When our first homeschooled teen graduated, he had a number of public school friends. He wanted to be able to attend their parties. So he schedule his party the weekend before the public school graduation. So if the public school's graduation was Friday, June 1st, he would've been invited to parties on that Fri, Sat., Sun. and even a few parties the following weekend. So, we scheduled his party for the weekend before the local high school.

The licensing to work in the electrical trafe is set by each state. In my state there are well regarded places to go to school for the “academic†portion of your license. Enabling your son to pass the state exam. However the are a few schools in my area that I would discourage your son from enrolling in. Mostly because they are very overpriced for what they offer You may need to find someone in your area to answer specific questions.

When the kids where little I took them to the vocational high school to get their hair cut for $3.00. Tips went toward a scholarship/fundraiser. When I was there the place was always full of women getting their nails done. I was told some of them even make reservations for lunch at the "cafe" run by the culinary students. I'm guessing if the kids' haircuts where inexpensive, so were the nails.

She did mention self-studying for AP tests, taking specific types of dual enrollment courses, and having a certain combination of ECs. Supposedly we’d leave her office with a detailed plan. Is your son willing to take dual enrollment starting this January? Is he willing to take APs in the spring of Junior year? Does he have the time to add extra activities? Her suggestions might be a good idea but he would need to add those rather soon depending on when you will be applying to colleges and submitting his transcripts (fall of Senior year) All of those things are extra work for him and he would need to "buy into" the idea.

I'm not entirely opposed to a college consultant. However, the parents on these boards are amazing. I would suggested reading and posting here for a few more weeks and postpone the consultant till you've gleaned all you can from this board. Scholarships given by the colleges often have GPA (and other) requirements. Depending on your child's major, hitting that GPA during freshman year can be tough and they may lose that merit money for future years.

Margaret, I send you a PM

This year he chose to live at home but I think he may move on campus next year. Thanks for the tip about living off campus with roommates. I didn't know that.

I don't know if this will help but ds in currently taking Cal3. During Cal2 he signed up for a tutor. My guess is that the tutoring "secretary/appointment setter" was a student. Ds went back every day for a whole week at different times. Each time he went, he asked for a tutor that had taken Cal 2 with the same professor that ds was taking for Cal2. For the first couple of days, no one seemed to be tutoring Cal 2 or had had that professor. (Really?) Eventually, after showing up all week and being persistent the secretary finally found him a tutor who had had that same professor. Ds booked that tutor every single week, all semester long, at the same exact time. If that hadn't worked, his next plan was to stand outside of all the Cal3 classes and beg someone to tutor him. :)

So here's the update. After the (pension roll-over) audit, the original package that he was offered in the spring was put back into his account in August. His merit money was there too. (I misread his account) Here's where the mistake happened. On his fasfa he checked the box for "on campus housing" for all the colleges he applied to. When he picked the StateU he never signed up for housing with them. Never got emails about choosing roomates, or move in etc. So we didn't see the cost of housing in his account but the StateU's financial aid was seeing the cost of housing in their account. So, this week StateU's financial aid office told him that he should've gone back to the fasfa to change his housing to "off-campus". When the financial aid office changed it to off campus housing, it caused him to lose the StateU's grant money. Clear as mud.

Financial aid has been one big nightmare. If anyone has any suggestions, I would be thrilled. I have an appointment tomorrow in the financial aid office. Ds is a freshman at the StateU. Our FASFA was audited. During the audit they discovered that dh had moved his pension. His company was sold. Pension was moved to a retirement fund. During the audit StateU removed all financial aid from ds account. (freaking out!) I go in to the office in mid August to make sure that the financial is restored to what he was originally offered in the spring. I discuss with financial aid what would happened if ds ends up living at home vs. on campus. At no time does anyone tell me that his financial aid would change if his housing changed. Late August he signs into the StateU account and hits "accept" for each of the various awards. Well....in mid Sept. he gets a notice that his package has changed. He goes into the office this week and they tell him that the package was changed due to him living off campus. They changed both his need based aid provided by the StateU and his Merit Scholarship provided by the StateU. They did not change his Pell Grant or his State Grant. Financial aid tells him that all the money is gone for this year. When I book the appointment, the secretary told me that financial aid is always subject to review. I don't have a clue where to begin and I would appreciate any BTDT advice. Thanks!

I'm not adopted but one of parent's was adopted at birth in a time when young unwed mothers gave up their babies. So, I don't have your life experience but I did want to share something. I have a physical trait that no one else in my family has. So imagine green eyes in a family of brown eyes. Something like that. My whole life, my whole family acted like it was completely normal for me to have green eyes. However, once middle school science rolled around, it became clear that this trait had to have come from the bio grandparents. No one ever addressed it. Even when strangers would ask, "oh, where did she get those lovely green eyes?" A couple of years ago, a distant relative, quietly whispered to me that my bio grandmother has that trait. That piece of truth made me feel so much better. I don't have the answer to your question but my guess is that what you are feeling is very normal.

Ds is going to start college this fall. He's going to play a DIII sport. He just got an email about fundraising. This is the first mention of fundraising. It was not mentioned when he looked at colleges during senior year. The fundraising is to teach/coach/give lessons in his sport on campus. He's supposed to pick a day/time. Is this the norm for D3 sports?

Ds started at the CC right after he turned 15 and would have been a high school sophomore. During high school, he ended up taking classes at two different community colleges and a StateU. He preferred to be at the campus where the professors did not know he was a dual enrollment student. So, his adviser would ask the professor if an underage student could enroll in their class. The professor could decline. If the student did sign up for the class, the professor wasn't told the student's name. So the professor knew that there was a dual enrollment student in class but not which one. Ds also tried very hard to make sure that the other students in class didn't know his age. So, no varsity jackets, team tshirts, etc. When he took a public speaking class he asked my option on his topics to be sure he sounded old enough. If he spotted another dual enrollment student, he made sure not to sit next to them in class. I don't if any of that helps. But for ds it was possible to keep his age discreet.

So, mine generally eat lunch about 12 or 12:30. Around 3 or 3:30 they make a shake. Full fat yogurt, frozen fruit, protein or nut power, etc. During the first week of practice, I have a pb&j sandwich waiting in the car. It keeps them from gnawing off my arm! Then they eat a huge, huge dinner. After the first week of practice, I generally don't need to bring pj&j. Their bodies and appetites seem to adjust. Their swim bag is always stocked with granola bars and a water bottle. Generally, they want real food not the granola bars. Don't worry, if he eats too much/too little before practice his body will tell him. I can predict your next post .....How come his jacket/coat/shirt we just bought him, won't fit over his shoulders.... :)

I'm leaning towards being compassionate. If he had entered college after a traditional four years of high school, he would just finished his freshman year, right? If he was a 5 year old kindergarten student, working at the 4th grade level, you'd probably still have to teach him to tie his shoes? He's academically advanced/gifted/something but he's a 19 year old developmentally.

Get in his car and have him drive you to the local CC. Get yourself a cup of coffee and wait in the hallway while he gets the associates paperwork taken care of. He's got about 3 years of school done, so he should be close to an associates degree. Some community colleges will issue graduation dates for the end of the summer semester, so his diploma will say, "August 2017." If he picks the transfer, get in his car and have him drive you to the StateU. Get more coffee and wait in the hallway (again) till someone agrees to the transfer. Help him be persistent. It's not unheard of for students to register this late in the summer. I'm saying all of this because sometimes college is more like a "big business" than an academic experience. He just needs someone to help him just thru the last few hoops of paperwork.

I get it. Have you taken any online classes at that University? Ds took online classes last year for dual enrollment. He took two at two different community colleges. Each of the CC had a different format for online classes. One he like better than the other.

She's supremely annoying but I always have this nagging feeling that she would like to lash out.

So, I've not seen my parents in about 5 years. Since my golden child sister was 18 she's always lived more than a 10 hour drive away. Over the last 20 years, my sister comes into town yearly and stays with my parents for about a week. Sometimes she would stop to see me. Sometimes not. Usually visiting for less than an hour. I generally get 1-2 emails from her a year. I answer her emails. My parents travel to her yearly or more. She changed her mind about having kids and had her first at 40. So, last year she comes into town and wants me to see the baby. I ask her to come and visit at my house, come for food, etc., etc. She hasn't been in my home in 10 years. She picks for us to meet half-way at an ice cream stand. Reads all the ingredients and decides she cannot eat anything. So we sit at a picnic table where she mostly talks about herself. Makes ignorant comments about homeschooling. I kept the conversation light and fluffy. She snaps a pic of her child and my kids to post on facebook. Due to the picture, extended family ask me if I've reconciled with my parents. Sigh. She just emailed. She wants to meet up when she's in town. I'm sure she's here just to snap a pic of my kids to show my parents that we're still alive. Has anyone told the Golden Child to go take a flying leap? What happens?

1. Cost. Cost. Cost. Not all, but the majority of ds's list needed to be in our price range. 2. Major. Ds is headed into a major where it can be very heavily male. He wanted a school that was balanced. 3. Sport. He wanted to continue his sport in some way. An intramural or club experience would be fine.

Does he know how to correctly remove a tick?

It was stressful because they are working on your eyes and you're aware that's it's happening. But the procedure itself wasn't nearly as bad as other medical stuff.

My doctor was willing to do it once my little one was past a year old and down to just nursing in the morning, at nap, and at bedtime.

I served on a jury. One woman was an in-home daycare provider. She provided documentation. The judge didn't let her out. She served on that trial with me.

I did it 10+ years ago. I saved for a whole year prior and did tons of research on the doctor. I needed to find a window between nursing and pregnancies. I "think" the last box of contacts I had said -9.50. So rather bad sight. I just had an eye exam last month and everything is still really good. I had never had valium before that eye surgery. So I said, "Well, just give me a little bit." I was incredible nervous. So my only regret was not taking all the valium that I was offered. :)