My dds are taught to wear things appropriate for the venue (unless they are intending to make a statement of some sort...). If you're going to be sitting on stage, for instance, you wear pants or a long skirt so that people aren't forced to stare up your skirt (ew). If you're at an event that involves a lot of activity/getting on the floor/etc - you don't wear low-rise jeans or a low-cut shirt (because that would be inconvenient for *her*). If you're at a conservative homeschool meeting at a church, you don't wear your tiny cutoff shorts or a halter top. If it's an interview... you dress like it is an interview, not a pool party. :p Beyond that - no rules are set here. Haven't ever needed to. Their closets are full of halter and midriff tops, skinny jeans/jeggings/leggings, short-shorts, bikinis, and short dresses. There are also flannel button-down shirts, boyfriend jeans, huge sweatshirts, rash guards/swim coverups, and maxi dresses with matching sweaters. And they look adorable. We HAVE, however, talked a LOT about how people view you and form an opinion the instant they set eyes on you - and how, most often, that opinion is difficult to sway after-the-fact. Hence the "appropriate for the venue" lessons. DH has only mentioned one time that something dd was wearing was inappropriate. She'd flown out of state for an interview a couple years ago, and she wore jeans that were designed to look "slightly worn" and had some tiny tears/worn spots. She'd PACKED all very nice, appropriate clothes, but I didn't think about the jeans when we headed to the airport. When dh saw her pictures from the airport, he mentioned that next time, we should probably make sure she was wearing "clean-cut" pants for something like that - and we have paid attention to her "airport wardrobe" from that point on. And that's the only time he's said anything other than, "You look lovely," to either dd. :001_wub: I believe that girls-who-are-thirsty-for-attention dress the way they do for a myriad of reasons. If I felt either of my dds fell into that category, we'd tackle a lot of issues... clothing-choice being pretty low on the list of things to work through first. amen to that. Ugh. One of my biggest pet peeves ever. :ack2:

Not enough time... we just realized that dd needs to get it in by Friday (they posted this evening that they were closing the application window on Friday... it had been open-ended). She's leaving town before dawn on Friday and will be gone for several days. :) Tomorrow, she leaves at 8 am (before they are open) and will be gone until 7 pm (after they are closed) - and that's how her schedule has been for the past 2-3 weeks. We kept thinking - SURELY - an hour or so would pop up where she could drive it by herself, but... no. Her schedule hovers between crazy-busy and insane - and this past month has been in the insane category. edited to add: DD just came in and said something changed and she doesn't have to leave until 9:30 in the morning, which gives her a 30-minute window to get this turned in herself tomorrow. Problem avoided in the twelfth hour! Phew! :)

edited to add: DD just came in and said something changed and she doesn't have to leave until 9:30 in the morning, which gives her a 30-minute window to get this turned in herself tomorrow. Problem avoided in the twelfth hour! Phew! :) I turned in a job application for dd? It's just a city/pool/sumer job - but right now, dd is crazy-busy/gone/doing school during all of the hours when she needs to stop by and drop off the paperwork, whereas I drive right by the place several times a week. I'd just hand the packet over to the lady at the front desk... that shouldn't be a problem, should it? Or will they just toss it into the trash can after I leave since Mom was dropping it off? :auto:

...and my daughter DID apply to BU and has yet to receive any huge, glossy, expensive viewbook! :lol: Looks like our application fee helped fund your dd's viewbook!! :laugh: Most of the college mail dd's getting now is from entirely random schools. I didn't think she was really getting all that much through the process, but the mailman commented and said she sure was getting an incredible amount of it. So - maybe she is? I dunno. We haven't looked at any of it in a long, long time (I was afraid we'd get "sucked in" and find another college she liked! So, it all goes straight to recycling after we have made sure it isn't from a school she actually DID apply to!).

We've been doing this for soooooo long that I've learned --- when something "clicks," it's generally best to jump right on it! :thumbup:

Thank you, OP, for starting this thread!!! I've had the same question battling around in my head, but couldn't find a great "fix" for the issue - DD1 absolutely has signs of high-school burn-out (this last semester of her senior year, ironically, we seem to have found her perfect balance! After 3.5+ years of overwork!). The school work still needed to get done, right? So, we trudge along (she WANTS to do the work... it just takes forever!), and I've been fearful for next year... I am loving the idea of a time-based system. DD2 and DS are both very time-motivated students and so I have, in the past, tried to set a schedule (where each subject has a specific time), but it was too cumbersome for all of us to keep up with successfully. Love the idea of a 40-hour work week.... puts a light at the end of the tunnel, making it easier to focus on work-while-you-work and guilt-free play-while-you-play time afterwards. We are going to start next week!

:thumbup1: great! That is what I thought I remembered (wait for the final total package) - but it's been so long, and I've read so. many. things. it's all becoming a bit jumbled in my head. And the next two weeks are frightfully busy...having to call and ask each university was not high on my, or dds, list of things we could squeeze in this week. So, we will wait. :)

So - we sent in the FAFSA. Some of the university portals show that they received it (others still have a "reminder," but specify that if you've already sent it in, they just haven't updated the portals yet to show that). At what point will we KNOW that they have evaluated the FAFSA and decided if/when/maybe/please dd will receive any additional financial aid? Right now, most of the portals show some mixture of the following: * FAFSA received * Our EFC (hahahahahahahahhaHAHA!!! :smilielol5: :scared: ) * $xx,xxx Academic Scholarship Offer * That's It. So, we are unsure whether they are saying "You have been offered $xx,xxx financial dollars and this includes academic aid, thankyouverymuch." OR if it's just defaulted right now to show her academic aid and they'll add the rest of the information sometime in March. I know they are all different - I guess I'm just wondering if anyone's heard the FULL Financial information from anywhere (except those who applied EA... I assume those ppl had most of their information sent in very early on)? Or is it still common to have only half-the-picture right now?

Last year, I remember there being a discount for WTM Academy... if you signed up to 2+ classes, there was a certain $ discount, with an additional discount for an additional class.... the details are fuzzy... I just remember there being an incentive to signing up to more than one class. I'm not seeing that anywhere on the website right now. Does anyone know -- did I miss the sale deadline/dates somehow, am I missing it on the website, or are they simply not offering discounts this year at all? thx!

OK, I've got both of them in front of me. :) The Tables of Contents for both books are nearly identical, with some re-arrangement of the "water" topics (In the yellow edition, the "water" topics are broken down into several chapters with few sub-sections. In the blue edition, there is one large "water" chapter, broken down into many sub-section topics). But, the topics of discussion, with a brief glance, all seem to be the same. The maps appear to be the same in both books (both of my editions are copyrighted @2000...), and the text and illustrations appear the same as well (same vocabulary words, same activities). I used both sets with my 3 kids last year. I'm sure there are some discrepancies/updates somewhere between the editions, but I couldn't tell you what they are! lol The yellow edition comes with a teacher's guide. The blue edition has a teacher's guide and a student workbook, which I really liked. We used a few additional geography workbooks (and a more-updated atlas for maps since that changes so frequently), but this workbook has some memory guides and such that I found very helpful. Hope this is somewhat helpful! :)

My kid - definitely not a gifted writer. lol We chose AP English Lit last year simply BECAUSE English was her weakest, and generally, her laziest subject. The beginning of the class was SO tough for her. It was a lot to take in! But, she struggled through - and within the first couple of months, English became her favorite subject. (She is a STEM kid, and that has never, ever happened before). We chose Blue Tent and I am SO happy we did. Brigid was the perfect balance between strict expectations and pliable allowances. Her feedback was extraordinary, encouraging, and helpful to dd. There was a lot that dd simply Did. Not. Know. in the beginning, and Brigid was amazing in with her clear explanations and instructions. Hands-down, the best online class we have ever chosen. The class remained very challenging all year for dd but Brigid's schedule and pacing remain constant throughout, so it was easy for dd to get a handle on... and she began to speed up on the reading and writing assignments. The forum postings were dds MAIN time-suck in the early months and she hated them. BUT once she got "in the groove," reading through all of the discussions became her favorite part of the class. The kids had some thought-provoking discussions that were helpful once it came time to write the essay. DD2 will be taking a Blue Tent class next year, and I am considering the new 8th grade class option for ds as well.

I am pretty sure that I have both sets still at home. When I'm back tonight, I will check and post. :)

SO exciting for both of you!! Congratulations and enjoy celebrating!! :)

Right now, UMass Amherst is one of dds very top choices... (deleted some information) DD shouldn't have any problem at all, but these "We Are Seeing If Your Education Meets Our Formal Approval" things always make me jittery.

Boy, we had a kind of crazy-giggle of shock when we saw the official EFC numbers! :mellow: Because... ummmm... wow.

Enjoy some well-earned rest time!!! :cheers2: You've done all you can do for the time being!! After sending in the CSS tonight (right AT the deadline) - I feel pretty safe in saying that, from this point onward and forever, my kids are going to only consider schools that are FAFSA-only - I don't think I can DO that year after year! WTH WAS all of that?!?!?! I had to dig out 2013s taxes ferchriss'ssake. :bored:

n/m 😄

Just so glad to see it's not just my dd. :svengo: Turns out that senior burnout is a Very Real Thing. She's like a caterpillar who is halfway through its metamorphosis, and I'm not sure if/when/where/how/why I should help or let her struggle it out on her own. Never quite sure if my suggestions are helping or hindering... It's a confusing time for both of us. And, from fellow parents-of-seniors, I'm learning that we are not alone in this. :patriot: (from a mom who was "encouraging" a senior with a perfectly fine ACT score that taking another ACT test would be AWESOME fun! Just for 3 additional sub-points for a specific scholarship... Those 3 sub-points would make an enormous tuition difference for one school... *sigh* When I suggested it, poor dd looked up at me with the saddest puppy eyes (my kids NEVER use puppy eyes, because they don't "work" on me)... and my heart cracked. I tucked her into bed that night and had a good cry myself later. :crying: ...she's not taking the ACT again. ;) )

This might not be all that helpful, but I figured it's at least AN experience with Winthrop... :) ...I have a friend whose daughter graduated from Winthrop University. She absolutely loved her time there and was employed in her field immediately after graduation. She is a very bright girl and was in their honors program, but I don't know any specifics about her experience there.

I am so incredibly thankful that we have a nearby local public school that offers a gazillion AP test choices and are more than happy to host homeschoolers for the exams. I've already checked in with their AP coordinator and am checking back with her in 3 weeks when they open registration (which we can do online now! I don't even have to drive there!).

:crying: :ack2: Ye gads. I have to do the PROFILE for ONE university dd has applied to. ONE! :blink: I'm leaning toward talking her out of this university... :P I finished the FAFSA on-paper worksheet, but haven't gotten the accounts set up yet - I am honestly terrified of messing something up!! It was on the agenda for the past two weekends, but I have been just-busy enough to allow myself to put it off. :bored: Deadlines are looming, though, so it's crunch-time now. I'm a bit :mellow: that the helpful Edvisors Guide to the FAFSA is 192 PAGES LONG!!!!

Some honors college updates for dd: University of Alabama - dd of Teacher mom, dd of Katilac -scholarship, ds of mjbucks1 - dd of hopskipjump: scholarship, honors college University of Central Florida - dd of hopskipjump - scholarship, honors college University of Massachusetts Amherst - dd of HopSkipJump - scholarship, honors college And two more acceptances - we are done stalking the mailman until March! University of Oklahoma (waiting on scholarship info) Nova Southeastern University - scholarship

THIS. EXACTLY THIS. This was my dds block with all of the essays. In HINDSIGHT: I would tell dd to just write the stupid essay in one hour. Set it to the side for 2-3 days and re-read. Make adjustments/additions as needed. Then I would look over it for any glaring omissions or suggestions. Edit as needed... and SEND THE DARN THING. We spent a plethora of time on essays (or, for me, school reports and counselor's letters) that could have been spent with her writing additional essays for large outside scholarships. Better a "quickly" written essay that has a CHANCE at winning one of the BIG outside scholarships, than a meticulously edited essay to be accepted to schools with a 30% and up acceptance rate. I think, in the end, dd had to write 10 various essays (my count may be off slightly) - all of which accounted for hours and days of misery and allowed many other things to fall by the wayside that we are both STILL catching up on. Another Lesson Learned for DCs 2 and 3!! EVEN if they are applying to competitive schools. They will write their essays in a comparatively short amount of time and move along with life. The chips will fall where they may. I am confident that they know how to string sentences together in a cohesive and literate way... and I'll trust them to do just that and move. along.

@MissMarple - I am so sorry your son is going through this. What a stressful time in his life! Hopefully the roommate will fade away into oblivion and this will just turn into a "crazy things that happened in college life" story for him and that his new roommates (assuming he has new ones?) are nice stable lads. Reading through this has just made me... even more ... dumbfounded... with the law that Texas recently passed allowing undergrads to have a gun on school/dorm property. I mean... it seems that it's fairly common/known for young men not "trigger" for mental illness until this age and/or college life stressors set in on his psyche. We spend years teaching our kids to be leery of strangers - and when it's university time, they are told to sign up to random apps and/or "hook up" on facebook and blindly choose a person to live shoulder-to-shoulder with during some of the most stressful times of their lives! It's kind of wonky when you think about it! I can think of a half-dozen teens I know PERSONALLY who have a wonderful "in public" persona, but behind closed doors are another case entirely!!! :bored: