Finals Week

[Tullia]

I want to offer prayers and good wishes to all of "our" WTM college students who have already begun or will be starting finals soon. My son's first two finals were on Saturday. He has one more this evening, and the last one is scheduled for tomorrow morning. :hurray:

[Nan in Mass]

Oooo good idea. Me, too. My two have them next week.

[Melissa B]

My dd has her first ever final exam this evening. :eek: I'm trying to appear calm and reassuring (not sure it is working all that well.)

 

We are wishing the best for all those entrenched in finals studies over the next couple of weeks.

[creekland]

Same prayers and good wishes from here! Oldest has his finals this week - should have already had one. Middle starts his finals this Sunday (yes, Sunday!). I didn't realize colleges had finals on Sundays...

 

May all out there have clear minds!

[regentrude]

good luck to all.

[Brenda in MA]

Yes, best wishes to all! My son has 2 finals on Wednesday, a final presentation on Thursday, and a final quiz on Friday. What a busy week! After that, only 1 semester left! I can't believe his college years have gone by so quickly. Prayers for successful job search would be appreciated, too! And we'll be praying for all the TWTM college students!

 

Brenda

[JennW in SoCal]

I talked with my youngest ds last night. He was downright giddy after his physics final as he felt he did really well. He has already turned in 2 final papers and has a couple of days off before his last exam, so a fairly nice finals week all in all.

 

And if I may insert a quick mommy brag -- he landed a research position in his professor's lab!! He'll be analyzing magma samples from Icelandic volcanos.

 

The oldest is having the time of his life in his current lighting design class, with a final project due at the end of the week. He too will be graduating this spring and facing a job search.

 

And prayers, good wishes, positive juujuu and the like for safe travels back home. I'll have a full house once again on Saturday!

[Tullia]

Same prayers and good wishes from here! Oldest has his finals this week - should have already had one. Middle starts his finals this Sunday (yes, Sunday!). I didn't realize colleges had finals on Sundays... May all out there have clear minds!

 

Sunday? That's a first for me. Amen to the "clear minds"!

 

good luck to all.

 

And good luck to all those administering the exams. (Am I wrong in assuming you're teaching this semester?)

 

Ds should be well into his last exam about now and he should be done by noon.

 

ETA on Wednesday afternoon. Ds is home and looking forward to a month off! :hurray:

Edited December 12, 2012 by Tullia

[regentrude]

And good luck to all those administering the exams. (Am I wrong in assuming you're teaching this semester?)

 

Thanks- yes, I am, every semester.

I have one more final to give tomorrow. Yesterday's was miserable, two hours in an unheated lecture hall. Send good thoughts for the heating system.

[Jane in NC]

Yes, yes best wishes to all for exams and safe travels home!!

[Dana]

 

 

Thanks- yes, I am, every semester.

I have one more final to give tomorrow. Yesterday's was miserable, two hours in an unheated lecture hall. Send good thoughts for the heating system.

 

I give one on Thursday in a building that houses a new theater. I gave a test last Thursday when they had a performance and we just heard the bass for over an hour.

Looks like there's a different performance this Thursday. Very glad I won't teach on that campus again.

 

Night class finals also seem to be when they clean floors. I typically hear machinery through finals.

Humbug.

 

Hope heating system holds up!

[JennW in SoCal]

And good luck to Regentrude and Dana for not just administering the exams but in all that grading and getting your grades turned in. Before kids I worked in the Lit Dept at a university and part of my job was to collect the grading sheets from professors (20 years ago -- it must be all on-line now). Every semester I had to console the kind hearted lecturers who struggled in giving a failing grade even though the student earned it. It would be 10 minutes to the deadline and I'd have a couple in my office, completely torn up about it all! The tenured profs had seen it all before and just turned in the grade sheets without a second thought.

 

A good friend of mine will be grading up until the 22nd or 23rd, when her Christmas vacation can finally begin.

 

My youngest son is really impressed with how his college treats the students finals week. There were plates of cookies outside lecture halls, free salad fixings in the student center, evening finals so students actually get some sleep and therapy dogs yesterday afternoon.

[Kareni]

Therapy dogs sound like a neat addition to the usual college offerings.

 

My daughter is in the midst of finals but has already received one final grade (an A in History of Korean Music) which made her very happy.

 

Best wishes to all the test takers (and graders). And as Jane said safe travels to all.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[AK_Mom4]

DD18 has her one "big" final next week on Tuesday - music evaluation for continuing on in the program. She has to play her primary instrument in front of a crowd and a group of judges. She has been practising non-stop and says she's ready for it. Fortunately her other classes are less difficult finals.

 

DS21 starts his finals next week and is SOOOOO ready to be home.

[Luckymama]

Ds and his girlfriend are participating in a therapy dog event tonight! They both have one final remaining on Friday. He sent me a text as he asked out of a geology final----"I was done in 25 minutes!". Dd12's response was to question if he had checked his answers before turning it in :lol:

[Kathy in Richmond]

Dd wrapped up her final exams yesterday & is happily exhausted! First time ever that she's had a semester full of only humanities and language courses. Papers, projects, and essay exams galore, oh my! She's loved every minute of her experience in her classics program in Rome & has had so many amazing adventures. She'll miss the new friends she's made there, but I think that she's ready now to come home this weekend. And we can't wait to see her on Sunday night!! Ds is flying in a week later for the holiday week, so yippee!

 

Wishing successful exams and safe travels home for all of our WTM kids. :001_smile:

[Kakids]

Crazy finals week. I'm going to be so happy when my finals are done. Tonight!

I think it's a really neat idea that some campuses have therapy animals come in. I could use some of that.

[2cents]

Both of mine are all done! Party time!!!

[Miss Marple]

My son has his two hardest finals Friday afternoon and evening. Physics 2 and calculus 3. This means he will finish his last final at 9 pm. Not a good idea to hit the road at that time. So he will head home on Saturday. I'd like to have words with the person who made that schedule :(

[Tullia]

My son has his two hardest finals Friday afternoon and evening. Physics 2 and calculus 3. This means he will finish his last final at 9 pm. Not a good idea to hit the road at that time. So he will head home on Saturday. I'd like to have words with the person who made that schedule :(

 

I hate it when the toughest finals happen back to back! Hoping for safe travel and fair weather for your son and for all the other students.

[dirty ethel rackham]

Ds19 has two down and 1 to go. Two of his classes didn't have a final per se, but a final project that was due before finals week. So his week has been easier than some. He had a Communications final on Monday, a final presentation for Art History today and has his Bio final tomorrow, which should be a piece of cake for him.

[1bassoon]

Dd20 has one left. . . . and her Lit final this morning wasn't as bad as she thought :)

 

She's positively giddy at being done. . . well, that and the fact that a certain "someone" gave her a lovely copy of The Princess and the Goblin for Christmas :D Nice.

[Kathy in Richmond]

Ds reported that his ER final was really easy--he's now off studying for physics. However, oldest dd called, melting down. She made a hash of her last concerto lesson yesterday and has juries tomorrow! Along with a 20 page paper. Please pray she can pull her concerto together. She has several more Messiahs to do and it's not going well--the director is being a jerk. Dd is really sick and needs to go on antibiotics but can't find the time to head to urgent care. Haven't heard from Army girl, except that she's sad her roomie is leaving. Said roomie is deployed next year, so won't be returning to school for now. Dd is worried about who'll she'll get.

 

 

Praying for your girl, Margaret, that everything looks up for her starting today! I hope that your Army girl gets a good new roomie, too.

 

My dd's in the same spot. She found out today that she's got housing when she returns to college in January. She'd been on the housing waitlist since she was on a leave of absence for a semester. All she knows so far is that it's a double room with an unknown roomie. Can't be any worse than freshman year, though!

[Gwen in VA]

Hurrah for all of our kids who are working so hard and managing to get through! :hurray:

 

Ds2 finished all but one of his exams on Monday. His last is tomorrow -- a 30 minute grammar test! He somehow was exempted from the rest of his finals!!! He didn't mind hanging out and getting some sleep for a few days -- he hadn't gotten much sleep the previous week, and his drive home is a long one.

 

Dd2 is taking two college classes, and she finished both of hers earlier this week. One of hers was an online exam, and the computer kicked her off after she started the exam, and then the entire system went down and stayed down for hours. Thankfully her prof was kind and gave an extension..... A rather stressful end to the semester!

[AngieW in Texas]

My dd finished her last final yesterday and is driving home tomorrow. She has to drive back up there again next week because she has one more thing she has to do for school on Wednesday morning next week, but since it's just a 4-hour drive, it isn't a big deal for her drive up there Tuesday afternoon and come back Wednesday afternoon.

[Tullia]

Well, finals are over for my boys' dual credit classes at the community college class. One thing that surprised me was the Intro to Bus Comp that my middle child took. I guess I thought it would be an easy A class, not so.. Both he and his friend are 10th graders taking the class. They are the only high schoolers and there are 42 kids in the two sections.. His friend has the 2nd highest average for the combined classes with a 91. My son has the 6th highest with an 88. So that means there were probably only 3 or 4 A's for the class, at the most 5. I might expect that for calculus or something, but not for this intro how to use computers class. I guess we'll see if he curves or not. He is probably going to get a B in Spanish 3, but he definitely deserves this. He aced all of his homework and projects for computers. It was the tests. He made a 75 on one of them and it was the 3rd highest grade on that particular test. His friend had the highest grade on that test with an 82. My oldest has a 96 average in freshman comp and should get an A in Spanish 3.

 

I hope it works out! Sounds to me like at least one of the exams may not have reflected what was taught in class. My son says it happens; sometimes that exam is curved, sometimes dropped entirely, but usually it is what it is. Sometimes the only recourse is to be frank on the evaluation in the hope that the next class will benefit.

 

I'm enjoying having ds at home, but still thinking about everyone still taking exams and traveling!

[Nan in Mass]

I will be SOOOOO glad when next week is over.

Nan

[Granny_Weatherwax]

DD completed her last final of the semester this morning. She is relieved to have her first semester under her belt.

She thinks she earned high marks in three of her classes but not the fourth.

 

I am proud of her. One of her professors pulled her aside and congratulated her on her diligence, perfect attendance and cheerful attitude. This professor was aware that DD has a baby and knew how difficult it must be for DD to go to school every day, work and be a mom.

 

DD has realized how difficult being an unwed mom/college student is going to be and is ready to do what it takes.

 

All of us had quite a few growing pains this term. I think we worked out most of the kinks and are ready to tackle next semester when I go back to work on a full schedule.

[Jane in NC]

My youngest son is really impressed with how his college treats the students finals week. There were plates of cookies outside lecture halls, free salad fixings in the student center, evening finals so students actually get some sleep and therapy dogs yesterday afternoon.

 

I had to ask my son (who attends the same college as Jenn's younger) about the therapy dogs. He informed me that every Monday is therapy dog day on campus, a successful program sponsored by health services with a community organization. What a great idea!

 

Lovely to have The Boy home. Sigh...

[MicheleinMN]

This is dd's 2nd year at college, and I think finals week is worse this semester than all of last year. I hope to have dd home by Tuesday or Wednesday.

[Nan in Mass]

 

 

I had to ask my son (who attends the same college as Jenn's younger) about the therapy dogs. He informed me that every Monday is therapy dog day on campus, a successful program sponsored by health services with a community organization. What a great idea!

 

Lovely to have The Boy home. Sigh...

 

 

I can't say how much I hope this idea catches on and becomes widespread. I don't think people realize how hard it is for all those kids who grew up with family pets to suddenly find themselves living in an animal-free environment. My son couldn't sleep at first because he was used to having furry company. One friend came home last year and I think this was the straw that broke the camel's back. I'm usually overly cautious about breaking the rules but I had a series of small animals in the dorms and within days of moving off campus I brought home a kitten. My husband says this is a brilliant idea of health services that is probably going to keep some kid from shooting someone. What a great idea!

 

Nan

[Jane in NC]

I can't say how much I hope this idea catches on and becomes widespread. I don't think people realize how hard it is for all those kids who grew up with family pets to suddenly find themselves living in an animal-free environment. My son couldn't sleep at first because he was used to having furry company. One friend came home last year and I think this was the straw that broke the camel's back. I'm usually overly cautious about breaking the rules but I had a series of small animals in the dorms and within days of moving off campus I brought home a kitten. My husband says this is a brilliant idea of health services that is probably going to keep some kid from shooting someone. What a great idea!

 

Nan

 

I think that many of the things that keep us well mentally and physically are small and inexpensive. My son's college also has a 24 cold center with chicken soup, salt for gargling and vit C available for free. They seem to have done a good job of thinking through the simple gestures that can make a difference.

 

Of course this has not prevented from my son coming down with a sore throat last night. Stress from finals or his airplanes? Who knows but his mommy will now pamper him. Warm scones for breakfast...

[Nan in Mass]

 

 

I think that many of the things that keep us well mentally and physically are small and inexpensive. My son's college also has a 24 cold center with chicken soup, salt for gargling and vit C available for free. They seem to have done a good job of thinking through the simple gestures that can make a difference.

 

Of course this has not prevented from my son coming down with a sore throat last night. Stress from finals or his airplanes? Who knows but his mommy will now pamper him. Warm scones for breakfast...

 

 

I agree about the small and inexpensive part. Like why don't school newspapers have extra pages of funnies? They were a bright spot in my day.

And I think it is probably being exposed to all those germs on the airplane while in a vulnerable position after finals. It happened to me a number of times. Hope it isn't strep. Scones a good idea : )

 

Acceptance letters go out Monday. Finals Mon. and Tues. Plenty of stress here. Good thoughts would be appreciated.

 

Nan

[Jane in NC]

Good thoughts would be appreciated.

 

Nan

 

Always. :001_smile:

[JennW in SoCal]

Lovely to have The Boy home. Sigh...

 

One boy is still in the air, literally, as his plane doesn't land for a couple hours yet. The other has been home for 12 hours but I have yet to see him!! I was in rehearsal last night when he got home, and he was asleep by the time I got back and is sleeping in this morning. That is the cheapest and best remedy, followed by the scones :)

 

 

Acceptance letters go out Monday. Finals Mon. and Tues. Plenty of stress here. Good thoughts would be appreciated.

 

Very good thoughts for you and your boys, Nan. I am vicariously living through the application process of real life and virtual friends -- and I'm sooo glad I never have to live through that again!! :laugh:

 

Congrats to all on surviving finals week, and good luck to all who have yet to finish!

[Kathy in Richmond]

his mommy will now pamper him. Warm scones for breakfast...

 

Love it, Jane. I think I can smell your yummy scones a state away!

 

Acceptance letters go out Monday. Finals Mon. and Tues. Plenty of stress here. Good thoughts would be appreciated. Nan

 

Sending good thoughts your way, Nan. Hope everyone survives finals and college apps!!

 

One boy is still in the air, literally, as his plane doesn't land for a couple hours yet. The other has been home for 12 hours but I have yet to see him!!

 

Yay for your boys coming home! :hurray:

 

My dd just IM'd me that her bags are packed and her boarding passes are printed. I can't wait to have her back tomorrow night. :001_smile:

[TranquilMind]

My dd has her first ever final exam this evening. :eek: I'm trying to appear calm and reassuring (not sure it is working all that well.)

 

We are wishing the best for all those entrenched in finals studies over the next couple of weeks.

 

Our daughter too! Scary, isn't it, since there are so few grades in college classes. You've got to nail the final or that's it.

 

One more left here.

[Myra]

My son just called after taking his all essay/short answer final in Roman History. He said that he's finally figured out this writing in college......it's not so much what you say (although that does count!) but it's how you are able to write it and then he went into detail all the techniques he worked (or rather struggled with ) in high school - you know, a good opening sentence, well-defined thesis, topic sentences, general ideas supported by concrete details, variation in sentence structure, no contractions, active rather than passive verbs,etc, etc. He even mentioned that in papers that they had to peer review earlier in the semester- people knew more than he did about the subject, but just didn't seem to be able to write it well! And he ended up saying...."I just did it like you made me do at home and it's working even here in college!"

 

GO figure! Mom does know what she was talking about after all! And I guess all that struggle and frustration (and sometimes hostility!) over editing and revising papers that made by hair go gray was worth it!

 

Myra

[Kareni]

 

GO figure! Mom does know what she was talking about after all!

 

 

How true! And it's a great feeling when our children realize it.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Kareni]

Bad news: she needs a new violin. We knew this was coming. Anyone have a rich uncle with an extra $30,000 lying around???

 

Ouch!

 

Enjoy her homecoming.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Nan in Mass]

Heard from oldest dd today--her jury went well. She decided to take the hit (A-) and do her concerto with the music in front of her. Good thing, as they made her play the ENTIRE thing! Bad news: she needs a new violin. We knew this was coming. Anyone have a rich uncle with an extra $30,000 lying around???

 

She had another Vivaldi rehearsal today, Messiah tonight, Vivaldi in the morning, two more Messiahs, two days of teaching and then she's home!

 

 

Oh Saaaannnntttttaaaaa?????

 

How Christmas-y - music, music, and more music. Lovely. (And hard work, I'm sure.)

[Miss Marple]

Ds made it home. After sleeping about 12 hours and eating more than he has in the past week, he's relaxed and ready to help with all the preparations. He's my baker - and he loves to grocery shop (which I hate to do). And the dog will not leave him alone :) He just got his final exam grade for statics, 94%, giving him a solid A, he knows he has an A in engineering computing, and he was going into his Calc 3 final with a 96% so he feels confident there. Still waiting on thermodynamics and physics 2. This is the young man who thought he needed to drop Calculus 1 in his first semester. He was certain his professor just didn't like him :) He's learned a lot about studying and showing his work :p

[creekland]

This is the young man who thought he needed to drop Calculus 1 in his first semester. He was certain his professor just didn't like him :) He's learned a lot about studying and showing his work :p

 

 

This sounds awesome! Kudos to him (and you, too, for seeing that he was prepared + cheerleading and guiding)!

[Nan in Mass]

 

 

I'm not sure it's in the realm of Santa--I guess we've never been that good... :laugh:

 

She said Vivaldi was wonderful--it's all grad students from her Early Music Ensemble, so it's nice not to have to explain everything. The church they were in was gorgeous. You can see a picture of the organ pipes here:

 

http://www.firstcong.net/sundayservices.html

 

 

Nice! The chapel where my children used to have their piano recitals looks rather like that. Everyone always oohed and ahhed over it and the accoustics were great.

 

The music is always my favourite part of Christmas. I wish all this rain were snow. Except that I have to drive up and retrieve my middle one tomorrow and snow would make that harder. Oldest is floating around in the Pacific. It will be strange having Christmas without him. I have a new appreciation for the annoying earliness of Christmas stuff in stores. Obviously, I hadn't thought that one through well enough. I needed to buy a stocking (not wanting to send his hand-knit one) and candy canes and a chocolate Santa right after Halloween and happily was able to do so.

 

[Nan in Mass]

 

 

 

I'm feeling sad because we agreed (dd's idea) that we'd do Christmas in April when (we hope) dd will no longer be floating around the PG. So, I didn't send a bunch of stuff and now I regret that... I sent a few little things, but now I wish I'd sent more. After 4 years at USNA and 2 since, it's weird to know she won't be home. We Blue Star moms have to stick together.

 

We seem to have lost a bit of our conversation.

How are you doing? As Christmas approaches, I'm finding I'm minding more, not so much for myself but for my son. I, at least, have the rest of my family here. I don't know whether to write about what we are doing in detail or whether to write mostly about other things. If he is feeling sad already, then it would help, but if Christmas is feeling very remote and he isn't, I think that would do him in.

 

Sending something anyway is a good idea. So is a puppet! What fun! I thought about our conversations so much as I was filling my son's box. You always have the best ideas. I sent CDs of Three Men on the Brummel. I know that will be a hit.

 

Hugs,

Nan