Having a hard time adjusting to highschool

[Anonymous]

How did she pick the school she applied to

[Anonymous]

No advice other than to say we are in the same boat. It is getting easier day by day but I still cannot claim any new actual friends my kid has. They will get there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No advice other than to say we are in the same boat. It is getting easier day by day but I still cannot claim any new actual friends my kid has. They will get there.

Glad i’m not alone. They’ve got this!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How did she pick the school she applied to

She applied because more than half of her school (including all her friends) were applying and its good for colleges.

[Anonymous]

tell her she can switch next year. encourage her to join an activity she is interested in even if its scary. reconnect with some middle school friends for something outside of school. its potentially an important learning experience for college— a lot of students have a similar experience if they are on the shyer side and start out in a new environment with close/established friends

[Anonymous]

by the end of the year she will not necessarily still want to switch

[Anonymous]

without long-time close friends*

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:tell her she can switch next year. encourage her to join an activity she is interested in even if its scary. reconnect with some middle school friends for something outside of school. its potentially an important learning experience for college— a lot of students have a similar experience if they are on the shyer side and start out in a new environment with close/established friends

Great advice.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for all the helpful advice and encouragement!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:tell her she can switch next year. encourage her to join an activity she is interested in even if its scary. reconnect with some middle school friends for something outside of school. its potentially an important learning experience for college— a lot of students have a similar experience if they are on the shyer side and start out in a new environment with close/established friends

Why would switching necessarily solve the problem?

Inherent in the design of DCPS/DCPCS is a great re-shuffling of kids between middle school and high school. Even if a kid continues to a feeder school, a bunch of others won't.

I don't like it, but I see no solution in the system we are given.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How did she pick the school she applied to

She applied because more than half of her school (including all her friends) were applying and its good for colleges.

More than half her school and all her friends applied but only 10 from her school and 1 friend are attending? Per the OP, OP.

Did she know that before deciding to go?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How did she pick the school she applied to

She applied because more than half of her school (including all her friends) were applying and its good for colleges.

More than half her school and all her friends applied but only 10 from her school and 1 friend are attending? Per the OP, OP.

Did she know that before deciding to go?

She found out that she and a friend got in and most of her friends got waitlisted but never ended up getting in. They are all at different schools now. Most kids from her middle school are at her in boundary school now.

[Anonymous]

op’s child is presumably inbounds for somewhere like JR or MacArthur where a decent number of her middle school friends did stay together. right now that to her looks a lot greener. having a couple of established close friends can be a really useful social springboard for someone who is relatively more introverted. saying stay for this year then we can reassess if you are still really unhappy is one possible compromise to just giving in and letting her switch now or to telling a very unhappy high schooler that she doesnt have agency its not her decision. if she perseveres through the next few months she will likely be happy enough to reenroll. if she is still after a full year truly unhappy and thinks switching will help solve the problem, then maybe that warrants serious consideration.

[Anonymous]

she may go to school without walls or banneker

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:tell her she can switch next year. encourage her to join an activity she is interested in even if its scary. reconnect with some middle school friends for something outside of school. its potentially an important learning experience for college— a lot of students have a similar experience if they are on the shyer side and start out in a new environment with close/established friends

Why would switching necessarily solve the problem?

Inherent in the design of DCPS/DCPCS is a great re-shuffling of kids between middle school and high school. Even if a kid continues to a feeder school, a bunch of others won't.

I don't like it, but I see no solution in the system we are given.

Yes. My kid had a friend who, senior year at JR, had to make new friends. They’d gone PK-12 in the JR pyramid. But nearly everyone from their friendship group (including my kid) went to private or application schools, or moved to the suburbs, or left the DC area. And then at the end of junior year this kid looked around and realized that all their close friends at JR were graduating seniors. That’s just how it is sometimes.