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Dh is very worried about middle school as am I, and dd is going into first for a trial period...

Yes. DD is starting at the GATE school this year. I worry about her eye convergence issues getting in the way of her learning. I worry about mean girls in her class. I worry that she is going to get a stinker for a teacher.
*sigh*

Yes, this exactly. DD chose not to attempt a subject acceleration (which I think was a wise choice, at least for the short term - I gave her some end-of-4th math so she could self-assess, and she was running at about 75% when she said she didn't want to do math over the summer), so will be a "normal" 4th grader this coming year.

I have learned the entire school will have math at the same time! The only unknown is what time that is... Since kinder is only 1/2 day, will ds be comfortble with his class only to be switched to the afternoon class to get that block OR will there be other kids like him for them to block in class ( I highly doubt it). I think I will ask before school even starts and make that switch right away.

For the first time, I am not nervous! I am a little excited even since DS will start the year with the same group of kids he knew last year. DS7 had a great second half of 2nd grade last year after transferring to this school, and he'll be moving to 3rd with all the same kids. I'm hopeful that all the teachers in this little HG school within a school will be of the same caliber or at least the same philosophy of teaching HG kids as the second grade teacher. And since 2nd grade teacher is the next classroom down from 3rd grade teacher, if there are issues, they can chat.

DS7 made a funny comment the other day. He spotted a Hanna Andersson catalog that said "Back to School" on it. He said, "This is disgusting. It's nowhere NEAR school time. No one's going to buy any of that stuff."

Ours is to be 45 min SHORTER this year. Budget cuts, you know. My middle schooler's day will be from 7:40-1:40, not including her bus ride. High school is from 8-2 and elementary lasts from 8:50-3:20. The good thing about that schedule is that the youngest gets home last.

I'm having mixed emotions. DS6 will have the teacher who was so unhelpful with DD9 re her 2e issues. DS6 is a different kid -- so far no academic challenges (other than boredom) -- but I'm still nervous. DD9 will have my favorite teacher in the GT program so we are expecting great things. DD11 was having some weird anxiety about going back to school and being bored. We ran into her teacher for next year and DD seems reassured. As for me, I'm looking at starting a job search and dreading it.

DD8 will be starting grade 4 at her new school. She 'visited' for three weeks in June and seemed to like it fine and made new friends. She is less stressed about the move and is enjoying her summer instead of worrying. I am quite nervous because I heard there will only be one class of 34 students!! Hoping and praying for a big influx of grade 3-5's so they have to do a split class. A 4/5 split would be so ideal for her! Even her pediatrician is concerned for her and was pushing us to consider private schools if the class ends up staying that size. Her inattentive ADD would be a horrible mix with a large class.

Ditto.

I am feeling a little crazy about my nervousness to the extent that I thought about contacting our educational psychologist just to go in for my own private consultation.

The decisions about schooling my child have been some of the hardest decisions I have ever made in my life. What if we think this will be a good situation and it isn�t? (We are moving our DS from his current school within our community to a HG school in a neighboring district) What if DS is not happy? (While my DS does not fit in his current environment, it is familiar and close � he is a relatively happy kid, but he has adapted a lot to his learning environment) What if all these changes are too much for him? (He was subject accelerated in K, grade accelerate mid year in 1st and now will be at a new school. He also will be one of the youngest kids because the program starts at 3rd grade and he was grade accelerated. It is also a 3/4 cluster). What if these changes are too much for us as a family? (All in all, we have a good relationship with our current district and I think we are respected in our community � they have attempted to work with us, they just simply cannot provide what he needs. Also, the commute will be a big challenge.)

But, I guess I just want that normal environment for him � where his gifts are celebrated instead of tolerated and his way of thinking is normal and encouraged � but I am still nervous about taking the step that I hope will get us closer to a good fit. I hope to be in St. Pauli Girl�s situation next year!