We were advised by the Dean of Engineering to skip the Discovery Day if we were familiar with the campus but to attend a Blue & Gold Day in the fall instead. During the B&G day you visit a specific department, of your choice. From your son's experience--working at one of the academic camps---I'd skip all of them. It is really geared for the person who doesn't know the campus, hasn't been in a dorm room and wants an overview. If your DS knows his major, call and request he sit-in on a class or two. My ds did that and he wishes we had skipped all the other 'Day' events. Carole ps--Are you going to join Tri-State?

:iagree: Since our kids were in diapers my DH and I have reminded each other that that is our role---get the child to the point of being self-sufficient, being able to make decisions on their own, to accept responsibility for those decisions and to work ourselves out of the job of being needed. Of course in the process we work ourselves into a new job or role with our kids too. Carole

We were at my son's NSO (new student orientation) at his university yesterday, 30 minutes from our home. During an afternoon break another mom walked over to me and claimed to know me. We're from the same DE town. She asked whether I had a ds or dd, which sport teams my ds played on and then asked if ds attended one of the private schools. Nope, DS isn't in any of those.... We couldn't pin an area as to how she knew me. She was quite nice and I didn't feel as if it was an inquisition. To her last question I shared that we are homeschoolers to which she said: "Oh, that makes sense then. When the town library was in the high school I must have met you. I work in the high school library and hs'ers were always the ones taking out all the books." Yes! That must have been how we met. :lol: Carole

Lisa, Thankfully our session wasn't like that at all. This guy spoke about how parents must 'let go and step out of the role of directing their child's education'. That in the fall it is the time to encourage the child to make decisions on his own, to seek out his advisor about which classes to take or to go to the professor when he has questions about the course content. He spoke about the new role we should move into of being there for our child as a supporter rather than as a director. There were funny stories that went along with the points he made. The closest he came to what you heard is when he shared that the kids would be wanting us to leave on check-in day while we will want to stick around, make sure things are going smoothly. I can see my DS being that way but also then calling me the following day to share how things are going. C

We had our NSO today at U of DE. I felt like it was a waste of a day to me. Sure there was lots of excellent information but I had already read what they told us online over the last year. I sat there and decided that maybe, if I wasn't soooooo involved with my child's college search and high school education then the information would be new to me. But it wasn't new. At least not for me. The day began with a very short welcome by the "Blue Hen Ambassadors." (((Undergrad, very excited-to-be-there, students, who after the very short introduction took all the students away. We met our student again at lunch and at the end of the day. [DS had a grand time which is how it should be. He is so ready to head off to college. His advisor requested DS take the next higher Calc entrance exam so DS was really thrilled by that news. He learns his class schedule and who his roommate is in early August.] Late in the afternoon the Dean of Counseling ( ? I think that was his title) spoke about transitions. As he spoke I glanced around and spotted several moms wiping their eyes but this time I wasn't one of them. 63 days until move in day ....I know it is going to roll by very quickly. Carole

The way I get around this is to use the board search function prior to posting a WTB. I find that it means I don't have to search through alll those threads. Carole

These are wonderful questions to ask at your information night. I haven't had a guide dog puppy but two hs friends have. The one is hosting their 2nd puppy. The first rule both families had to follow was that any time the puppy went outside, it was on a leash. The only exception is if your yard is totally fenced in. On leash there isn't any concern about dug plants or swims in a pond. Aren't dogs natural swimmers? My dogs have always been swimmers from day one--or from when they would enter the water. Carole

Congratulations! Enjoy the day. Carole

If your dd has completed Algebra 2 then she can take AP Statistics. It is open to 9th graders. Carole

:( except I don't like indoor plants --- one more thing for ME to take care of. Maybe a cedar lined bench/storage area. I wouldn't want to lose the windows. This sounds appealing but I wonder if we could do this and keep the windows? We have them open all summer long since they provide cross-ventilation to our bedroom. I was wondering about this too. A big sofa lounge chair thingy---that would be different. :)

We are in the brainstorm stages for remodeling our master bathroom. It is a LARGE room. Actually two rooms. As you walk into the first room you would see a door to your right and left and a sink/vanity to your left and another to your right. Directly ahead is wall of windows and an extra-deep whirlpool tub. We open those windows all the time since we rarely turn on the AC. The door to the left leads to a walk-in closet while the one to the right leads to a large room with a large shower and toilet. Sounds nice right? While it is except when it was built the previous owners used really, really cheap cabinets, really, really cheap mirrors, really, really cheap tile and installed the most hideous cranberry-red fixtures. We had an open-house / graduation party this past weekend and folks were asking me when we would be remodeling the bathroom and why hadn't we started in on it yet. That isn't why we are starting the project, it is just that all the other projects we had to do are finally finished. :) (We do all the work ourselves and have completed a remodel of the kitchen, built a patio and a garage and re-did every room in this house except for this bathroom.) Here's the question --- neither of us have used the extra-deep whirlpool tub in all the years we've lived here and we really didn't use the one in our previous home either. What could we do with that space instead? We can't put a large shower into that space because of all the windows and the second room has a large shower space---it also has the nice exhaust fan. We're talking about a space that is 4' deep by 7' 10" wide. The new vanities will each be 5' in length so it isn't like they need to be any bigger. What would you do with the space other than a whirlpool tub or a soaker tub? Or would you put a soaker tub into that space? Thanks! :bigear: Carole

Two babies, two inductions, zero pain meds, no epid. The 1st they added pitocin after 36 hrs of labor to move things along. It did since I went from 2cm to 10 cm in 3hrs. (They needed to try something since my water had broken) For Baby #2 I was 4cm at 36 weeks, but they waited until I was 2 weeks late to induce---yep, 42 weeks. No pain meds, no epid. Once the pitocin was started he came right along. I did ask for an epidural when the Dr came in to check me and said, hmm, push instead. 10 min later I was holding my youngest.

IKEA for the boys desks Our state has a Suplus Store and that's where I picked up the conference table I use as my desk. When they pull desks or tables or other equipment out of the state's buildings or schools it lands in the surplus store. And the items are priced really low. Carole

:) That's so much like us. We didn't take any photos yesterday. I wanted to just enjoy the day and not have to think about taking photos to record the activity. Enjoy the trip to England. Carole

Thanks for sharing Moira. Isn't it wonderful how we can tailor our kids graduation to be a day to remember for them. Did you also tape your dd's recital? That would be quite a keepsake memory for her. What a wonderful gift she gave everyone too. Carole

I ended up cooking the wings the day before and refrigerating for the night. In the morning I coated the wings very well with the hot sauce mix, placed them into an Al foil pan and then into a 225 degree oven. The one batch of wings were in the oven for at least an hour while the other batch for a couple hours. They were GREAT!!!! (so was the graduation party --- wonderful!!!)

I'm a bit exhausted this morning but wanted to give a huge THANK YOU to the moms here who spoke about graduation parties last year. It got me thinking about what we would do to mark the occasion. Should we throw one or not? Should there be speeches or a picture show or a ceremony? I brought all this up to DS early this spring and he said it didn't matter to him, nothing was needed......but then I read this thread and my mind was set. I didn't want to regret not marking the occasion and decided to throw a party. DS' reaction to the news that we would throw a graduation party was: "WOW, really? You're going to throw a party? Thank you. But there will not be any speeches, or slide show, just a party." DS didn't have a graduation ceremony to attend, our hs support group doesn't host one and I wasn't interested in hosting a graduation ceremony. Instead I invited to our home almost every family DS has interacted with over the last 10 years, ones who helped DS in his homeschooling journey. OK, not everyone but it sure felt like it. Family from Ohio, NY, PA and MD came to our home---family that has never visited us came. That was really nice too. Friday and Saturday I cooked, and cooked some more. All the food were items DS loves. Lots and lots of food and drink for everyone. Yesterday the weather here was HOT and HUMID and all afternoon folks came into our home and visited. DS could not believe all the folks who came --- over 80 people! We all had a blast. We're really happy that we hosted the graduation celebration. What a fun time! Carole pa---DH mentioned to folks near the end of the party that there would be another one in four years when youngest DS graduates. He's not a party-kind-of-guy either. Nice that he enjoyed it too. :)

My ds took AP Econ through PA HS'ers and one resource they used were the Teaching Companies Econ lectures. Use just the lectures for a non-textbook approach to cover the Econ requirement. You could focus upon either Micro or Macro Econ and watch just half the lectures for 1/2 credit. Carole

I heard Susan speak once, at last year's PA HS'ers High School at Home Conference. (You might consider taking your son to this. It is July 16 in Carlisle). I still remember the point of Susan's talk. Does that speak volumes! She was entertaining, easy to listen to and well, she did a wonderful job. Andrew Pudewa, from IEW, will be speaking at the SEARCH Conferencetoo---if this is the SEARCH Conference you're attending. He is a wonderful speaker. Carole ps--I am PA HS'ers AP Stat teacher

LOL! How about brats? I would like to cook them on Saturday too and place them on top of the saurakrat and warm them on Sunday. DH doesn't want the krat to touch the brats (he can't stand the smell or taste of krat. I'm concerned that I could over cook them by cooking them twice. Can you tell this is my first really BIG party?

Good idea. I'll cook them most of the way and then finish them on Sunday with the sauce.

I'm concerned too about the length of time they take to cook, which is why I'd really like to cook them on Saturday. (We are not watching our calories here on Sunday, nope, no way. :) )

We're having a graduation party here this weekend :hurray: and one item on the menu is chicken wings. I would like to cook them on Saturday, put them into the Buffalo wing sauce and then heat them up on Sunday. But I've never done that before and would love to hear advice from BTDT on how I really should do this. And if you have a really good wing sauce, please share that too. Thanks Carole, who is going back to cleaning and tackling the school-room.

The rule in our house is no driving alone until 18yo (and my 18yo still has not driven alone and won't until he has a job). So, no, my child wouldn't be driving but then I'm not in these other families shoes. Perhaps the parent is single, works full-time and this is the only means for the child to have a summer activity. I would not be comfortable with my child driving home at 10:30 pm after a full-day of activity and that's why I would be driving. Let's pray the kids stay safe. Carole

I pulled course descriptions together the summer between DS' Junior and Senior year, so it isn't too late. I hadn't sold any of the books he used so it was easy to pull together the texts, resources, books read and supplemental texts he used. For the actual descriptions I read several high school course curriculum documents before writing my own course descriptions. It helped me to see what schools put into their documents. Carole