Anonymous wrote:IMO middle school is not rigorous at all. In fact, if your child is above average academically, you’ll have to supplement at home if you want significant gain in knowledge.

I’ve also found school ran extracurriculars to be poorly organized and lame.

Get him involved in extracurriculars outside of school: be it a rec sports team, individual sport, children’s music ensemble, whatever he likes. He will have the time

+1
Some things my kids or their friends have done in middle school over the years, off the top of my head : organized sports teams (rec or travel), dance classes, fitness classes, boys choral group, martial arts, rock climbing classes, various private music lessons, babysitting certification classes, cycling group, part time work- babysitting, petsitting or umpiring for younger age groups of little league, theater, kids golf lessons or golf team, tennis lessons, summer/rec or club swim

DS' school offers a lot of opportunities, we are lucky in that respect, and it's allowed him to try all sorts of things that he didn't have exposure to or time for before. Having them right after school, in the same building, has been the key for a lot of this. So far he's done 2 years on the cross country team, the 3D printing club, right now he's in the school musical, and he's going to do the track team in the spring. Like others have said, MS isn't generally that rigorous and we are using this time to really explore new interests.

IMO middle school is not rigorous at all. In fact, if your child is above average academically, you’ll have to supplement at home if you want significant gain in knowledge.

I’ve also found school ran extracurriculars to be poorly organized and lame.

Get him involved in extracurriculars outside of school: be it a rec sports team, individual sport, children’s music ensemble, whatever he likes. He will have the time

What has he tried previously?
Kids change so much at the MS age.

Try martial arts.

Many public middle schools offer extracurricular clubs right after school, which makes everything easier logistically and builds connection to the school. They range from drop-in (running club, debate club, art, dungeons and dragons) to larger commitments for parts of the year (cast or tech for school play). If your school offers something similar, I would look tell your child to try something before looking outside of school.

Visarts in Rockville and The ArtLeague in Alexandria are two places for art classes that I recommend.

As for homework, I think the first semester of middle school can be a transition as they are changing classes and are responsible for organizing themselves. Schools vary widely on how much homework they give and so there is no simple answer on how hard it will be for your son to juggle.

We have a rule DD has to do at least 1 physical extracurricular and 1 non-physical/academic/other extracurricular as we think she needs to learn to balance activities.

Note that Clubs at her school -- any many others -- take place during the school day.

The school emphasized executive functioning skills and spent a lot of time teaching 6th graders how to manage themselves and their time so the transition was not a big deal.

Then again, my child is generally well-organized and self-motivated so I did not need to do much oversight of her and her work. I think DD found the changing social dynamics and affiliated drama to be more challenging than the increased workload, tbh, but ymmw.

May I know what extra curricular activity may be appropriate for Middle school kids. DS loves art . other than that no interest in any other stuff .I would like to explore what other kids are doing and check with him if he might be interested ?

Really depends where you are. Middle school where we are was not hard at all. The only difference is that the kids start keeping track of their own tests/due dates. But the work was completely manageable and they almost never had homework. It really didn’t get hard until HS AP classes.

Hi All,
My DS hasn't been consistent with any extra curricular activities. He will be in Middle school next year, I have heard that Middle school is rigorous with home works ,assessments, clubs etc.,. I was wondering even if I start new extra curricular next year will he be able to focus with all the extras. would like to know what extra curricular other Middle school kids are into ? and whether they can manage to do all ?. Kindly pour in your suggestions . Thanks in Advance !.