Back to school

For my two sons, school starts again on Monday September 30.

My older son will be a junior at the University of Maryland, College Park. He is majoring in linguistics, but will probably end up taking the GMATs and going to business school. He is moving into his on-campus apartment today, but classes don't start until Monday. I don't have his schedule yet, and I'm not sure what he's taking, but he and his Dad have worked everything out, I'm sure :-). His Dad likes to keep close tabs on what he's taking and what he needs to graduate.

My youngest son will be a senior in high school this year. Unlike the first three years of high school, he will not be returning to the religious Jewish day school he has been attending. He finally succeeded in rubbing our noses in the fact that he hated it, thoroughly and completely. Instead, since no private school would take him for the senior year only, he will be attending Kennedy High School in Wheaton, Maryland.

None of us really know what to expect from Kennedy. There are going to be a lot of unknowns in this school year. I will probably be worrying about him just as much as I always have, but for different reasons. Since the last people in the family to go to public school were grandparents, I suspect this is going to involve a great deal of culture shock.

Any advice?