I'm going to guess they won't have their light on for Halloween t&ters. I do appreciate seeing the pictures everytime you update us. Because I'm not sure I'd believe it otherwise.

Well, schools are starting to care if you finish in 6 years because of the 6-yr graduation rate statistic. And Advisors generally don't get a bonus if their advisees take longer to finish, YKWIM? But there are so many kids to advise that they don't spend much time getting to know them. Depending on the school, Advisors may be completely clueless about a lot of things, wear multiple hats, or only knowledgeable about the classes in their department (which might not help undecideds at all). Some (home school & otherwise) parents go completely hands off in terms of advising when their kids get to college. So far, I'm taking the "ask the kid lots of questions" tactic to class planning. As you obviously know, they don't always know what they should be thinking about & considering. DD went in with a really pie-in-the-sky 10 semester plan that covered all the bases she was considering at that point & is now crossing things off & re-arranging based on what she's figuring out. The Advisor she saw at orientation gave her about 60 seconds of attention because she already had a plan. But the kids with declared majors who hadn't even started looking at classes didn't get even 5 minutes because there were so many who needed attention. I'm still her mom & I agree the schools don't have the same drive & motivation to make the kid's college stay efficient.

My eldest was a senior last year but my next kid will likely just apply to a couple non-CA schools. That means I won't likely work on the CA again for four more years. It'll be like starting all over again for me. I can't believe how much I've already forgotten! Best of luck with getting everything done. For awhile, I felt like being DD's counselor was another part time job.

@Joyful Are you prepping for a future year? Will several of your kid's schools use the Common App? If so, I'd encourage you to set up a sample account for both student & counselor. (I think you can do a sample counselor account.) There are instructions somewhere in one of the pinned threads. Everything makes more sense (and brings up more questions) when you see it in front of you. If you are working on all this for this year's applications, has your kid invited you as their counselor yet? Once they do so, you can log into your new Counselor account & the school profile is one of the first things you do. For non-Common App schools (my DD had 2), I snail-mailed the school profile with her transcript and my counselor letter. I don't remember if I sent course descriptions to those two schools or not but I don't think I did. You certainly can. I just think I didn't for those two places because I think it would have required a bigger envelope!

I know mine still hadn't decided on a major until she started submitting applications. I'm not sure if she'll stick with her current plan or switch a couple times. I think it is frustrating as a parent but more on the scary side for the kids themselves, so I try not to pressure them. I do think that when it is time for a decision on where to go that the kids weigh in their decision the possibility of changing majors & how that might work at each place. I definitely understand your frustration but the situation is tough on them, too.

@teachermom2834 Should sync up just fine unless the name & other info don't match. I have heard of that happening, but usually when a birthdate is messed up or the kid bubbles something wrong. Oh, I forgot to mention that I do not suggest signing up for the student search service or giving them a cell #. The email address my kid used was just made for PSAT/SAT/ college stuff. Some people will say the student search service is great & full of gems. My DD received no benefit from all the emails & snail-mail that came from it. Just a lot of marketing. I take that back. She got a few good laughs off an email or snailmail, discussed with us how not to fall for the slick marketing, and learned how to quickly skim for emails which might be important among a lot of junk. But IMO not worth giving your info to the CB to sell.

I agree that you should write down some things expectation-wise & sit down to talk with her about changes & procedures going forward. Then, write up what you agree to & present that to her the next time she comes in. Probably have both of you sign two copies so each of you have a copy. Otherwise, @TheReader had a thorough & thoughtful post full of suggestions. Clarifying paying by the week vs hour will be super important. I'd lean toward being very clear now because she's likely to slack off more as time goes on. It won't get any better.

Ok, looks like pg 56 of the Coordinators Manual (warning: goes to a PDF) explains how the homeschool part works when filling out the sheet. They might not have to do anything because the regular kids have to enter a code/info there. Homeschoolers leave some sections blank per instructions. The account scores will be available ahead of the ones that come through snailmail. It is important that juniors know how to fill out the info so they are eligible for the NMSC scholarship program. I remember one kid filling in a bubble because they didn't understand the question & that made them ineligible even though they actually were eligible. So, use a sample test form & the Coordinators Manual to review the info.

They changed this a few years ago. I'll see if I can find the book with instructions but I think the kids will bubble in next to "I'm homeschooled" with no code needed!! The results will sync up with their college board accounts if they have them.

Our local eye place has used a handheld device that sends out a little toucher to tap your eye & it checks the pressure after some number of these little taps. They show everyone before they do it so I know what they use is not air. They even change the little toucher thing in between patients. It freaks me out & I blink & hate it. I've asked to-do the air puff but they don't have the machine because "everyone prefers this." Not in my family, they don't! The local place knows I'm a tough patient. I refuse services, ask for alternate stuff (like no Optimap so they have to dilate me because I have a nevus), and generally don't go quietly. There is huge turnover at this place among the techs & all tests are done by the techs. My favorite eye doc retired so I have no issue being a demanding customer. I don't really like the rest of them. It is the only game in town (and now in the next big town too) and they are overpriced.

Mine have always used a scientific (non graphing) calculator. On the ACT, it speeds up calculations sometimes. I don't know how much DD used it on the PSAT & SAT. The 4 function calc wouldn't hurt if they are familiar with using it. I wouldn't stress them out about the PSAT 8/9 by mentioning too much. No stakes testing. You can remind them there is no penalty for guessing on this one (although there still is on the SAT 2).

The school my DD is at mentions a lot that some/many of the kids there have 1) maybe never had to study to learn something well and 2) may have never gotten a poor grade on a test or in a class. A lot of the parents were nodding their heads the first time it came up in an Honors parent presentation. I might have been the only one there with a kid who did not have a 4.0 weighted gpa. Or who had actually failed (as in 50% or less) a test or three. So I felt like mine was prepared. ;-) Midterms are over for DD & she's on fall break for a few days. She has her Calc midterm grade & is happy with it. She's still waiting on a grade for her first English paper (of 4 for the semester). Overall, she's settled in well & enjoying the "perfect weather."

I'm not sure the ACT-GPA link is the same one I've seen before. I know when I looked at one of those last year, my DD's ACT didn't match the GPA because her GPA was lower than the ACT score equivalent. My niece had all As & a just-under-the-average ACT for our state. I don't know the grades for another niece but she was an IB student and her top ACT score was a 26 over multiple attempts. So GPA doesn't always match GPA for public schoolers. :)

@Seasider tooEventually, yes. That's a long way off, of course. And with humans the way they are, there will always be drop offs & released cats, just hopefully less who have to live feral lives. (At least two kitties we know of were run over before they were 8 weeks old. Two more in a different colony died of disease.) But I didn't mean to cause a downer in this thread! Attaching a pic of another lovable terror. He knows he's not in charge but wishes he was.

Quoting myself as I tried this task using the only free available USB in the house. And after rendering the laptop ccompletely unusable, I tried over 10 times (in different ways) to install a clean version of Windows 10. Finding the error message I always got if I even got that far could be caused by a bad USB, I attempted to buy a new one. Except no where in this Podunk town was one available for purchase. So, two days after I killed the laptop, I got to a big enough town to have a Wal-Mart & picked up a new USB. First try with the new USB was successful & the laptop is back in business. Best of all, it still has 7 Gb left on the hard drive (before updates). Rejoicing!