I too found the article amusing. I have two very different kids and they have very different levels of expenses. Kid 1 has multiple LD's. He has never had a job and cannot work and do full time college; it isn't possible for him. However, he has never joined a frat, gone on a spring break trip, almost never eats out or buys food off campus, etc. Kid 2 has been working since she was 15. She loves to eat out in part because she hates the dorm food (she is vegetarian and the limited options are far from delicious). She loves to shop and grocery shops, supply shops, clothes shops... you name it. She isn't working during the school year, but has had a job long enough to have some savings and will return to work all summer to save up for next year. Both kids live on the same small allowance from me. Dd spends more because she earns more. All of the article's listed expenses are optional and if you can't earn money, you also don't get to spend it. Common sense. Due to cost, dd did decide not to join a sorority although she wanted to. She said it would cost several thousand a year and she wasn't willing to lay out that kind of money and wasn't willing to ask us for it either. If your little prince or princess is costing far more than you expected at college, set limits and teach them to budget. They are certainly old enough to know the difference between wants and needs.

Van, I'm sending you a Private message. I'm really late to this thread, but I'm so glad you haven't given up. I'll help if I can.

This would make me question the decision to do a small private LAC. They just don't have as many options. Since she'd like small, I'd consider a state U with around 10,000 students as ideal, still typically having smaller departments and small classes, but not being as limited in majors as a school with only 1,000-5,000 students.

Ds's school did a freshman advisor that was not from their major, then they could request an advisor in their major or one was appointed. Ds has never met with an advisor. He recently changed advisors so he does have two advisors (one for each major) that he knows now and they are both already mentors, so I'm hoping they will prove helpful.

We're not compliant by nature in my family. I consider an advisor to be one who gives advice, not one who dictates. I wouldn't be concerned in the slightest, but would consider it polite that your dd explained what happened.

I see a degree from William Jewell as being equal to any other unknown university. It isn't a top tier school and isn't known outside the area, but it wouldn't raise any red flags except that it is very conservative Christian school and some will discount it for that. Missouri has very reasonably priced State Universities. If she wants to move beyond KC, she might consider Truman State (Kirksville) for a liberal arts university with some really great stats. If she is interested in Engineering, consider Missouri S&T (Rolla). My ds attends Drury University which is a small private LAC in the Springfield area that is not outrageous (as private schools go) and offered him excellent merit aid.

There are only two of the listed foods that I have eaten maybe once in the last year. However, this isn't because I avoid GMOs but rather because I choose not to eat a lot of processed foods in general. I think by choosing fresh foods and organics when possible, we avoid most GMOs without really trying.

I don't have first hand information on William Jewell, but I know several people who have gone there, including one who is a junior there now. Do you have any specific questions? It is a Baptist University, small and pricey, but those I know who have been there love it. I know nothing about UMKC. We are in Missouri and checked out the State U's pretty thoroughly, but neither of my kids was interested in living in an urban area.

I had one who did forensics too. My dd did Apologia A&P in 11th and I don't see any reason not to go ahead and do that either.

This is an interesting conversation for me. I have rarely lived anywhere that didn't have well and septic. Well water can taste much better than city water because it isn't chemically treated, but that depends on what kind of geology is in your area. Everyone that comes to our house comments on the fabulous water. My kids really struggle at college because they are used to drinking nothing but water and don't like the chemically treated public water supplies. My parents had an old/too small septic system that had to be pumped regularly (maybe every couple of years). It was a bit of a nuisance at times, but not a big deal. We have lived in our current house for 18 years. We got our septic pumped for the first time about a year ago. The guy said it wasn't full/clogged and didn't need it at all. We might try it again in another 20 years lol. I agree with the person who said to know the potential problems in your area and be sure to have inspections and get full information about these systems so you know what to expect. They can range from no maintenance to high maintenance and obviously cost runs the gambit too. Free water and septic is nice. Unexpected bills aren't. Know what you're getting into, but don't assume it will be a problem.

I came in to listen as dd is planning to bring home a significant other during Christmas break. She is getting her wisdom teeth out the day before Thanksgiving and he is working on the weekend when we are going to celebrate, so that one didn't work out. This is our first experience with having a significant other come home from the parental perspective Anyway, I guess I can tell you that of course my sister and I brought our boyfriends (who we married) home with us from college, and I went home with dh. I remember time spent visiting, playing some games and at Christmas, my family always worked big puzzles (3000-ish pieces) and visiting over a puzzle happened every Christmas. I think having something to do that allows conversation, but keeps everyone from sitting and staring at each other is very helpful! Dh's family tended to do more sitting and staring and it was terribly awkward. I agree about meals served family style. Make sure you know of any dietary restrictions (my ds has allergies and dd is a vegetarian so I'm sensitive on this) and accommodate them the best you can. As far as house rules, we never had any. Basic manners are to be expected from everyone. We did have separate bedrooms for significant others, but there were no rules on who could be where when. These are adults (or nearly adults) you are talking about right? Back to lurking and listening because I'm still interested in how others made this a great experience. If these significant others become permanent family additions, I want to make sure the relationship is great from the beginning!

I keep an audio book an ebook and a physical book going at all times. That way wherever I am, I can read or listen. I get SO much more housework done when I have an audio book to listen to. I don't want to stop listening, so I don't stop working. I listen to audio books while I drive, shop, walk the dogs and do house work. I read my physical book in bed each night. I read ebooks when I'm sitting and have to wait. I try not to get real favorites in ebook format, because I tend to get through those more slowly. I should point out my kids are grown. There were many years that I rarely read at all. If I started I didn't want to stop and could even be cranky with my kids for interrupting. I settled for spending lots of time reading aloud to my kids who loved to be read to. We read aloud until sometime in high school! That helped meet my book needs in acceptable ways lol. Ds will see me getting addicted to a book or when a new book in a series that I loved comes out (Outlander, Harry Potter, etc) and he knows I'm gone. No self control at all.

My older is ASD and had motor issues. I was extremely thankful for velcro shoes and we really had to search for them as he got to be older elementary age. Eventually, his fine motor developed enough that he switched over to tie shoes. I rarely see adult shoes that have velcro, but I wouldn't be caught dead in any of the styles pictured above, so maybe they are there and I'm just turning them out.

Wool socks. Fluffy socks aren't even close to warm enough.

I have an electric can opener that my parents received as a wedding present. That would make it almost 60 years old. It is ugly and the cord has been spliced, but it is so powerful! My only complaint is that it will spin the cans so fast that the contents slosh out a bit lol. I bought can openers for the first 20 years of my marriage. I don't remember how many I tried, but I was never happy. My family laughs at me and my ancient can opener, but they just don't make them like they used to.

Disability services as ds's school provided each student with a mentor. You might ask his disability services coordinator if they can provide an upperclassman that has walked the path of using accommodations in college. I'm in a similar position. Ds has refused to use any of the plethora of accommodations provided by disability services and it has definitely affected his grades. However, it is his choice to make it on his own and I can't change it (I tried). I support him in every way I can. I follow along far more closely than either of us likes with what is going on in his classes. I remind him of deadlines. I encourage him to get things done. I've met him at the public library (he goes to school less than an hour from home) and helped him do research that was stumping him. When he gets overwhelmed, he shuts down and I work very hard to help him through some of the overwhelming times. So far he's making it, but I consider him to be at risk all the time. It is very hard to watch, but I have no advice whatsoever. I will never cut my ds off. I will keep working to help him gain his independence and the ability to function in this world until he makes it or I die. Nothing else will ever be on the table.

I just wanted to encourage you. My ds did exactly the same thing his senior year. Luckily, he was taking APs and homeschooling not DE. We dropped everything we could and made the spring semester light. I handheld through the rest. He really considered not going to college. He wasn't sure what he wanted to do and didn't like the idea of more school or wasting money. Long story short, he is a sophomore in college now. He is ASD and is easily overwhelmed by stress. His first semester he didn't show up to one of his finals where he wasn't prepared. The teacher ended up letting him write a 5 page paper and gave him half credit for the final and he ended up with a B in the class (obviously he was doing well up to that point).He has found things he loves and has a rough career plan now. He went with one major and added another and a minor after he got there and tried some different classes. If we hadn't kept pushing and pushing pretty hard, he wouldn't have gone. We've still had to hand-hold a bit at times. Things aren't straight forward and simple with him, but he is making it through college and he doesn't regret being there. Do listen to his dreams, but don't be afraid to help him work through the stress and fear and still continue with college too.

I agree with this and as the parent of a student who qualifies for (but has chosen not to use) accommodations, I hate to hear that it isn't always the case. In my mind it makes degrees suspect if the required tasks are no longer required. OTOH, if it is just accommodations to make the required tasks feasible for a student with a disability, then they have done their job. If they eliminate a required task or change the grading scale, then it isn't an accommodation it is a modification and no one is well served by that, not the student or the future employer.

My ds took a drawing class last year. The class met for 6 hours a week in the studio. There was no homework unless you missed a class. All work was done during class in the studio. I would expect 6 hours/week of studio time to mean the class meets in a studio for 6 hours/week. There may or may not be additional time spent working on the projects outside of class.

I used the tests provided in the online access.

This was our experience too. I hadn't planned to weight grade, but the college ds attends specifically told me to be sure and do it. They don't do it for you and they do use weighted grades for scholarships. They warned me that many homeschoolers often miss out on scholarship opportunities because they don't weight grades. Dd applied only to State U's and weighted grades wouldn't have done anything for her there, so I didn't bother.

Welcome to the Well trained mind boards. You posted this message in the High school writing forum (quite by accident I would guess). Try reposting on the general education board or on the K-8 or even Middle Grade challenges boards. You have several choices, but this one isn't used much and you aren't likely to get noticed here.

I think consumer math would still have been valuable. There would have been overlap, but Dave's stuff was still very light on math.

You did miss something Lori. At least the version I had came with a CD that had "activities" They were pdf's of worksheets. There were budgets, check writing and checkbook balancing, how to read a stock report, looking up investment return rates and calculating returns on various investments, using ads to find an apartment and figure out housing costs, etc., enough roughly for 1 a day for the semester. Some of them took just a few minutes, some took significant time and effort. They were the application portion of the program. The DVD's taught the concept, then you used what you learned and learned some more doing the activities.

We did Dave and spent an hour a day for the whole semester on it. There were plenty of activities and some of them were really good. We skipped few and added a few of our own too.