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How is everybody's college freshman settling in?


LynnG in Arizona
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Now that our new college freshmen have been at school for 6-7 weeks or so, I thought it might be fun to do a check in of sorts.

 

How is your student? Liking the roommate ok? How are classes? Is college easier or harder than expected, so far? And . . . how are you as the parent doing with having them gone?

 

I'll go first. We just took our eldest daughter to college about 2,500 miles away. She is extremely happy at her school (University of Arizona). Her professors have been very good or excellent pretty much across the board. At least two of them are truly superlative . . . the kind of professor she's going to remember the rest of her life. :thumbup:

 

Her dorm room is small, really small, but she and her roommate get along well despite some different outlooks/points of view. The dorm is quiet, thank goodness, because she picked a dorm that had that reputation. She recently visited the "party" dorm and agreed with its reputation.

 

She did have a rough start at the beginning when her 3 month old laptop broke about a week into class. :ohmy: Her phone also broke. What is a college student supposed to do without her laptop and cell phone, I ask you? ;) The laptop took a month to get fixed (via mail, what a pain), but she has it back now.

 

It's a bit too early in the semester to get a good handle on grades, but she's gotten through the first round of tests with solid grades. DD is working very hard, probably even more so than I would have guessed.

 

My fellow WTM'ers will appreciate this. She had to write an English essay on her mother, and she said that her mom was the type of person who "actually knows what a gerund and a predicate nominative are". Also, she was the only person in her Spanish class who was able to give a concise definition of what a direct object is. Her professor was both surprised and impressed. Thank you, Rod & Staff! :hurray:

 

And I am doing fine with having her gone, though I do miss her. She is super independent, and it became clear to all of us over the past couple years that it was time for her to be out on her own. I do get to go visit her for Parent's Weekend in mid-October, and I'm super excited about that!

 

Hope to hear how everyone else is doing . . .

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He really enjoyed Freshman Orientation and met several friends through that program and also kids who live in his dorm. He gets along well with his roommate, but the roommate isn't around a lot. The roommate is very quick with math, and that has been a big help to my son, who struggles a bit in that area. His dorm is the typical freshman hall, and it's not super quiet, so he's found some conference rooms in academic buildings where he goes to study.

 

He was pretty anxious the first week of classes because the assignments started piling on. He got through it, and when he figured out that he could in fact handle the workload, he settled in pretty well.

 

He has also survived the first round of tests and is studying more now than he ever did at home. I'm really glad to see that. He says that working for good 'ole mom just wasn't that motivating. He says that he wishes he'd worked harder in high school. He also thanked me for the extensive history background he has thanks to our homeschooling.

 

We are doing OK at home without him, but I am having to take my younger son out more to his activities and to see his friends. They both got Skipe accounts and like to talk to each other via the computer quite often.

 

We will also be going there for parents weekend soon, and we're looking forward to that. So far, we're happy with how he is doing. I'm also looking forward to hearing how others' dc are faring.

 

Brenda

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Dd#1 is doing fantastic! She's going to Palm Beach Atlantic, a Christian school of about 2000 students. She's running cross country so plugged into a group right off the bat. Plus she's getting to travel around the state, the athletic dept washes her practice & meet clothing & feeds them a few times a week.:D She lives in the Honor's dorm (she was accepted into honor's, but declined since she already had her AA & the honor's is a 4yr track) so it's a "serious" group. Roomies are fine & everyone seems to be getting along well. They have fall break (4 day weekend) starting 10/30, but she probably will go on one of the trips they offer (Disney, Busch Gdns, mission. . .) Makes me want to go back to school! Classes are more intense than she had here @ the cc, but she's only having trouble in her (3rd Semester) Spanish class. She wishes she'd taken 2nd yr here just because different teacher, different methods & vocabulary.

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He having fun, we know that. I assume he is frantically busy and that is why he hasn't contacted us for a while. Cell signal in his dorm room is very ify; that doesn't help. I wrote about his adventures in http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1232882#poststop. I haven't heard anything since. I wrote a bit more about him in the writer's block thread. Right about now he is probably having midterms. I worry about him, academically, and we know nothing about his roommate except that he is in ROTC. He appears to actually know some girls, to the disgust of his brother. This is not easy to do in a school that is about 80% boys. (Hence his brother's disgust.) It is hard to know whether he has made friends or not because he is friends with his brother and his roommate and some of their pack already, and he naturally knows the sailing team. Hopefully some of those aquaintances are becoming his own friends. He survived the worst bit of the regimental training, staying under the radar, and isn't minding the rest too much (unlike his older brother). I don't worry about him driving because I doubt his brother will ever let him near the car they supposedly share. He's enjoying the varied workouts associated with sailing team. Those include yoga and swimming and running. That is a change from gymnastics. Hopefully we'll hear from him again soon.

 

As far as how we're doing... His younger brother has adjusted ok. School has settled down into an ok routine with just the two of us. I still miss my older two dreadfully. I can't wait to see them family weekend.

-Nan

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I finally left a message on his phone. I hate to bother him, but I wanted to touch base, since it had been more than a week. So the update: he got onto the varsity sailing team, which he is excited about. Now let's hope his grades are such that he can stay on the team. His term paper is due next week, so he is working hard on that. He had to write a paper on what it says about Greek men that Achilles, Antigone, and Socrates all died when they could have avoided it if they had so desired. He says the fact that he has read The Illiad was helpful. He is relieved to be doing the Greeks now in his humanities class because he knows that period fairly well. He did badly on the quiz for the last section. His calc grades are varying between As and Ds. He got his lifeboat certificate and did well on his lifeboat test. He is behind in doing his technical drawings and is scrambling to try to catch up. He has a test next week in calc and thinks maybe it will go ok. He's having to skip the morning sailing team practice (which is the excersizing bit) in order to practise drills for family weekend and says he is all irritable because of that. (For all of you with teenage boys - he says that when he doesn't excersize hard every day, he feels out of control and lost and like he's crawling out of his skin and can't concentrate.) He says his roommate is a good guy but their schedules are the opposite so they hardly ever see each other. He is living in a single on the ship this month, anyway, which he says is nice. He said at first there were problems about his roommate's being a heavy sleeper and setting several extremely loud alarm clocks, but they got those straightened out. And that is probably more than you ever would want to know about how our freshman is doing GRIN. I'm just excited to hear from him and nobody else is home to tell.

-Nan

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He has also survived the first round of tests and is studying more now than he ever did at home. I'm really glad to see that. He says that working for good 'ole mom just wasn't that motivating. He says that he wishes he'd worked harder in high school. He also thanked me for the extensive history background he has thanks to our homeschooling.

 

We are doing OK at home without him, but I am having to take my younger son out more to his activities and to see his friends. They both got Skipe accounts and like to talk to each other via the computer quite often.

 

We will also be going there for parents weekend soon, and we're looking forward to that. So far, we're happy with how he is doing. I'm also looking forward to hearing how others' dc are faring.

 

Brenda

 

I can identify with a student somehow working harder when it's not "just for mom". :D

 

And I do miss my oldest being able to drive DD#2 around - that was a blessing last year!

 

Glad you are going for Parent's Weekend!

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Dd#1 is doing fantastic! She's going to Palm Beach Atlantic, a Christian school of about 2000 students. She's running cross country so plugged into a group right off the bat. Plus she's getting to travel around the state, the athletic dept washes her practice & meet clothing & feeds them a few times a week.:D She lives in the Honor's dorm (she was accepted into honor's, but declined since she already had her AA & the honor's is a 4yr track) so it's a "serious" group. Roomies are fine & everyone seems to be getting along well. They have fall break (4 day weekend) starting 10/30, but she probably will go on one of the trips they offer (Disney, Busch Gdns, mission. . .) Makes me want to go back to school! Classes are more intense than she had here @ the cc, but she's only having trouble in her (3rd Semester) Spanish class. She wishes she'd taken 2nd yr here just because different teacher, different methods & vocabulary.

 

Sounds like your daughter is doing really well! Can I sign up for one of the fall break trips? ;)

 

My daughter is just taking 2nd semester Spanish, but it is quite intense and demanding - a class worth four credit hours.

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I finally left a message on his phone. I hate to bother him, but I wanted to touch base, since it had been more than a week. So the update: he got onto the varsity sailing team, which he is excited about. Now let's hope his grades are such that he can stay on the team. His term paper is due next week, so he is working hard on that. He had to write a paper on what it says about Greek men that Achilles, Antigone, and Socrates all died when they could have avoided it if they had so desired. He says the fact that he has read The Illiad was helpful. He is relieved to be doing the Greeks now in his humanities class because he knows that period fairly well. He did badly on the quiz for the last section. His calc grades are varying between As and Ds. He got his lifeboat certificate and did well on his lifeboat test. He is behind in doing his technical drawings and is scrambling to try to catch up. He has a test next week in calc and thinks maybe it will go ok. He's having to skip the morning sailing team practice (which is the excersizing bit) in order to practise drills for family weekend and says he is all irritable because of that. (For all of you with teenage boys - he says that when he doesn't excersize hard every day, he feels out of control and lost and like he's crawling out of his skin and can't concentrate.) He says his roommate is a good guy but their schedules are the opposite so they hardly ever see each other. He is living in a single on the ship this month, anyway, which he says is nice. He said at first there were problems about his roommate's being a heavy sleeper and setting several extremely loud alarm clocks, but they got those straightened out. And that is probably more than you ever would want to know about how our freshman is doing GRIN. I'm just excited to hear from him and nobody else is home to tell.

-Nan

 

Nan, I am *so* glad you finally got to talk to him! :grouphug: Congrats to your son on making the varsity team!

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Sounds like your daughter is doing really well! Can I sign up for one of the fall break trips? ;)

 

My daughter is just taking 2nd semester Spanish, but it is quite intense and demanding - a class worth four credit hours.

 

I hear ya! Thankfully since she's had all the basic science/math/humanities/comp classes, she's in classes that really pertain to her major & minor (except Spanish!) The campus is right downtown too so she can walk to a cool shopping district (City Place) or over to Palm Beach to oogle the beautiful homes or go to the beach.

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Well, mine is having a difficult time. Classes seem the least of his concerns--he's actually doing quite well in that dept.

He is discovering he may have Aspergers Syndrome, social anxiety (whether those are connected is something he's exploring in counseling), and some obsessive thoughts.

At least we are helping him bring these things into the light. He did not go to substance abuse/family counseling with us, so he needs to do some recovery work (his bro is the addict, but addiction is a family disease).

 

Kinda tough. He is a little older than his counterparts, and he is morally in a different place--doesn't drink, doesn't...well, you know. Anyway, he's been calling several times a week, and I honestly can't wait until he gains some insights and can make some growth changes.

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Well, mine is having a difficult time. Classes seem the least of his concerns--he's actually doing quite well in that dept.

He is discovering he may have Aspergers Syndrome, social anxiety (whether those are connected is something he's exploring in counseling), and some obsessive thoughts.

At least we are helping him bring these things into the light. He did not go to substance abuse/family counseling with us, so he needs to do some recovery work (his bro is the addict, but addiction is a family disease).

 

Kinda tough. He is a little older than his counterparts, and he is morally in a different place--doesn't drink, doesn't...well, you know. Anyway, he's been calling several times a week, and I honestly can't wait until he gains some insights and can make some growth changes.

 

I'm sorry, Chris. :grouphug: It sounds like he is going through a lot right now . . . and that inevitably means that you are going through a lot. I truly hope that he can get the answers he needs.

 

I wish all of you wisdom and discernment through this process.

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My son is doing well in his classes after the first round of exams. He drives to the campus two (long) days a week, is not thrilled by commuting, but other than that seems to be enjoying the experience. All his classes are small; the instructors are approachable and seem to be well qualified. He is enrolled in one of the small number of degree plans rather than the more numerous vocational/technical programs. A lot of the people in his classes are adults seeking a career change, so they tend to be very focused and business-like. I've heard from former students that by the second semester he will be seeing familiar faces and begin to meet more people.

 

I'm relieved that ds seems to be well prepared academically, but getting used to a faster pace for every single class has been a challenge. We tended to be fairly relaxed about setting cut-off dates for finishing courses, and while we did some outsourcing it was never more than a class or two at any given time. The small class sizes are fantastic; he gets far more individual attention than I expected.

 

I'm enjoying my retirement and am still savoring the fact that I have the house all to myself two and a half days a week! I've got a long list of things left undone by necessity or intentionally put aside during our homeschool years to keep me busy. It's so much fun to talk with my son about his classes without feeling the weight of responsibility, and I do NOT miss my role as record keeper or guidance counselor at all. I have some wonderful memories from our homeschool years, but am not sorry to see my son move on. I am glad that he hasn't moved out of the house yet, though.

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My dd is at the University of Dallas; we're in VA, so it has been hard on us, but she is having a great time. Her roommate is a lovely girl and they get along very well. She loves 4 out of 5 classes. She seems to be working really hard at them. She loves that she can be a faithful Catholic who doesn't drink or do other bad stuff and she actually fits in. Her last year at home she hung out with public school kids and she was definitely the odd girl out. She told me she is so happy she's not hanging out with those kids anymore. She came down with a killer cold on Friday and couldn't shake it over the weekend. And today are her first midterms so she is a bit stressed over being sick and taking midterms. She gets excited over what she is learning and she'll call me or her dad to talk about things. She doesn't like her econ class. My dh taught her Econ last year and she said she learned way more from dh than she is learning from her prof. She says she feels sorry for the other kids who are getting their first class in econ. But she loves her other classes so I guess it is a lesson in patience and tolerance. We all have to put up with teachers, etc we don't see eye to eye with. Anyway so far she got an A- on an oral presentation she did and a B+ on her first paper. She's got another paper she hasn't received a grade for yet and of course, now, midterms.

 

I can't wait to see her at Thanksgiving!

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It's so much fun to talk with my son about his classes without feeling the weight of responsibility, and I do NOT miss my role as record keeper or guidance counselor at all. I have some wonderful memories from our homeschool years, but am not sorry to see my son move on. I am glad that he hasn't moved out of the house yet, though.

 

This is a good place to be, isn't it? I feel much the same way with my daughter moving on. I don't "love" the fact that she's not here anymore, but I *do* love the fact that she's in a challenging university setting and very happy. And I was definitely ready to retire from my direct homeschooling of her . . . it was just time (in a good way). :)

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My dd is at the University of Dallas; we're in VA, so it has been hard on us, but she is having a great time. Her roommate is a lovely girl and they get along very well. She loves 4 out of 5 classes. She seems to be working really hard at them. She loves that she can be a faithful Catholic who doesn't drink or do other bad stuff and she actually fits in. Her last year at home she hung out with public school kids and she was definitely the odd girl out. She told me she is so happy she's not hanging out with those kids anymore. She came down with a killer cold on Friday and couldn't shake it over the weekend. And today are her first midterms so she is a bit stressed over being sick and taking midterms. She gets excited over what she is learning and she'll call me or her dad to talk about things. She doesn't like her econ class. My dh taught her Econ last year and she said she learned way more from dh than she is learning from her prof. She says she feels sorry for the other kids who are getting their first class in econ. But she loves her other classes so I guess it is a lesson in patience and tolerance. We all have to put up with teachers, etc we don't see eye to eye with. Anyway so far she got an A- on an oral presentation she did and a B+ on her first paper. She's got another paper she hasn't received a grade for yet and of course, now, midterms.

 

I can't wait to see her at Thanksgiving!

 

Sounds like Univ. of Dallas was a fantastic choice for your daughter, Faith. I'm so glad she is happy and settled in.

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How is your student? Liking the roommate ok? How are classes? Is college easier or harder than expected, so far? And . . . how are you as the parent doing with having them gone?

 

 

I have a new freshman this year -- a very, very happy freshman. She is cross country from us, but fortunately I have family who live nearby. In fact, she is with them now for a week long fall break. She'll be there for Thanksgiving, too, so we will definitely be happy to see her return home for winter break.

 

She is attending a small liberal arts college (which I prefer not to name for privacy reasons) and loving it there. She took a variety of classes at the local community college during 11th and 12th grade but enrolled as a freshman. She has commented that the work is a real step up in terms of workload and expectations compared to her community college classes. She is taking a required freshman seminar, Early Medieval History, Geology, and an intensive Latin grammar review as well as a required freshman wellness seminar. She's found the amount of reading to be high, but she is enjoying all of her classes. I'd say that her community college classes were beneficial to her in that she is accustomed to reading the syllabus and she is also comfortable seeing instructors outside of class time. She is not intimidated and is able to speak up for herself. I would say that she feels well prepared for college.

 

She lives in an old stone dorm (rather Hogwarts-ian) with hardwood floors, a bay window with window seat, and a non-operational fireplace. She has two roommates with whom she is getting along very well. She is also making other friends. She has been taking advantage of activities on campus (movies, a capella performances), and she's also joined a Scottish dance club (something that is new to her). She's working about eight hours a week in the cafeteria for her work study job. The food in general is good, but she misses "real" vegetables and her father's homemade bread.

 

Did I mention that she is very happy? It's hard to miss her too much when she is clearly having such a great time. It's much quieter here though without her. We're fortunate in that she is very communicative. We chat on-line probably every couple of days.

 

Regards,

Kareni

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I have a new freshman this year -- a very, very happy freshman. She is cross country from us, but fortunately I have family who live nearby. In fact, she is with them now for a week long fall break. She'll be there for Thanksgiving, too, so we will definitely be happy to see her return home for winter break.

 

She is attending a small liberal arts college (which I prefer not to name for privacy reasons) and loving it there. She took a variety of classes at the local community college during 11th and 12th grade but enrolled as a freshman. She has commented that the work is a real step up in terms of workload and expectations compared to her community college classes. She is taking a required freshman seminar, Early Medieval History, Geology, and an intensive Latin grammar review as well as a required freshman wellness seminar. She's found the amount of reading to be high, but she is enjoying all of her classes. I'd say that her community college classes were beneficial to her in that she is accustomed to reading the syllabus and she is also comfortable seeing instructors outside of class time. She is not intimidated and is able to speak up for herself. I would say that she feels well prepared for college.

 

She lives in an old stone dorm (rather Hogwarts-ian) with hardwood floors, a bay window with window seat, and a non-operational fireplace. She has two roommates with whom she is getting along very well. She is also making other friends. She has been taking advantage of activities on campus (movies, a capella performances), and she's also joined a Scottish dance club (something that is new to her). She's working about eight hours a week in the cafeteria for her work study job. The food in general is good, but she misses "real" vegetables and her father's homemade bread.

 

Did I mention that she is very happy? It's hard to miss her too much when she is clearly having such a great time. It's much quieter here though without her. We're fortunate in that she is very communicative. We chat on-line probably every couple of days.

 

Regards,

Kareni

 

Kareni, it sounds like your daughter's first semester couldn't really be going any better. I'm really glad for you (and her)! :)

 

It does help to have family nearby, doesn't it? We're far away from our daughter, but my parents are close enough that she can go to them for Thanksgiving weekend.

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Ds is our only, so maybe I worry more than I should. He is at Drexel and it's tough in terms of the pace. They are on the quarter system so the mid terms hit around weeks 4-5.

 

So far he is managing to keep up, that has always been my biggest fear for him. He is a slower reader and he will have to push himself there. He had his first two major exams two weeks ago, one success and one not so hot. I don't envy him the course load...Chem 101 with lab, Eng 101 with lab, Calculus 101 4 days a week, Eng 101, an honors course on science and media, a computer science course and a CAD course and an intro to university course. I think it 16.5 credits?

 

The bad news....the Chemistry course is huge, 5 different lecture sections with common exams, if my math is correct there are about 1000 students taking that course.....get the lousy lecturer and you're in trouble. He got the one that can't speak english very well. Took the 1st exam thinking he was doing okay only to get it back and find out he didn't really understand as much as he thought he did...needless to say, he has changed lecture sections. I felt so badly for him, he was a wreck after he found out. He is such a perfectionist (and comes by it quite naturally) that he has a hard time dealing with a near failure. But, I think it was a good thing to have happen early on because it shook him up, but he has dealt with it, made corrections and is moving on....we shall see what happens on the next test.

 

The good news, everything else seems to be going well. He is in a suite style dorm, 2 bedrooms, little living room, kitchenette and bath. Three of the 4 suitemates get along great. One boy seems hypersensitive and grumpy. Our son and his roomie get along fine so far and one of the other boys has become a good friend. Socially he seems to fit in well...they are mostly a bunch of geeks and nerds and are quite happy about it (and since I resemble that remark myself, I can say it).

 

He is really happy with the ethnic mix there. It is very cosmopolitan. Two of the 4 guys in his suite are WASPS, the others are Nigerian and Indian. He is attending an 80% Asian church. His advisors are Indian, Egyptian, and Greek and many of his friends have names that I have to ask "How do you pronounce that?" I think it is a great environment for him. This is the global community that he will likely live in as an adult and he loves it.

 

So, overall, he seems quite content and happy about everything except the Chem exam and one other irritant....fire alarms.

 

He is becoming quite annoyed at middle of the night fire alarms....so far someone has burned mac and cheese and popcorn twice. Last night someone burned something else unidentified and set off the alarms.... They are about ready to go on a witch hunt I think...this is why people only stay in the dorms for one year I think!

 

Oh and one other great last thing...he is going to get to join a research team in a lab! That is one of the main reasons he wanted to go to Drexel in the first place...real research, real soon.

 

Sorry to drone on so... it's hard to stop once you start;)

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You aren't droning. I really need to hear how everyone else is doing. Even if you aren't helping anyone else (that's how I feel about my long posts about my son, anyway), *I* need to read your posts. So drone away GRIN...

 

My son is off to his first varsity sailing team race and called us all excited from the van. He said he was going to be home for Thanksgiving afterall (phew!) and he fell asleep in his calculus test last week!!!!!! but fortunately the rest of his class didn't do well so they are going to retest. What???? I do not find this reassuring, especially coming after the phone call earlier where he said it was stupid but he had discovered that you actually had to do the calculus homework to understand the calculus. I guess the prof was assigning practice problems but not collecting them. He will be so crushed if he gets dropped from the sailing team for getting onto academic probation. I am worried. And his brother is trying to help him but says it is hard because he leaves everything to the last minute. Here he is, away for the weekend, when he has lots of tests next week and a research paper due. Yikes! When we asked if he could manage, he said he had brought all his homework with him, but I'm betting it will be hard to ignore his teammates and sit down and do his homework, especially at a strange college with new people to talk to...

 

Think we will survive?

 

-Nan

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I agree with you that it is so helpful to read other mom's postings and realize I'm not the only one going through what ever that week's drama is. It's funny in a way for me, the fact that I'm not homeschooling now, but working full time, yet I still want to stay connected to this community in particular for three main reasons....one we have this great college subcommunity now, and two I want to try to still be there for the mom's coming along behind me (at least till I'm out of date) three, I feel like I got to know people here a little and I want to stay connected.

 

The hard part is finding the time to invest in staying connected....I'm finding that, particularly during the week, I scan through the posts and sometimes think... I just don't have time or energy to get into the discussion....that bugs me. :confused:

 

So, I try to find places to jump in and share or add something helpful on the main high school board occasionally and do a bit of lurking, kwim?

 

But, on to your son...how did the race go for your son's team, or is it a two day event? I have heard that student athletes often do very well because they are forced to learn better time-management skills than some of their peers...but I'm sure it will take time to learn. It sounds like your younger son is a bit more socially involved too; it will be a real balancing act.

 

I have also heard that some schools have special tutor support for the athletes because of the competition and training schedules....does he get to benefit from anything like that?

 

I must confess that my husband and I are trying to stay a bit more involved with our son, helping him or at least trying to help him with planning his schedule and so on. I feel like he still needs us to look over his shoulder a little (for now anyway) to help him to learn to do it on his own. I've been fairly pleased with his plans so far...he has only had a couple whoopsies where he had to really stay up late and kinda panic to make the turn in. I'm trying to be proactive without being a helicopter mom I guess. I feel like there is too much at stake to just step back and say... Here you go, even though your dad and I invested 10 years personally in your education, now you're on your own..ta ta for now... let us know how you're doing...

 

We have some friends who took a complete hands-off approach with their son and it ended in near disaster. He still needed coaching and didn't get it and I think he felt lost and angry....I don't want to end up in that same place with our son.

 

I am glad your son will be able to have a second swing at his calculus test. I had a bit of a chuckle at his expense about the homework.... It reminded me of my own freshman experience. I had never seen a syllabus before college, and I didn't think that I needed to actually do stuff that didn't need to be turned in. I also didn't understand that you were actually supposed to read the chapter that the lecture was going to cover...I just figured that the prof told you all you needed to know. Fast forward to the first exam and imagine my surprise. It wasn't pretty. :lol: Hopefully we've prepared our kids a bit better than that!!!

 

Will the new test totally replace the old one? That is quite a blessing if it is the case. Our ds, who always loved chem got a 68 on the first test....class average was a 71. Not exactly a complete disaster, but not okay either. He did say that all his errors were from the same chapter in the text, so at least he knows where to start. His course is graded such that 3 mid-course exams count toward 1/3 of the grade and the lowest of the 3 gets a boost by being averaged with the grade from the recitation section. So, it should be survivable.

 

Enough for now....please do share more about the races and how things are going for your freshman and your older son.

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I think your son would be hurt if you suddenly said tata. Mine would be. We have our fingers in our ears and and shouting lalala loudly and resisting the temptation to worry about all that helicopter parents advice. It just isn't practical for our family. Many normal things aren't practical for our family sigh. I guess that is a sigh of relief, as well as a sigh of discouragement. I don't think there is anything wrong with offering some support at the beginning of a new thing, in taking an interest. We watched someone crash and burn at CC the year before my sons went and we decided we weren't going to do it that way. It wasn't all the family's fault, in that case - they had never had one in college and didn't know what advice to offer. It made us think about what advice and support our parents had offered, and how involved we were going to be. I think we as homeschooling parents are in a unique position, anyway. If our children had been to school, much of this stuff would have been done at the middle school level, when nobody is surprised at a high level of parental involvement. People forget what sort of learning curve is involved with college when you haven't been to school before. Besides... I remember my parents helping me. It didn't hurt me any.

 

We haven't heard how the regatta worked out. I suspect that he didn't race today (Sunday) because the wind is fierce here. Hopefully, he'll call and tell us soon.

 

-Nan

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Besides... I remember my parents helping me. It didn't hurt me any.

 

-Nan

 

Hello Nan,

 

I thought it was interesting to see in the catalog that the CC my son is attending offers several free courses on study skills, time-management, goal setting and such for new students. The courses all seem to be designed with a variety of prior experiences in mind and there is even one for students who are the first in their family to attend college (that's a lot of folks here in NM).

 

Martha

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I've been impressed with our CC also. It is set up so that someone can save up money and then say, "I'm going to go sign up for college today," and walk out with a student id. It is wonderful. It would be very flattening, I think, if you worked to go to college, went to sign up, and then discovered that the process took weeks.

-Nan

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Oh, this has been great reading! Because our daughter is living at home and commuting to school she is around a lot and I have been worried that I am helping her too much :glare:

 

I wake her in the morning - we don't want an alarm in her room because it also wakes her sisters. I critique her papers and make suggestions. My husband and I encouraged her to get a tutor for math which has been helpful. Her sister and I helped her study for her midterms by quizzing her, using her notes.

 

I also *talk her down* when necessary - she was diagnosed with OCD this past summer. We have been discussing her treatment options and agreed to see how this semester went before she tried any medications as the neurologist said it was mild and we are concerned about side effects.

 

She chose to stay home because she knew that being away would add too much stress to her life. She is much more independent than she was even a few months ago and I have seen her make amazing strides! So I am just ignoring the *helicopter* warnings and doing what seems right for us....we'll see if I am right!

 

Oh - her midterm grades were excellent! She got an A in all her classes. :D Art History and American History were not hard as she was familiar with the material. Developmental Psychology was challenging as had to master a lot of basic information in a hurry. Now we both wish that she had taken an introductory Psych class first. Algebra just about killed her but she worked her butt off and deserved that A! Her Honors Seminar has the most writing but I think that she was well-prepared for it. Her professor has put little comments on her papers - engaging" and "entertaining". Nice!

 

Which leads me into a little boast! Her school had a little party for the Freshman in the Honors Program and all parents were invited to attend. I had the chance to meet her Honors Professor and while we were chatting with a few other parents someone asked me about her High School. When I mentioned that we had homeschooled he turned to me and told me that she was an excellent writer. I just told him that we had worked very hard but inside I was very pleased!

 

ETA: I meant to mention that all freshmen are required to take a 1-credit seminar that deals with time-management, stress, study skills, etc. It has been helpful! Neither my husband or I went to college and it has been hard to prepare her for the unknown, kwim?

Edited by Liza Q
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Which leads me into a little boast! Her school had a little party for the Freshman in the Honors Program and all parents were invited to attend. I had the chance to meet her Honors Professor and while we were chatting with a few other parents someone asked me about her High School. When I mentioned that we had homeschooled he turned to me and told me that she was an excellent writer. I just told him that we had worked very hard but inside I was very pleased!

 

 

 

I would have been absolutely bursting with pride, Liza!! :) How nice that you got to hear that feedback. And how nice that a group of parents got to hear something that positive about a homeschool experience. Maybe you shattered a couple negative stereotypes that day?

 

Sounds like your daughter is doing really well. So glad to hear it!

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Oh, this has been great reading! Because our daughter is living at home and commuting to school she is around a lot and I have been worried that I am helping her too much :glare:

 

I worry about that too since my son's commuting. I'm trying to make sure that my help will be offered in such a way that once the first semester is over he will be ready to be pretty much on his own. He waited till the last minute to register and won't make that mistake again :D, but the good thing is that his odd schedule has exposed him to a variety of class types and instructors.

 

A lot depends on the person. My son has always preferred to ease into new responsibilities gradually (his kindergarten teacher noticed that about him first thing). I'm more than happy at this point to fade into the background and ask general questions and that seems to be all my son needs by this point in the semester.

 

However, I am wondering just how long the teen tendency to stay up late and sleep late lasts? It is disruptive to have teens at home who need a full ration of sleep but cannot go to sleep with the rest of the house. One of the few things I liked about dorm life was that most of us seemed to be on an up late, sleep late schedule.

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I'm more than happy at this point to fade into the background and ask general questions and that seems to be all my son needs by this point in the semester.

 

However, I am wondering just how long the teen tendency to stay up late and sleep late lasts? It is disruptive to have teens at home who need a full ration of sleep but cannot go to sleep with the rest of the house. One of the few things I liked about dorm life was that most of us seemed to be on an up late, sleep late schedule.

 

 

General questions and support are all my daughter seems to need/want at this point, also. I was extremely independent by this point as well, so I understand. It's so hard to keep my mouth shut, though! ;)

 

I so empathize with the sleep pattern issue! Even when I was in college, I was a comparative early bird and chose 8 am classes. Not so with most teens, however, then or now. I worry about my daughter staying up until 1 or 2-ish most nights, sometimes even later, and then sleeping in. :001_huh: Isn't an hour of sleep before midnight worth two hours after midnight, or something like that? But the vast, vast majority of kids at college seem to adopt this sleep schedule. Not much I can do about it from afar, and truthfully . . . I don't think there would be much I could do about it at home either. :(

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It sounds like she is doing really, really well! You absolutely must be doing something right!

 

If it is any comfort, I lived at home after I graduated from college and my parents woke me with a cup of tea every morning. It didn't keep me from being able to do it myself when I had to, and it made life much easier. My mother packed me a lunch, too, and we all talked about what I was doing at supper and they offered advice. Those things really helped with the adjustment to working full-time. This was all after I had been away at college, living on my own in an apartment. Making things a bit easier while someone, anyone, is learning to do something new isn't bad. I think there is a big difference between offering advice, even strongly worded advice, and making the decisions for the other person. There is a difference between this conversation: "I don't know what to do." "I checked it out. It works like this, and I think you should do the following." "Ok. That sounds good." And this conversation: "I checked it out and you are going to do the following." To the outside world, they look the same, but to the child, they feel vastly different.

 

My father, who is pretty independent-New England-minded, is from a navy family and consequently is particularly interested in what my sons are doing at college. He has been fairly involved with their affairs. He was thinking about that earlier this week (while we were all speculating on how the regatta had gone). I sort of apologized for how often we email and phone, and he said no, he thought it was great; he had just been "inserted and left" and he doesn't know how he survived. So there is another opinion, from another generation.

 

The education people all say they want stronger families. They got their wish - and now they are complaining about helicopter parents LOL. They can't have it both ways.

 

Anyway, I vote you keep helping with the transition. I bet the community college is excited to have your daughter. I know our CC is full of dedicated people who put up with a lot in order to have the opportunity to work with students like her.

 

-Nan

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Kareni, that is great. Thank you for all the details. Scottish dancing! Cool! We tried to talk our oldest into joining a club or two to meet like-minded people and make it easier to make friends. He's done ok without, but we still wish he would take advantage of those opportunities. On the other hand, this semester he's refurbishing a small sailboat that a friend bought and that has put him in touch with the boatyard people. Not a club but the result has been the same. Guess he's doing ok GRIN. I'm glad your daughter has family nearby, even if it can't be you.

-Nan

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Well, mine is having a difficult time. Classes seem the least of his concerns--he's actually doing quite well in that dept.

He is discovering he may have Aspergers Syndrome, social anxiety (whether those are connected is something he's exploring in counseling), and some obsessive thoughts.

At least we are helping him bring these things into the light. He did not go to substance abuse/family counseling with us, so he needs to do some recovery work (his bro is the addict, but addiction is a family disease).

 

Kinda tough. He is a little older than his counterparts, and he is morally in a different place--doesn't drink, doesn't...well, you know. Anyway, he's been calling several times a week, and I honestly can't wait until he gains some insights and can make some growth changes.

 

Chris, I'm sorry to hear this. I just now prayed that he will overcome and rise above these challenges and shine.

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I have really enjoyed reading everyone's updates!!

 

Sarah is loving her college. You may recall that she was accepted into the University Scholars program; the highest tier of the honors program. She loves being a Scholar. The director of the program took her aside a couple of weeks into the semester and asked her why her GPA was not higher than it was. He asked about my grading methods. Sarah tried to explain my hodge-podge methods in such a way as to make me sound like I had it together. The director is a homeschool dad who is following WTM with his very young sons and so he is interested in Sarah's schooling for that reason. He told her that he thought I had done it "right" and that he thought Sarah would be a great asset to the Scholars program. She was just on cloud nine that day.

 

She loves her classes. Her roommates are studious, smart girls. Her dorm is just amazing; each girl has a private bedroom and there are two bathrooms for the suite of four girls. They share a living room and kitchen. It's a great setup.

 

We get to see her every two weeks as she drives home for her Venturing meetings.

 

Oh, and after midterms her grade is a 4.0!!!

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Oh, this has been great reading! Because our daughter is living at home and commuting to school she is around a lot and I have been worried that I am helping her too much :glare:.....

 

 

Which leads me into a little boast! Her school had a little party for the Freshman in the Honors Program and all parents were invited to attend. I had the chance to meet her Honors Professor and while we were chatting with a few other parents someone asked me about her High School. When I mentioned that we had homeschooled he turned to me and told me that she was an excellent writer. I just told him that we had worked very hard but inside I was very pleased!

 

 

 

You should be proud and pleased! This is very cool!

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Kelli, I can't imagine a better update! Congrats to you and your daughter. :) How unusual - and wonderful - for a college freshman to get her own room, and to share a bathroom with just one other person!

 

Well, these are the newer dorms. She got on the waiting list for one of these before Christmas last year. She is already on the waiting list for next year. If she had waited too long she would have been in the nasty dorms; same dorms her dad stayed in. In fact he thinks they might still be using the same mattresses from when he was there! She pays a good bit extra for this dorm but it is so worth it. And since her scholarship is generous she does not mind the extra money to be comfortable and have privacy.

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Lynne, thanks for starting it! I truly enjoy reading about the challenges and the successes of "our" young people. My son dreads commuting (especially in bad weather), and he's finding it harder than expected to meet people because there are no dorms and no real student center other than a snack-bar with no posted hours or predictable schedule. :confused:

 

BTW, I think I've grumbled publicly here about ds' failure to register for the fall semester in a timely way. At lunch, he ask me to mark the calendar as a reminder; the opening date of spring registration was announced today. What dh and I had to nag him to do a few months ago he now takes care of on his own. We are making progress!

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Lynne, thanks for starting it! I truly enjoy reading about the challenges and the successes of "our" young people. My son dreads commuting (especially in bad weather), and he's finding it harder than expected to meet people because there are no dorms and no real student center other than a snack-bar with no posted hours or predictable schedule. :confused:

 

BTW, I think I've grumbled publicly here about ds' failure to register for the fall semester in a timely way. At lunch, he ask me to mark the calendar as a reminder; the opening date of spring registration was announced today. What dh and I had to nag him to do a few months ago he now takes care of on his own. We are making progress!

 

Martha . . . you're welcome . . . and I am so enjoying reading about "our" kids as well. So many of us have hung out here for years now, and it's wonderful to see our fellow homeschoolers' kids beginning this next stage of their life! :)

 

Sounds like your son learned his lesson and is taking it to heart. Good for him!

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