First-Time Middle School Parent – Seeking Survival Tips

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MS was 6th - 8th in our district.

As a rising 6th grade parent, I scheduled a very long meeting with the school counselor during summer break. I took my kid to the meeting and I basically asked for -
- 3 years of schedule - what would be taught when.
- Marked out which subjects would be considered HS credits.
- Timeline for any tests or exams that would be administered - MAPs , HSAs etc.
- All the options for electives and various permutation and combinations of subjects and how they would impact HS course selection.
- All low hanging fruits for MS.

I then put everything in a spreadsheet.

- I made sure that I had put my kids in varioys kinds of enrichment, EC activities before MS started.
- Made my kids take all the available ECs in after-school clubs
- Made sure that my kids started doing scholastic tournaments
- Made sure that my kids started amassing the SSL hours, also organizing community volunteer activities to enable other kids to get their community hours.
- Made sure that I dropped and picked up my kids (and often times their friends) by car. It allowed me to become friends with the parents of these children and eventually I was able to coach some STEM programs for these kids and take part in STEM competitions as a group.
- I packed two snacks - one for lunch and one for after school clubs.
- Kids showered at night. clothes were laid out at night, all assignments were completed and bags were ready at night.
- I was a volunteer at the school. I was very clued in about what was happening in the school.

This is a joke, right? Right?

You missed the second half of the post! There’s more to the list

[Anonymous]

This worked for us but it might not work for everyone. We put our kid in morning swim. He went before school and it woke him up for the day energized and forced him to shower well before school. It regulated the rest is the day and he was tired and ready for bed by a decent time.

In your case, dinner- practice- shower - bed. Nothing else scheduled for the evenings. The two other nights are homework nights and the third leftover night is family time (Friday). There will be more homework but it's not a lot. They also get a planning period/Win Time to work on homework during school hours. Unless your kid is taking Algebra or a foreign language in 7th grade, they should be fine.