Anonymous wrote:3/4 of the battle is organization. If your child is organized, you have very little to fear.

I hear soooo much about teaching middle school kids to be organized these days. Teachers start teaching them "organization skills" at least a year before they go off to middle school. I don't remember organization being pushed so much. I remember we just went off the middle school - no practicing with multiple binders, no planner.... we just managed to manage and did it fairly well. I think the way teacher stress organization has made things more complicated and harder.

It's so short: 1st year spent getting adjusted & 2nd year getting prepared to move on. It's a blink of the eye, and frankly, I don't think it matters too much - unless they/you hit any big bumps (not likely) You are smart to have paid attention to the high school thread. I think the most important thing to do in middle school is know as much as you can about the high school

Expect that your DC could have a rocky social or academic start. That's normal. But realize that starting MS can be a high stress transition point, and that a child with learning or mental health issues may not be able to compensate for the first time. If things aren't getting better after the first grading period or first semester, consider testing and/or intervention. We ended up with a new ADHD diagnosis November of 7th grade, which is apparently pretty common. Our psychologist said a new anxiety (or to a lesser extent depression) diagnosis also happens a lot.