Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here's one bit of advice for a year from now... if your 8th grader might be interested in playing a fall sport in high school, tryouts are mandatory and begin much earlier than you'd expect-- this year Blair's tryouts begin around Aug. 14, and it was earlier last year. My kids had rising 9th grade friends who missed the opportunity to be on a fall sport team because their parents had planned camps or vacations for the second half of August, and they missed tryouts. (It may not seem like a big deal now, but making friends and getting to know the campus during the couple of weeks before starting high school does a lot to mitigate anxiety about moving into such a big and overwhelming school environment.)
In terms of pools, there are almost certainly waitlists for the pools that tend to have students from your schools (Daleview, Franklin Knolls, Northwest Branch). Good luck!

Thanks. So 9th grade tryouts are August before 9th grade?

Anonymous wrote:Here's one bit of advice for a year from now... if your 8th grader might be interested in playing a fall sport in high school, tryouts are mandatory and begin much earlier than you'd expect-- this year Blair's tryouts begin around Aug. 14, and it was earlier last year. My kids had rising 9th grade friends who missed the opportunity to be on a fall sport team because their parents had planned camps or vacations for the second half of August, and they missed tryouts. (It may not seem like a big deal now, but making friends and getting to know the campus during the couple of weeks before starting high school does a lot to mitigate anxiety about moving into such a big and overwhelming school environment.)
In terms of pools, there are almost certainly waitlists for the pools that tend to have students from your schools (Daleview, Franklin Knolls, Northwest Branch). Good luck!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks for the tips. The aftercare one was gold! We are now on the waitlist and praying for a spot. We are going to Eastern & Pine Crest this year. Then the older one to Blair or some other DCC option next year. The 8th grader is in AAU basketball with kids mostly from Maryland. But yeah, 8th grade is going to be a rough transition, but we are playing the long game.

Pine Crest will be fine, but Eastern is going to be the tough one. Both schools have magnet programs, and the Eastern one tends to be pretty clique-ish, if only because they don’t have a ton of classes with non-magnet kids. The magnet classes naturally have more interaction built in than the non-magnet ones generally do, so the magnet kids get to know each other pretty well by 8th.

I’d highly suggest some school clubs and activities to try to break into established groups—theater would be a good one, if they’re into that, or there’s a pretty solid math team.

The cafeteria has always been a mess, loud and overcrowded, but they generally don’t mind if kids find a classroom with a teacher present to eat in. The halls can get chaotic, too, but my kid quickly figured out which routes avoided crowds and potential problems. The library was their oasis.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks for the tips. The aftercare one was gold! We are now on the waitlist and praying for a spot. We are going to Eastern & Pine Crest this year. Then the older one to Blair or some other DCC option next year. The 8th grader is in AAU basketball with kids mostly from Maryland. But yeah, 8th grade is going to be a rough transition, but we are playing the long game.

Anonymous wrote:We are making the move over the summer. Hoping for greener pastures. One child starting 8th. One 4th.

Any tips on how to get them settled and started in the new environment? Any MoCo specific quirks we should be aware of? Any tips for getting to know the parent communities ? Etc

Thanks in advance.