeks from tomorrow at the only Maine school offering MT, the next weekend is NYC Unifieds (with me) and then the following weekend he flies with Dad to Chicago. Yihaaaa!!</p>
<p>I feel like I am way behind in this process but maybe someone has advice…I have not booked airline or hotel for Chicago Unifieds due to not knowing every school’s audition schedule. I know we have to arrive Saturday but is Wednesday morning safe to book airline out? I don’t want my S to miss school if he doesnt need to. Am I freaking out about scheduling unnecessarily?</p>
<p>pumpkinpatchic - I would definitely look at hotels and flights now so you know what you have to work with. Keep in mind this advice is coming from someone who booked the hotel in April 
We have limited flights from our nearest airport so I booked the tickets in October. My son and husband are leaving late afternoon on Wednesday, but won’t arrive home until late that night. I too was concerned about son missing school, so he will be a zombie on Thursday. Check out what hotels are available around Palmer House (I believe I read they were booked up, but it is worth checking them too).</p>
<p>Happy 2014 everyone! I will be thinking good thoughts and sending lots of break a leg vibes out to all as you hit the audition trail!! I hope to see some of you at the CCU audition on February 8th. Happy trails!</p>
<p>pumpkinpatch. You may be a little late on the hotel. The Palmer House was close to full when I changed my reservation 3 weeks ago. (I got a cheaper rate on travelocity than through hilton so I re-reserved.) You should be able to book a hotel room without any money down and you can usually change up until the day before…</p>
<p>Flights should be OK depending where you live. </p>
<p>We aren’t leaving until Thursday morning because my D has DePaul on Wednesday at 1 pm, and DePaul tells you to leave 5 hours. if I were you I would leave later on Wednesday and that gives you a chance to do an audition or two Wednesday morning. Why leave Wednesday morning? He probably won’t make school that day anyway. Unless you have something at home Wednesday afternoon/evening?</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>pumpkinpatch - If the Palmer House Hilton is booked (which I think it just might be now), check the Hampton Inn Majestic. It’s one block over. I initially booked there for the free breakfast and internet since I have to telecommute that week, but was later able to get the same at Palmer House once I joined Hilton Honors, so gone was the Hampton Inn reservation.</p>
<p>I agree that you should be okay for flights. Who goes to Chicago in February?! Lots of deals to be found!</p>
<p>Thanks so much for all the great advice! I am a Hilton Honors member so was able to book a King room today! Yea! I still have not booked flight yet because my son says there may be auditions on Wed. I do not mind leaving Thursday morning, but unsure if his high school will allow him to miss 4 days. Any advice on talking to principals about missing school?</p>
<p>My D is going to miss 11 days of school total, and there could be more if we have to travel to visit schools after auditions are over and she has multiple acceptances. (happy thought!) I contacted her principal and counselor in the fall to check. The principal told me to email him before each absence and he would correct with attendance.
Every school is different though and school boards have different policies. In our district family travel absences are supposed to be restricted to 5 days. It’s a pretty tough policy. But since these absences are related to the college admissions process, they are considered excused. There are not going to be many kids in this situation in any district, so just make it clear that the audition is a required part of the college application and many of them are scheduled on school days.
Also, if your S is a good student, mention that when you contact the principal. My D is, and that definitely helps with any concern the school may have. They know good students will follow up on missed work.
It’s funny what you said about Hilton honors… I am a member too but I got a much better price booking the Palmer House thru travelocity. I actually saved $250! Glad you got a room though! Whatever works, right? :-)</p>
<p>Yay pumpkinpatchic! My son’s school requires him to have a form signed by all teachers. I would emphasize the auditions are needed for college acceptance. I would think they would want him to be successful. I’ll be testing out my theory soon too!</p>
<p>Yay, dramamom! At this point the hotel is robbing people. I called to knockoff a night and was told that it’s like booking a new reservation and the prices went up significantly. I had to pull out the ole trusty dusty “may I please speak to your supervisor”. Suddenly, I had my original rate less a night. (rolling my eyes at the memory! LOL)</p>
<p>On the school absences…The D is at a performing arts school and they’re still giving me grief. I’ve already squared away unifieds though.</p>
<p>GSOMT - The Performing Arts school is giving you a hard time??? I wonder if the schools would be so tough on our kids if we told them they would be out for interviews with Harvard, Yale, Princeton, etc.? Such is life for an artist…</p>
<p>Yes, I too was shocked! I had to cc the principal on communications with the attendance officer. Fixed it right up! (yes, I’m THAT person! LOL)</p>
<p>I was just not going to worry about the attendance part, because there is a valid reason she’s missing school, and my D has a 4.2 and even if she flunks a class she will still have a 4.0!! Haha</p>
<p>Seriously though, my real reason for not fussing about attendance too much is that my youngest son has special needs (anxiety and behavioral health issues) and he has actually been at the point where the school considers him truant. I know from navigating this situation with him that there are things schools say when kids miss a few days for valid reasons like what our kids are doing, and then there are legal issues that crop up when your child is going to be considered truant under the law. It’s a whole different ball game.
The school kind of has to frown on missing a few days but I’d be very surprised if they did some kind of punishment. My son missed 21 days at the end of 5th grade due to anxiety and I didn’t even hear from the principal. When he missed 3 days by the end of the second week of 6th grade, I had emails all the way up to the asst. supt. Because if he had continued with that attendance pattern, he would legally have been truant by November, and that is a real problem for the school.
For our auditioning kids, the school knows why they are absent and that they’ll be back.
Just be thoughtful to the teachers who have to help our kids make up the work they miss!</p>
<p>We booked our room at the PHH about a month ago, but I called today to add Saturday night and it wasn’t a problem. We got excellent rates by joining AARP (I’m 52) and using their discount. I swore that I would NEVER join AARP, but my $16 investment in dues saved about $150 for the week.</p>
<p>Our school has been great so far about the absences; hopefully they’ll remain patient as we head into audition season. The only teacher that has given our D any grief has been her calculus teacher, and unless someone writes MATH - THE MUSICAL we’re not too worried about it. I agree that communication is the key. Make sure that the guidance counselor, dean, and principal are cc’ed on correspondence. I don’t see that as stirring up any trouble, it’s just a way of keeping everybody in the loop. </p>
<p>Good luck everybody. Hopefully it will warm up a bit.</p>
<p>Cheeseheadmike - I had added the Saturday months ago, and for some reason ended up getting a better rate ($99.00 a night!). The four day Chicago stay ended up being cheaper than the two day NYC stay.</p>
<p>dramamom0804 - I am a special ed social worker/case manager, so I understand the other end of students missing school. As you said, the school will know the students will return. I’m more concerned with the missed class time and have encouraged my son to come up with a plan with the teacher to get his work done. Of course he is more concerned that he will be missing rehearsals for the school musical which begins rehearsals Jan. 6!!</p>