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3 Things You MUST Do Before Your Child Heads Off To College

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As you know, time marches on, even if you aren’t ready for it. Kids get older and soon their primary education will be behind them. Most kids are generally excited to head to college. As parents, we want the best for our children. But before your child packs up and starts their new phase in life, there are 3 things you MUST do before your child heads off to college.

You may be asking yourself what is possibly left to do after you have applied and accepted, shopped for dorm items, and arranged the financial aspects. We thought the same thing until the unthinkable happened: our son was injured at school during the Summer session.

It was completely shocking and unexpected. Thankfully he is on the mend, and will make a full recovery. He just has the unfortunate situation where he had to take the Fall semester off. But, it will help us in January when he heads off to college again.…

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Graduation Party Decorating With The Oriental Trading Company

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This post is being brought to you by The Oriental Trading Company. While I received product in order to facilitate this post, all opinions are 100% my own. Please read my disclosure policy for more information.

June is here, and I can’t believe that I am saying this, but I am now the proud Mom of a high school graduate. I will admit, that I am totally in a state of denial. He can’t possibly be done with high school. Didn’t he just start? But no matter how long or hard I stare at the calendar, the truth is clear. He is officially a high school graduate. My husband and I are so proud of everything he has accomplished in his high school career.

graduation party picture

So now that the hard work is over, it was time to have some fun! And what better way to celebrate his accomplishments than with a party with family and friends. My mother-in-law is the master of the menu, so I left all that to her….

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4 Household Skills Every College Student Should Learn

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This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of P&G. The opinions and text are all mine.

School is almost ending, and for most students that means sleeping in and doing nothing. But for a few lucky students, the beginning of Summer means the start of a school session as well. My soon-to-be freshman son in that situation. Before I send him though, I want him to be able to take care of himself since we will be 3 hours away. Here are 4 household skills every college student should learn before heading off to the next part of their journey in life.

Most kids may not have to help out around the house for reasons that are individual to their family. When it is time to leave for college, they often struggle with doing simple household skills that come with living on their own. While generally most dorms take care of the major items, there are still 4 household skills every college student should learn to do before they head off to the real world.

So, I decided to take some time with my oldest son and review a few important things. We hopped in the car and headed to our local Weis Market for a quick lesson in shopping and saving money.

4 Household Skills Every College Student Should Learn…

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Top Ten Things Your Teen Son Needs For The First Year Of College #TargetMadeMeDoIt

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Hello readers!

I am guest posting on the Target Made Me Do It blog today. This time I am discussing the top ten things your teen son needs for the first year of college. 

I am still kind of in shock that we are at this stage of our lives. I mean, he was just born, right? In any case, hop and over and see what I am sharing today. Then leave me a comment if you have anything you would add to this list!

top ten things your teenage son needs for the first year of college

Other college life posts you might enjoy:

Penn State University Park

What are your favorite dorm essentials?

2 Books Every Potential College Student(And Parent) Should Read

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I know that kids’ generally do not want to think about reading more books during their school career. But if your child is rapidly approaching those college years, there are some that should make your bookshelf. As a bookseller, it is my job to be constantly reading books. So I am sharing 2 books every potential student(and parent)should read. 

Getting into college seems like such a daunting task for students. It is a scary process that involves a lot of “what ifs”. What if I can’t get in? What if I don’t have high enough grades? What if I took the wrong standardized tests? Yeah, it is a hard time.

My oldest is now accepted to college, and will be starting in just 3 months. How did we get here? A lot of long nights, college visits, and TONS of reading.

2 books every potential college student(and parent) should read

Recognize this statue? It is just a small hint as to where he is headed to this Summer. It is a scary process, and I am so glad I started reading these books when we started the college process. Read on to find out what they are….

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Create An #OreoDunkChallenge To Help With A Difficult Decision

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This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #OREOSuperDunk #CollectiveBias

We often talk about milestones in our family life. Many are welcomed milestones: learning to sit-up, the first word, that shaky first step. But today I am talking about a milestone that you think will never come: deciding on what college your child will attend.

Yes, we have reached that momentous milestone in our family’s history. I still can’t believe that my oldest son is now 18, and has been accepted into 5 amazing colleges. He is starting to feel a bit stressed about making the decision. So I decided that I needed to add some levity into the situation and relieve some of his anxiety.

I always found that when I had a tough decision to make, it was helpful to do some writing. I wanted to make it fun for my son, so I created a printable that we could jot our thoughts down on.

College Decision Worksheet
But why stop there? We could turn this into a fun voting process by using OREO cookies! We do a lot of family bonding over food, so why not make this hard decision into tasty fun?…

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Budgeting for The College Student

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Budgeting for the college student is essential for success during this new season in their lives. Being a college student or teenager who knows how to manage finance is a rare find. Some teens are natural savers and some are spenders. It is part of their genetics and they will need to learn to budget just like adults.

Hi, this is Candi back again to share some budgeting tips for the college student. Over on my blog I share how to create a budget for adults with printables, which will be fundamental after you get out of college.

budgeting for the college student

High school for the most part skips over this lesson or does it in such a general way, that teenagers miss out. Generally when teens get their first job, they want to go on a spending spree and unfortunately they can start to create bad habits of overspending….

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Experiencing The University Of North Carolina Chapel Hill

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For this installment of Florida Road Trip 2016, I am sharing about our next college visit. As I have said many times before, I still cannot believe that my oldest son is going to be heading to college next Fall. In fact, he has already submitted several applications. The next application he is submitting is to The University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.

I will be completely upfront here: I did not want to like this school. Why, you ask? Well, I am partial to the other major university in this area. So I didn’t want to like UNC. But here’s the thing, when you go into a situation with an open mind, you would be amazed how much you wind up liking a school. The University of North Carolina Chapel here was no exception.

My husband and I want our son to go to the school that will best prepare him for success in his intended Chemistry major. This university definitely has a lot to offer him. We originally were looking at the school from a graduate school perspective. But we quickly learned that this would make a great undergraduate school, as well.

University of North Carolina Chapel Hill

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