Navigating Senior Year: College Prep, Family Talks, and Faithful Waiting :: Lee Cordon and Barrett Ball [Ep 523]

Don't Mom Alone Podcast

Kids & Family, Leisure, Parenting, Education

5 • 2.3K Ratings

🗓️ 19 May 2025

⏱️ 65 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Today we are live and in person in my office with Lee Cordon and Barrett Ball! My real-life friends have created a comprehensive guide for senior year and beyond. We cover the logistical, emotional, and spiritual challenges that every family walks through—from managing the college application process to preparing for big transitions at home. This conversation is packed with practical tips, encouragement, and insights every high school parent needs to hear. Here are some of the many topics covered in today’s episode:

Building a realistic college list and setting financial expectations early
Finding safe support systems that don’t fuel anxiety for students or parents
Summer prep checklist: housing deposits, senior photos, Greek life, dorm lists
What to get started on in Junior year to make Senior year more enjoyable and less stressful
Practical gift ideas and etiquette around graduation announcements
How to wait well with our kids and stay calm and collected to set the tone for your home

Connect with Lee Cordon and Barrett Ball:

Website: Do Say Give
Facebook: Do Say Give
Instagram: DoSayGive (@dosaygive)

Links Mentioned:

Related Episodes:

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Transcript

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0:00.0	The weather. Tomorrow, expect a biting cold front. Hmm, how naughty. I wonder what I'll be
0:06.8	wearing or taking off. The night will be wild and untamed. Expect heavy, lashing rain
0:13.0	that'll soak you to the skin. By Monday, temperatures will rise slowly but surely reaching
0:18.7	their peak in the afternoon.
0:23.0	Not in the mood for miserable weather?
0:25.8	Fly cheaply to Turkey with Sun Express.
0:28.7	Sun Express, nonstop sunshine.
0:39.7	Hey, y'all, welcome back to the Don't Mom Alone podcast.
0:43.9	I'm your host, Heather McFaddean, and this is the place where I get to walk alongside you and connect you with people and resources so you know that you don't mom alone.
0:48.9	And in this episode, number 523, we are helping the moms of high schoolers, not mom alone. I've invited my friends,
0:56.6	Lee Corden, and Barrett Ball to the show. I've struggled as a mom. You can really fall into
1:02.6	the game early on it and falling into the rat race. And I didn't want to fall into the rat race
1:06.4	in ninth grade of like our whole mission is to get into a good college because I just don't personally I think
1:12.5	that it can backfire right the pressure we know can get to a lot of teens the stress and the temptations
1:19.5	to do things like cheating or whatever because if we're putting so much pressure on them so I've
1:23.7	always struggled with the balance of pushing my children encouraging them to do their best and use their gifts, but also not fall into our whole.
1:31.9	And this is something we've really had to deal with senior year.
1:35.1	I don't know if y'all have.
1:35.9	It's just making sure that their identity is not into the school that they get into or not into the percent rank that they are or the awards that they get or the honor, whatever it is,
1:45.7	because that is all of their hearing.
1:49.1	Lee is the founder creator of an amazing website called Do Say Give.
1:54.6	And she's joined me on the show in the past to talk about etiquette with our boys and our girls.
	...

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