What would you plan for 8th grader going to PS high school?

[Annie Laurie]

I'm planning my dd's 8th grade year, she will be going to a charter school for high school after this year so I'm wondering if there is a study skills course someone would recommend or just a list of things you would want your child to know before transitioning? She has always been homeschooled.

 

She takes math online and gets good grades so I feel confident she will be prepared in that subject. She reads a lot and has a broad knowledge base. She loves creative writing, but balked at academic writing in the past, so she knows we need to focus on that this year.

 

Any other thoughts on what she needs to know?

[Momling]

My 8th grader is headed to public high school too.  I have the same exact questions!

[redsquirrel]

My son had his first year of pubic school last year as a 9th grader.  Honestly, if your kid is doing typical 8th grade 'stuff' he or she is going to be just fine.  Really. Not having done much academic writing, or not particularly liking it, are fairly normal for a lot of 8th graders. That won't surprise the teachers. OTOH, if your kid is super great at academic writing, I doubt that would surprise the teachers either. The teachers seemed to be used to dealing with kids with a wide variety of skills. And every year they get kids who are new to the school system for a variety of reasons, so your kid won't stand out. The job of the teachers is to teach them. If your kid does his or her homework and puts in good effort, it will be just fine.

 

The biggest challenge for my kid?  Adjusting to the every day grind of 'school life'.  We are a family with a lot of routine, so it's not like he wasn't familiar with it. But, he had to get up at the exact right time with no wiggle room every single day. He had to remember his lunch...I had to learn to shop with packed lunches in mind! Getting used to carrying a backpack, getting the binders that the teachers asked for but making sure they weren't too heavy for him to carry around all day.  Gym class, I had to get him sneakers with white soles..that was a pain.  He had to remember to bring gym clothes and for part of the year a bathing suit and towel.  Those sorts of things were the hardest parts of 9th grade, I swear to god! The academics were fine! He met some really nice kids and has some good friends. Nothing horrible happened, I promise.

 

Ok, maybe one couple thing: Assign homework to be done outside of your regular school time. That was something I did in the 8th grade year, assigned stuff that he had to do on his own time. It was a good preparation for high school. If you already to this, then no worries! FWIW, I know for a fact that the local middle schools don't assign much homework. The high school OTOH....  So, the vast majority of the 9th graders were learning to adjust.  But, it was good for my kid to learn to have to think after dinner "do I have any reading due tomorrow? Maybe I should do that now."

 

 

[Annie Laurie]

My son had his first year of pubic school last year as a 9th grader.  Honestly, if your kid is doing typical 8th grade 'stuff' he or she is going to be just fine.  Really. Not having done much academic writing, or not particularly liking it, are fairly normal for a lot of 8th graders. That won't surprise the teachers. OTOH, if your kid is super great at academic writing, I doubt that would surprise the teachers either. The teachers seemed to be used to dealing with kids with a wide variety of skills. And every year they get kids who are new to the school system for a variety of reasons, so your kid won't stand out. The job of the teachers is to teach them. If your kid does his or her homework and puts in good effort, it will be just fine.

 

The biggest challenge for my kid?  Adjusting to the every day grind of 'school life'.  We are a family with a lot of routine, so it's not like he wasn't familiar with it. But, he had to get up at the exact right time with no wiggle room every single day. He had to remember his lunch...I had to learn to shop with packed lunches in mind! Getting used to carrying a backpack, getting the binders that the teachers asked for but making sure they weren't too heavy for him to carry around all day.  Gym class, I had to get him sneakers with white soles..that was a pain.  He had to remember to bring gym clothes and for part of the year a bathing suit and towel.  Those sorts of things were the hardest parts of 9th grade, I swear to god! The academics were fine! He met some really nice kids and has some good friends. Nothing horrible happened, I promise.

 

Ok, maybe one couple thing: Assign homework to be done outside of your regular school time. That was something I did in the 8th grade year, assigned stuff that he had to do on his own time. It was a good preparation for high school. If you already to this, then no worries! FWIW, I know for a fact that the local middle schools don't assign much homework. The high school OTOH....  So, the vast majority of the 9th graders were learning to adjust.  But, it was good for my kid to learn to have to think after dinner "do I have any reading due tomorrow? Maybe I should do that now."

 

This is awesome! Thank you.

[Lanny]

Carrying heavy textbooks in her backpack will not be good for her. The Biology textbook DD will use for 9th grade weighs almost 6 pounds. Better a pack with wheels, but the kids don't seem to use those...   DD had one of those, when she was in a brick and mortar school for K4, K5 and First grade.   Probably a very long day, because she will have homework to do and maybe she will stay in school for after school activities some days.  

[TheApprentice]

My son will be going to 9th grade this fall as well. I had him take an online class that was live so that he could practice sitting still for 90 minutes and taking notes without the availability of pushing pause. He also took a government class because the word around the school is that this was a hard course for freshman, and it is a must pass. I also had him write more essays and real deadlines. He also practiced his time management skills. I think he'll be fine academically. I really concerned about all the "distractions" (petty and real) that the student has to deal with daily.

[redsquirrel]

Carrying heavy textbooks in her backpack will not be good for her. The Biology textbook DD will use for 9th grade weighs almost 6 pounds. Better a pack with wheels, but the kids don't seem to use those...   DD had one of those, when she was in a brick and mortar school for K4, K5 and First grade.   Probably a very long day, because she will have homework to do and maybe she will stay in school for after school activities some days.  

 

I was told FIRMLY that a backpack with wheels is for elementary aged children. I don't even know if they have one sized for older kids. We did get ds1 a backpack from LL Bean that was sized for teenagers. His old one was for younger kids.

 

And my son had several 6lb textbooks. They all came home the first two days of school and were on the bookshelf at home. He used them often enough, especially the science book, but rarely in class. He was specifically told to bring the book home and leave it there. If the book was needed at school, which is almost never was, there were plenty of copies in the room available. On the last day of school I drove him to school so he didn't have to carry them all back at once. I wish the school would switch to electronic textbooks for home. That would be so much easier.

 

Don't make a homework place if you don't already have one. You might find that when school starts your child finds a place that works for them that you hadn't considered, lol.  I think it is sweet that ds1 does all his homework exactly where he did his homeschool work: right at the dining room table.

 

Be prepared for your student to need access to a computer and printer on a regular basis. My son didn't need to take down assignments etc because every single assignment was available to him electronically on several different platforms. Every single teacher sent out daily emails to every class with that day's assignment. We had to get my son an email address for that.  Gmail was fine. Almost all teachers used Edmodo as well, but one used Blackboard.  At first I was horrified by all the tech needed, but then I loved it. No more questions about what is due and when. No worries about lost assignment sheets. On the rare occasion ds1 lost his weekly assignment sheet from a teacher (he is actually pretty good about not losing things) he could print out a new one in a moment.  His geometry teacher could sent home a pre-test assignment and then post an answer key so ds could check his answers. That meant that DH could go over his wrong answers with him. His English teacher posted all assigned short stories as PDF on Edmodo, so if a student left it at home it could be accessed online.  Novels were not available

 

DS1 had to turn in lots and lots of homework electronically. Most was via Google Docs. He had never heard of google docs before the first day of school and it took him about 5 mins to learn. I should have him teach me, lol.

 

I was going to buy ds1 his own laptop for next year, but then I found out that every student from grade 6 and up is getting a chromebook. The Chromebook is coming pre-loaded with apps specifically for his schoolwork. We have been told that if you don't want your kid to have one, they will have to go to the office every day and sign one out etc because they are being used in the classroom and are considered necessary.  I was going to get him his own chromebook (had thought about it last year) but the apps make it specific to his school work, so I am not going to bother.

[wapiti]

Carrying heavy textbooks in her backpack will not be good for her. The Biology textbook DD will use for 9th grade weighs almost 6 pounds. Better a pack with wheels, but the kids don't seem to use those... 

 

FWIW, the wheeled backbacks usually won't fit into lockers.  My dd had a wheeled backpack in middle school (she has had back trouble) but we are shopping for a regular backpack for high school.  She is not allowed to bring the backpack to class so it must fit in the locker.  While there are several giant texts on her list, they are all available on iPad, which she's also required to have.  We are buying electronic versions only - amazingly, there are virtually no books she needs for this year that only come in hard copy.  (I ordered the novels but she's annoyed with the print size and she found electronic copies on line)

[...................]

Calvert grade 8...will teach her writing, study skills, lit analysis and all the school-y stuff she needs

[starwarsmomma]

My oldest went back to Public HS last year (then a 9th grader) after being homeschooled for 2-8th.

 

Here's the things we dealt with OUR school-- YMMV.

(DFW SCHOOL)

 

 

A few things-- our school doesn't have books.  Seriously.  I freaked out.  The teachers do their own thing, or they use tablets.  The kids go online and "google" to find answers.  I really wish I was exaggerating, but I am not...  Each teacher has their own "website" with lesson notes and assignments posted.  He read ONE "real" book the entire school year-- To kill a Mockingbird.  He did do some Shakespeare study, but that was all photocopied papers he studied.

 

No math book.  at all.  Teacher had her own lesson plan and she did more (busy work) worksheets than I could count.

 

Their history included muslim studies.  I had to have conversations with the teacher for clarification of what would be discussed.  Be prepared to do the same if you are concerned of any conflict with your religion...

 

backpacks are allowed in/out of schools but BANNED going from class to class.  

 

He never needed a backpack.  He had a modern version of a trapper keeper.  It worked fine and was all he ever needed.

 

He struggled a little bit in math only because he was SO used to having material/book to reference and the change messed with his head.  Alot.  (Note, we should have prepped him for Algebra 1 better also)

 

He is a severely dyslexic kiddo and ended up the school year with a solid B average.  NO accommodations.

He passed his Texas state testing first try, no issues.  (we never once "prepped" at home for this)

 

His biggest issue -- which we both expected-- was the culture shock of high school.  He actually admitted that he had this idea in his head that high school would be like what he's seen on Nick and Disney shows and it wasn't even close.  LOL  

 

He's had a bit of a problem dealing with high school "drama".  He's not a kid that does well with drama, and there's always someone having major issues that no 14 or 15 year old should be dealing with.  He struggles with that.  (for example-- his first girlfriend -- her parents went to jail for extortion and she was left alone taking care of her younger brothers and sisters.  CPS got involved and it was VERY difficult for everyone)  

[73349]

- Calendar management. If it's not already on her to know that her writing assignment is due Friday, there's a history test to study for Thursday, and the science project is going to last all month but you will not be able to do a good job unless you start putting in a half hour a day today, now is the time.

 

- Nobody mentioned operating a combination lock yet. Some people pick it up quickly, but others will benefit from more practice. When you have three minutes to get to the other end of the building, you need to be able to get it by the second try.

[Ali in OR]

Dd transitioned to public high school after homeschooling k-8 last year and it went very smoothly. Most of what I would say has already been mentioned. One thing we did regarding heavy school books was buy a copy for home. I was pleasantly surprised to find a used copy of her math book at Amazon that was less than $10 including shipping. She kept the school copy in her locker and used it in class and our copy at home for homework. I've already purchased next year's math book, and the chemistry book too, all cheap. And as a homeschooler I'm used to the idea of buying books so it just isn't a big deal to me. They don't adopt new books very often here (these are copyrighted around 2006 I think), so hopefully I'll be able to use at least some of them for youngest dd in a few years.