Welcome to Summer Before College! If you are here you are either the parent of a rising college freshman or a very organized parent of a younger child. 🙂 Either way, welcome! Here you will find college freshman summer checklists, advice, and a source to keep you on top of things all summer.
The goal of this website is, as you might guess, to help guide other parents (and students) through the long-awaited “summer before college.”
Right about now you are likely up to your eyeballs in graduation planning. Making sure you have the right outfit, planning your child’s graduation celebration, deciding how to navigate traffic on graduation day, and wondering how your tiny little baby is on the cusp of graduating high school.
Your child is graduating from high school!
I’ve been there. Recently. My oldest child graduated from high school in May 2018 and just wrapped up her freshman year at the Ohio State University. What a ride it has been!
That experience was so recent that I still remember the stress and worry I felt that summer. I wanted to make sure everything was “just right” as I sent her off into the world. Not surprisingly, there are a crap-ton of things to do before move-in day.
Add in all of the emotion of your child growing up and leaving home (especially if this is your first college-bound kid) and we could all use a helping hand getting through the summer before college.
Practical, reasonable checklists to prepare for college move in day
This website will (I hope) be easy to use and a comfy place to drop in for information and advice. In addition to regular blog posts, you can visit the four college freshman summer checklists in Checklist Central.
I know, I know....you’ve seen about a zillion checklists already during your child’s senior year: how to make the most of senior year; steps to hosting the perfect homecoming dinner; what not to do for your child’s senior pictures; 100 essential steps to finding the ideal college for your child; how to make origami graduation cap place card settings, etc. I get it. It’s a lot. That’s why I built these checklists with a few requirements in mind:
- Only legit, real-life to do items that are achievable for regular parents
- Only recommendations for products that really are necessary and helpful
- Streamlined and realistic goals for the summer that will keep you sane, not make you even more stressed
Simple, right?
Advice for parents for the entire freshman year of college
While you’re in the thick of graduation mode with the long-awaited summer before college looming, you may imagine that once you’ve pulled that mini-van out of the move-in line at college, you’re home-free. Not so much.
The freshman year holds lots of challenges for both you and your child. New experiences, new problems, new relationships, the whole shebang.
That is why Summer Before College offers a month-by-month resource page to help you navigate the entire school year. From advice about dealing with those first visits home to supporting your freshman through common college challenges, we’ve got you covered.
Best advice for parents of graduating high school seniors
This is your first checklist!
- Enjoy the moment! High school graduation is an important milestone for both you and your child.
- Email me at [email protected] so I can add you to our mailing list. That way you'll never miss a new post, new checklist, or new month of freshman year advice.
- Bookmark this page and come back often!
