I'd be surprised if that was it because she and they are all honors students (it's honors-only housing), so presumably all are serious about studying, and I can't think of anything that indicates she'd be particularly loud/partying/up all night/etc. Did something stand out to you as suggesting that? Photos of friends are at things like Girl Scouts or aikido, not big parties. They were both science majors involved in sports and she is a writer with an English/history focus, with involvement in martial arts and theatre.

I'm new to it as well. I had a random assignment and we were pretty much polar opposites. We were never going to be good friends but we managed amicably that year. I really hope this is settled quickly because it makes it hard to plan for things like a fridge. She said maybe she'd get a single out of it, but I doubt it and don't want to pay a premium for a situation she didn't create.

My daughter is having what seems to us to be unusual difficulty in getting a roommate for freshman year and wanted me to ask here to see if this is more common than we think. She will be attending a large public university (abt 17K students) in the honors program and is doing random assignment within honors housing, since she doesn't know anyone going this year. She has now had a second change in assigned roommate in the course of less than a month. As far as she or I can tell, the text interactions have been typical and cordial on both sides (Hi, what's your major, where are you from, which orientation session are you going to, etc) and they have exchanged instagram accounts. The only way she knew about the first switch was an email from her new roommate. When she sent a text to the first one saying that evidently things had been switched, the first roommate's response seemed surprised. In the second situation (about a week after the switch), she found out when she got a phone call from the housing people for the honors program checking in to make sure things were okay since they "like to do that if a person has had two requests to change out" and to make sure she knew she had a support system. I'll be surprised if no-one from honors housing approaches her about it at orientation next week. In the first situation, we just assumed something had happened at the school level that meant some students needed to be shuffled. It's now looking like more than that, particularly since neither of the roommates have said anything. My daughter is liberal, active in social justice issues, Pagan, and gay. Her instagram reflects that--typical teen selfies and photos with friends and family, including at Women's March, Pride, at prom with her best friend (who is female), wearing a bracelet saying Black Lives Matter, holding up a sign against gun violence, etc, but nothing offensive, extreme, or crude that I saw. She'd prefer on one level that people self-select out now before she invests in a rooommate relationship if they are going to be unwilling to get to know her on the basis of one or more of those factors, but it's also a bit disheartening and, since the honors freshmen all live together in a certain section of the dorms, will have activities together, and take certain classes together, creates some potential awkwardness. She's wondering if this is something that happens often to all students or if students of color (which she is not), Muslim, LGBTQ+, or part of other minority groups have it happen more frequently. It's come as a surprise to us since most of her friends are straight and Christian, and some much more socially conservative. I told her it could also be a reflection of the extreme growth in our society of people wanting and being able to stay only within their own "bubbles," whether that like-mindedness is based on ethnicity, politics, religion, socio-economic class, or whatever, and could even be coming from pressure by their parents more than themselves, so to try to give them as much benefit of the doubt and room to potentially grow as possible.

We ended up getting our daughter, also a dedicated humanities kid (English, history, etc--not visual arts), a Samsung Notebook 7 Spin convertible 2-in-1 laptop as a combo graduation/birthday present. She has had a 15.6 inch Dell for high school and dual enrollment, but it is a bit heavier with the dvd drive and tended to live at home unless absolutely necessary. She wanted something lighter to carry around campus and mine needs replacing, so I'll inherit her old one for now. She doesn't game, do movie editing, digital art, or similar activities, so power for that wasn't a consideration. She's a writer and researcher, likes to surf the web, stream movies and tv shows, and most of her storage is done in Dropbox currently. We did take her to a couple of stores that carry a variety of laptops so that she could lay hands on the keyboards and get a real feel for the differences in size and layout. A 13-14 inch display was the sweet spot for her. My husband (network admin) wanted a SSD rather than a spinning hard drive if possible and at least 8 GB RAM. The Notebook 7 Spin is 13.3 inches, 256 GB solid-state drive, touch screen, Intel Core i5, 8GB RAM, weighs 3.2 lbs, and can be used as a laptop or tablet. It runs $899 reg at Best Buy, but I've seen it on sale now twice in the last month for $699 (we bought during one of the sales). For accessories, the school offers Microsoft Office 365 and Adobe Creative Cloud for free, and we're sending her with an extra stylus, an external cd/dvd drive we already had, and a couple of larger thumb drives. We'll probably also send her with the Kindle Fire we picked up very cheaply a couple of years ago in case she needs something larger than her phone but smaller than her laptop, easy to drop into her purse. Not really useful for typing, but fine for other tasks. Her grandparents are giving her a water-resistant backpack with laptop compartment and we're looking for a separate waterproof sleeve for the laptop itself, may also get a raincover for her backpack just in case, though she will of course have an umbrella and a poncho. It rains a lot down by the coast. The one thing I'm still working on is some sort of lockable storage that will fit the laptop as well as smaller documents, etc. She will be in a shared room on a traditional hall first year, so won't have as much control over who comes in and out as if she had a separate lockable individual bedroom in a suite. There are no lockable drawers in the desk, unfortunately. I think we may settle on a standard wheeled dorm trunk, with a padlock and an anchoring cable lock https://www.everythingsummercamp.com/anchoring-cable-lock.There should be room under the semi-lofted bed. If anyone has a recommendation for something smaller that will still hold the laptop, is still reasonably priced and reasonably portable, I'd love to hear it.

Fostering puppies or kittens for the humane society or other rescue Learn a particular cuisine, then go on to another one. My father-in-law cooked his way through a French cookbook, I think it was Julia Child's. Has weaving been suggested? Make a braided rug. Pottery Canning/preserving

Congrats! My niece is at Western and really likes it. My daughter decided today on UNC-Wilmington at their accepted student day, so we put down the deposit. They were the only state school to give her any real merit aid ($5K renewable), and they added a small grant we hadn't expected. I was really surprised that she had no trouble getting accepted and into the honors colleges at the other state schools where she applied, but no aid (UNCC did offer her a small one year only scholarship). One of her privates came very close (Catawba), and was cheaper than some of the other state schools, but in the end it was just a bit smaller than she wanted. It's more than if she lived at home and went to UNCC, but we all really wanted her to live on-campus if possible. Now if she can manage to get an RA position after her first year, she'll be golden, as I heard today that covers room and board plus a monthly stipend.

My dad and stepmother go by Pap-aw and Nan-aw. My in-laws are Grandma and Granddad. My grandparents were Mama firstname and Papa firstname, my great-grandparents (my grandmother's parents) were Mama lastname and Pop lastname. My grandfather's father was referred to as Daddy firstname. I didn't really have an actual relationship with my other grandmother and that grandfather also died before I knew him, so I didn't refer to them by anything at all that I can remember. My husband called his grandparents Grandma and Granddad.

It sounds like a great plan. We added in CPR/first aid certification to our PE mix. Coursera and edX might have something interesting that could be useful.

Congratulations!!

Looks like I need to ask around a bit among folks I know who are affiliated with that college.

Thanks. I didn't find either of those in my searches and my google-fu is usually pretty good. Could well be the second, looks more like it's in this area. My daughter was concerned it might be a group with strong negative associations, so I'm glad to see it doesn't seem to be. She's interested in history and the department is pretty small, as is the college, so she'd likely have several classes with this particular professor.

When we were on a college visit this week, my daughter said that one of the students she talked to mentioned that one of the history professors was a "son of liberty." I've googled, but not been able to find a modern context, so I thought I'd ask if anyone is familiar with the term. Re-enactors, maybe?

I bought pizza.

You can do whatever you like. I would pay close attention to any entrance requirements for colleges he might be interested in. I came across some that specifically wanted at least one class specifically in US history, or one in government/civics. For instance, we chose a class in US history since 1865 rather than a full survey of American history class, since my daughter preferred it. She did two world civ classes because she liked the professor so much, and did DE American government even though she had a civics class already because she wanted to go deeper. One big picture thing to consider is eligibility for dual enrollment. If you want to use dual enrollment in junior and senior year for college transfer, you'll want to be sure he's through algebra II and two English classes by the end of sophomore year, as that's an entrance requirement for even provisional status on the college pathways (career pathways are different). We did it by doing alg I/alg II/geometry rather than putting geometry in the middle as it was when I was in school. Definitely join us at the North Carolina Homeschooling for College Credit FB page. Last week I added a big file cross-referencing the community colleges in NC which offer Career and College Promise classes to 9th/10th graders (certain career paths only) along with which of the courses in career pathways overlap with the college transfer pathways, as well as how the various college transfer pathways themselves overlap. It's in the files section and could be useful for your planning. You will have to request to join. https://www.facebook.com/groups/NCHS4CC/ My daughter has loved being in dual enrollment and it's the kind of info I wish I had had access to when I was planning her high school coursework.

I'd had a passing interest in the stories my relatives used to tell about family, but didn't start anything serious until my daughter was born. I went from career to stay-at-home mom in my late 30s, and all my friends were either fairly far away or working, so I needed something to keep my mind stimulated. I went at it pretty intensely for several years, but haven't done much in the last few. I may get more involved again now that my daughter is going to college. Overall, I've learned a lot about various periods in US history that I hadn't encountered before and a lot about documentation. There's a lot of clean-up work that needs to be done on my earlier efforts. The majority of our families have been in the US since colonial times. In my case, both sides of my family have been in the same 75 or so square miles for 200+ years. On my husband's side, I turned up unexpected Cajun heritage and a line that goes back to New Amsterdam. It looks like we both have family lines that originated in Palatine Germany in the 1700s, though his went north and mine went south when they came over. I have connections to the French Huegenot and 17th century Virginia colonists. My grandfather used to tell my father we had Cherokee heritage, but I haven't been able to find any documentation of that yet, and I've taken that line at least as far back as 1860 in all branches, some much further. My grandfather was born in 1876, so it could be there and I just haven't gotten the brick walls all broken down. Looks on that side of the family would definitely support it, however. I wish he had been more informative. Lots of confusing and irritating issues even with official records, but they're sometimes funny. He had one family in Alabama in the late 1800s with ten kids. On one census, the child's name is listed as "Finally." :D By the next one, he was "Timothy." I can just hear the informant telling the census-taker, "and, finally, the baby," as he was very young in the first census. You have to be prepared to find out things that aren't as pleasant, but they are what they are (or were). I already knew that my grandfather on one side was also his wife's step-grandfather (no blood relation), as I mentioned in the cousins thread, making my dad simultaneously his father's bio son and step-great-grandson (try entering that in most programs!). We joke that we have a family kudzu vine rather than a family tree. It took a long time to find one gggmother and when I did, it was because she had been in a mental institution for decades. It was fairly unpleasant to find evidence of an ancestor's extremely racist views in his obituary. Of course, being from the South, we have our share of family members who owned slaves, though the majority did not. It was interesting working with the descendant of one of those slaves to try to piece together the history of both of our families. I'd love to know more about the story of a family member who had a free black woman listed in his household in NC in 1830. When I asked at a local historical site, I was told she was likely a cook for a local tavern or a seamstress, but unlikely to be a freed slave from NC, as they were only given something like 90 days to leave the state.

We're doing several things. 1) Now that we have a more reliable car, we're planning a family trip to Williamsburg for a few days, using one of those "sit through a couple of hours presentation" things to cover lodging. I've always wanted to take her but we never had the time and money at the same time. 2) We're having an afternoon park day type of party for the families of her close homeschool friends and their famiies at the local park where most of our park days have happened over the years. We've rented a picnic shelter and will have some snacks, desserts, and drinks (tea, lemonade, water) and hang out, so it's going to be low-key. We don't have the space, either at the house or parking, to host something largish here. 3) Dinner with our families, probably one with mine and one with my husband's parents due to distances. Again, not to an expensive place. 4) She'll be doing a bridging ceremony at church to signify moving from the youth program into the adult. 5) Later in the summer she'll be doing a send-off from her Girl Scout troop as part of their annual bridging ceremony. The first of the girls went to college last year, and they gave her a nice scrapbook the girls had put together. They also usually have a sundae bar and hang out in the leader's backyard. 6) Her godparents may host a potluck party for our core group of couples that have all known each other for close to 30 years. These are always low-key hang out type of things. This may be around graduation or it may be a combo send-off/birthday since she has an August birthday. It may depend on whether she ends up going to the local school or away, as we don't know yet.

Nothing in life is foolproof. If we demand foolproof as the minimum standard required in order to take action on laws or regulations, we let the pursuit of the perfect prevent the enacting of the good.

The Rand Corporation just released an interesting report called "The Science of Gun Laws" which I think is well worth a look, as is their overall Gun Policy in America Initiative. https://www.rand.org/topics/firearms.html

Yep. Lots of "creation a la momma" around here, though if one is particularly popular I'll try to write it down to try again. :) I have tried several times to do meal planning but it never seems to stick. I agree that it's hard to get motivated to cook when my husband won't be home and he's usually not 4 of 5 nights (he helps teach aikido after work at a dojo about 45 min away and closer to his office, so he doesn't come home first). Yesterday was ambitious--saag paneer with homemade paneer, which turned out really well. The local grocery had a special on half gallons of milk for 87 cents, so we grabbed some for the paneer. I may make some more to have as queso fresco (same recipe) with something Mexican-ish later in the week. Tonight was going to be something based on ground beef, but evidently my body has decided I am no longer going to be able to cook beef. I can eat it once it's cooked with no problem, at least out, but this is the second time in a week that the smell of raw beef has really turned my stomach to the point that I can't eat that particular batch (and, no, not pregnant ;) ). Does menopause change your tastes in food? Looks like beef is going to be relegated to either frozen precooked in something or I'll get it when we go out, since neither my husband nor daughter care that much about it. So, instead, we had lemon pepper-crusted tilapia from Aldi that was in the freezer and chicken rice-a-roni with spinach added. I also went ahead and heated some frozen meatballs in vodka sauce to have ready for tomorrow lunch or Wednesday dinner either over pasta or as meatball subs. Probably Wednesday dinner, as we'll all be in different places tomorrow evening.

I asked for this Anchor Hocking Laurel Rosewater one from Target for Christmas. https://www.target.com/p/anchor-hocking-laurel-3qt-rosewater-bake-dish/-/A-52134592 and got both this and the matching square baker. You could stay under $30 and still give both if you wanted. I like combining pretty with practical. I have had multiple Pampered Chef stoneware ones for years but I never find myself reaching for them, while I use my glass 9x13 pans all the time. I do wish this one had a lid like the other plain glass one. I had hoped they'd be interchangeable, but the Laurel is just a smidge too big.

I expect we'll see a Killmonger movie in the future. I saw a comparison somewhere likening him to Magneto in terms of complexity of character. To other questions: Here's a nice article with the costume designer https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/23/movies/black-panther-afrofuturism-costumes-ruth-carter.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur I like to check CommonSense Media for reviews, but it will have very specific spoilers https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/black-panther

Great idea. We used to have "poundings" at the church where I grew up for couples and housewarmings---like a shower, but everyone brings pantry staples (pound of this, pound of that). I find I constantly use my tempura scoop/strainer/skimmer (not sure what it's officially called) for all sorts of things.

We knew that going in, particularly since she is the stereotypical college student in so many ways rather than part of very many underrepresented groups, but it's still frustrating to be so far at the top of stats and get nothing at all when a similar school did come through with something. Once the packages are all in, she will be appealing at her top choice for any possible additional merit aid, especially as her gpa has increased and she has a few more awards. Worth a shot.

I'm there with you--top 10% for ACT and GPA, 4.0 in 20+ hours of DE and great otherwise as well, etc, honors college acceptance, and still nothing. Have you gotten a final financial package yet from App? My daughter didn't get anything from UNCG, but hasn't seen anything from App yet. I'm assuming that since we didn't hear anything other than she wasn't invited to the scholarship competition that she won't be getting anything.

Not yet, still waiting on the full financial package info from four of the seven schools, as well as a mid-March further scholarship competition at one. Rather maddening as she's had all of her acceptances in for months now. Can't even really start the conversation about trying to get one school to match the merit aid from another until we get the final paperwork.