Anyone else nervous about the upcoming school year?

Nah, just wait and see! Last year in our school's gifted program for the first year, my son had the best year he's had in 5 years of schooling! For 5th grade, he will be in the 7th grade vocab book and 6th grade math book. The teacher is supposed to be "really tough," but hopefully it will work out.

I'm excited, but a little nervous. DS will start homeschooling for real in a few weeks, so it's a huge step for all of us. I am hoping DD gets a teacher who is a good fit for her; I'm nervous she will be envious of her big brother.

Nervous and excited. DS4.11 starts half day public Kindergarten in 2 weeks! There will be times when he'll be super bored and pretending to not know stuff (like Math) but "fortunately" his fine motor skills are still lacking and he's had zero interest in reading so far so he'll have something to keep him busy. I'm giving it 2 months before we get to the point of thinking about pulling him out. But I hope he lasts longer! Come winter, his health issues will start popping up again and he'll spend more time at home than at school. But I NEED him in school for now so I have the free time (and quiet house) to work on DS3.4's problems. It's pretty much impossible to do while the older tornado's constantly running around and talking. ... but yes ... VERY nervous! More for myself than for him! lol

A little wistful and apprehensive.

DD14's last year of secondary, and I'm feeling:

a) a little scared because her AP Statistics textbook is mediocre at best, and her teacher has a (notoriously) poor grasp on... er... English... and does not 'teach' the class. It's all me, and I just hope that I can offer instruction that will match up with the class assessments well enough that she has a genuine chance to earn an A. My conscience may get in the way.

b) she's our only child, and she'll graduate from high school this coming June.

c) COLLEGE HUNT. JOB HUNT... HOUSING HUNT... MAJOR TRAVEL... (cue flaming-haired screaming smiley here)... DD's extracurricular commitments... volunteer activities...

d) how to keep her engaged and in the game through a senior year with only two "real" classes in it... yowza.

Solaris,
Reading this brought a big smile to my face. I am just about to start the journey - my son is turning 5 this month and we will be homeschooling. I hope to create for him what you are creating for your son - time to be himself. So I just wanted to "stop by" and say: "Great work, mom. It must be great to be your son!"
Stefanie

edited for clarity

Yes. DS11 is about to enter middle school for the first time and is entering 7th grade (skipping 6th). He's excited but also nervous, understandably.

Nervous and excited. School has started. Ds6 is enjoying school so far:) Hope this continues!

We've been going two weeks already - home/virtual school. We need to make progress because we've got lots of travel plans for when most kids are in school.

Yes, very apprehensive, but hoping the GIEP that we have in place now will make a difference. Hoping that 1st won't be as "mind-numbingly boring" for my son and that the teacher is more open to differentiated work than his K teacher, whose lack of responsiveness caused a whole slew of emotional issues.

We're sending DD8 back to the same school system that has already failed her twice, so yeah, we're nervous. Homeschooling allowed us to effect the grade skip they refused, and the G/T hours increase in 4th grade, so there are reasons to think it'll be different... but "different" doesn't necessarily mean "successful."

I am!!! My dd8 is going to have another stellar year at her TAG school. We ran into her teacher last week and they have a genuine connection. I love to see that!

My ds6, on the other hand, might not have such a great year. He is at the neighborhood public school. We had him signed up for a beautiful, new charter school with a wonderful philosophy. We were so excited about this school and then their lease fell through and they are moving 25 minutes away from our house in the opposite direction of dd's school. There is no way we can send him to the charter school and have a stress free year. We are considering doing K12 online school but I am not sure what the right thing to do is. The neighborhood school is a good school. It is filled with caring teachers and his upcoming teacher is a parent of gifted children, so she gets it. They will accelerate him into 2nd grade math.
We're in flux!

Yes. DS8 and DD5 are transferring to the district magnet and will be in all-GT classes for first time. DS8 is transferring from a school with friends he loved. DD5 is starting public after being in a private school all the way through Kinder. Feeling fortunate they will both be in the same school for the first time in a few years but nervous about how how they will do. To top it off DD5 is going through a HUGE clingy phase right now that is sort of worrying me. Oh well, I am sure this too shall pass.
Good luck to all!

Oh, we have one of those, too! DS will turn 11 two weeks into the school year, and is skipping 6th, officially. Technically he skipped 5th, since most of his classes were 6th last year, but he was classified as a 5th grader on paper. He was in the MS for most everything last year, so he knows where everything is, and knows people -- it would be more nervous-making if he didn't!

It's also scary and exciting because he wants to go out for track this year -- his first foray into the sports world. But he's going to balance it out with knowledge bowl.

We have registration on Wednesday this week.

Terrified. DD11 starts middle school (6th) in our local public, the system that gave her a complete breakdown in 3rd. She's graduated from a lovely gifted private, and I just hope that having been seen and loved for who she truly is can insulate her emotionally from the bureaucracy of the school and the pettiness of the other 250 6th graders.

Academically she decided against taking the 'skip 7' math test since there are some topics she hasn't had yet, which means she's not guaranteed the chance for any acceleration at all. If her particular teacher feels like dealing with the program, she can have 6th grade assessments and 7th grade math instruction in preparation for the skip 7 test next spring. (There is no 'skip 6.') If the teacher finds it inconvenient she can choose not to have her class participate, and only offer the test to those scoring 100% plus extra credit/optional problems. Given her slow output in language arts I think the chances of having the time to really wow the math teacher are minimal. But if it goes well and she gets one of the better teachers, she could have actual instruction, a quality problem-solving curriculum as enrichment through the school, and wind up in a class next year with agemates who are peers. She is starting to hate standing out and so this matters to her.

So, terrified. Huge positive potential, huge negative potential, no control, and we don't find out who her teacher is until the first day of school.

New administration in the elementary school. Hoping that works out for our younger son and his promised acceleration in math. Older son is going into 8th and should do fine.

We once again have a teacher taking maternity leave, which kind of stinks for this class of kids, the first two years of their schooling in a row. Ah well. The teacher will be there a lot and is supposed to be very organized and demanding, which sounds promising actually. We'll see if she really differentiates enough, but that's the hallmark of this charter, gifted standards and differentiation, and while we had to get into things last year, what with a sub at the start and the whole just getting used to school thing, we're going to give first grade a go and see if they really let DD do her thing, or not.

Nervous. Moving to middle school (unknown administrators!), won't know the results of the math re-test until right before schedule pick-up, also need to contact the (unknown) counselors to arrange a schedule change out of band and into orchestra with unknown timing for the evaluation that will put her into some level of orchestra (kids with prior experience can be placed into one of three levels; DD's private lesson teacher will have input into it, and she loves DD and always Bragg's on her to other teachers). Schedule pickup is 9 days out.

Guardedly optimistic. DS 4 is starting preschool. Academically he is way beyond preschool but he is still a four year old. He needs to continue to improve his fine motor and continue to learn how to get along in a classroom setting. His private school has a new head this year that comes from a gifted education background and seems to be really excited to work with us and promises us that DS will receive the differentiation that he needs. Fingers crossed! On the plus side DS is SO excited to go back to school. He is counting down the days!

Update- after the first 2 days of school (which were good), already seeing intolerance from ds6. "Stupid worksheet that was for babies" and really major behavior problems after school:(
Not sure how long to wait, before addressing with school. Asking for patience from ds. This is hard. I'm getting scared.

Approaching it with mixed feelings DD8 will be skipping 3rd grade and entering 4th in a few short weeks. She will be with a teacher that she already spent some accelerated English classes with last year. The 4th grade team at this school have a reputation for being a very strong and supportive team. Fingers crossed - hoping that DD will make a smooth transition.

I am kinda worried that given her speed of learning that she may still surge ahead and require more skips/difficult decisions down the pike but ready to give this a whirl first...

I am excited, hopeful and just a touch anxious. My DD10 is skipping 5th grade to 6th grade. I hope it does for her what we need. My gifted DD8 is going to homeschool for the first time with my husband working on his Doctorate. I am looking forward to the experience. My DD/S 7 twins are going to have real homework for the first time and I am not looking forward to that. Extra-curriculars are in high gear this year.

It's mid year for us, but I am starting partial homeschooling as of tomorrow, so it's also a "new" start for us. I am excited, relieved and anxious all at once.

Well, the school hasn't even started and already had an issue today. Some of you might remember our dilemma regarding DS3.4 back in the spring how we pulled him out of school speech and occupational therapy because he was shutting down and it was driving him absolutely crazy ... and we declined the schools offer to put him in special ed preschool back then and same for the fall. The last convo I had with the special ed lady was that we will "revisit" the topic after the summer and that we might consider some of the therapy if we see fit but not the preschool ... and what do you know. Today, a knock on the door and a preschool bus driver came to introduce herself telling me she's the one who'll be driving DS3.4 to preschool. All I could say was ... what? preschool? when? where? huh? ... I felt so bad for her but so furious over the whole situation! Apparently he got signed up for preschool even though we didn't want it. Soooo, I emailed the special ed director that apparently there's some sort of misunderstanding because he is NOT going! I had to really hold back on what I wanted to write but it's the same lady that's putting together health accommodations for DS4.11 so I don't want to stir up too much drama ... but WHAT THE ???

I'm trying to be excited and I'm hopeful, but I'm also worried.

We had a meeting, with this year's teachers and principal, at the end of last year for DD9. One teacher seemed very understanding and even excited to have DD in her class. She asked a lot of questions about what has worked and what hasn't, and even took notes. The other teacher - eh, not so much! She shuffled through some of the paperwork we brought in and sat with a scowl on her face. This other teacher has had DD in her class before and it was a bad combination! This was before the GIEP and before DD was even tested. So I guess I'm hopeful that this particular teacher will be more informed and understanding this time around. DD9 will have another "core subject" teacher that she also had last year and that was another bad combination. So it looks like we are going to be 1 out of 3 this year in terms of teachers for DD9.

DD7 will have two choices for 2nd grade - 1. the teacher DD9 had that did a good job in understanding differentiation and helped turn DD9's bad experience from 1st grade back around 2. a teacher that likes to do a lot of art projects and the like, and makes spelling errors whenever she sends out any emails or letters home. We aren't talking a typo every once in a while, which I could understand. Just use spell check or something please - it drives me crazy!

Yep. Common Core has corrupted our system and dedicated GT classrooms are on the way out at the elementary level.

1frugalmom, that sounds frustrating. At least that one teacher seems to be excited! Could be awesome.

The typos in the newsletters I reviewed on the first grade teacher's site (from last year) made me concerned but I kept reading and really liked the level of care and engagement and challenge she was vibing. But man, typos are distracting and really do make you look bad! This is the person teaching my daughter spelling, right? Online I type only on my phone but when I'm working? As an English teacher? I obsessively check communications home. I hope it's just because this teacher writes to parents a LOT, so she rushes sometimes. Communication is good!

Extremely nervous here, dd 12 is going into 8th in the middle school (new school), and going back into the classroom on a modified day schedule for the first time in three years. She has CF, AS and GAD and has already expressed concern the other kids will make fun of her because of her pallilalia (repeating what she says under her breath). On the upside, I've been impressed with the administration thus far, which is a nice change, and she is excited about it overall.

Oh, yes! We are still 3.5 weeks away from the start... and I am barely sleeping.

DD10 (almost 11with ADHD, dyslexia, dysgraphia and anxiety) had a fantastic year in grade 5. Seriously, the best of her life! She has great accommodations in place and is beginning to advocate for herself. She is busy with her extra-curricular all-girls science club, gymnastics and will be starting percussion in the school band. Grade 6 is her last year in elementary school. I so badly want her good teacher streak to last this year. She is finally in a good place in terms of her self-confidence.

DS4 (almost 5) is starting full-day primary this year. This is where most of my anxiety stems from. DD had the most horrendous primary year. Our whole family was scarred from that year. The thought of going through that kind of a struggle again with DS is scary. But, we are doing everything possible to ensure a better year for him. We are in a different and wonderful school, he has been working with an OT for the past year, the school is well-aware of all of our concerns, and he just had his psych assessment yesterday (with our amazing private psychologist). He has so many red flags for learning disabilities, anxiety, SPD and OCD that we could not send him to school without more information. To be honest, the gifted part is not even my main concern. If it ends up that he is, add it to the list. Our #1 main concern is helping him be comfortable in the classroom.

Every year is the same. We tiptoe around the new teachers, trying to get a read on them before starting to advocate. Deathly afraid to step on any toes lest we offend someone, but trying to get our child what they need to succeed. It is like trying to fake the steps to a complicated school-board ballet. And I am a terrible dancer.

We got the teachers we hoped for!!!

DD9 will still have Mrs. Scowl-face for certain subjects, but not as a homeroom teacher. DD7 was disappointed she didn't get the artsy-fartsy teacher that can't spell because she heard that teacher is more fun, has more class parties, and hands out more treats. Sorry to tell you dear daughter, but that is not what school is about and was one of the reasons why I didn't really care for you to be in that class - she will get over it I hope!

Now I'm worried about how introducing Common Core and going totally digital is going to work this school year. It could get hairy!

SO true.

Every year I hope and smile... and deep down, I also fear.

DS6 got the teacher we both hoped for. The one that already knows him and he knows her. She was involved in the decision to skip him and she has a gifted DD of her own. Hopefully it will help the double jump go smoothly!!!! I'm still nervous, but it has calmed me a bit. DS is going back and forth between being excited for school to start and wanting another month or 2 of summer. He has no hesitation about the jump, at least not that he has let on to.

I feel the need to repeatedly pinch myself. The beautiful charter school that was too far from home lost their lease and found a new one. 3/4 of a mile from my home and on the way to dd's school.

DS is on his was to a stellar year!

Not worried about DD. All three 4th grade teachers are supposed to be awesome and she'll divide her time anyway.

Very worried about DS, who will be starting kindergarten and who was very close to completely refusing preschool last year due to boredom. He had a great summer at camp--no problems at all--but continues to talk about how boring and awful preschool was. He is not excited about school at all, though I can get him interested in the ideas of chess, PE, art, and music. Also, I was hoping to see a bit more emotional maturation this summer in terms of not getting sad over stuff (he deosn't tantrum or anything but he cries a lot) and if anything, he is more emotional now than before. More existential stuff.

I'm worried about

1) math instruction
2) figuring out a way to help DS9 develop his executive function skills in the classroom
3) the fact that 5th grade only has 1 recess (not 2 like K-4)

Hoping teacher has a plan for at least one.

My son had one recess a week as a second grader.

After lots of lurking around this site, I'm stepping out to say I'm very excited about the upcoming school year. My DSs(twins, 8) will be entering a district wide, stand alone "highly gifted" program which starts in 3rd grade.

I'm optimistic that this accelerated curriculum program will be a good fit for my kids. Certainly at least one DS has done nothing but coast through school so far. He is so used to minimal effort on his part being more than adequate for most school assignments, that he has been increasingly in the habit of working well under ability. I think my sons will respond well to higher expectations of what they can/should be able to do.

Nervous and excited as DS will start 2nd in the only public full time gifted school in the area (see my other threads on this drama!).

I feel like I'm putting all my eggs in one basket with this school because if it's not a good match then there isn't another option.

DS went to a one-day engineering camp at the local uni and it just so happened that the leader is a 3rd grade teacher at his new school and he also bonded with a boy who is a student there (4th grader). The teacher said she could see why he is coming to the school and will keep her eye out for him

Meet and greet is in a couple weeks. We find out who his teacher will be hopefully in the next few days.

My DD will be starting K at the regular elementary. She is bright but not sure if she is gifted yet. There is no reason to privately test her right now, although she is about a year ahead of her peers. She is used to full time preschool and will be going to half day K.

Mixed feelings here. DD5 is starting kindergarten at a small private school that seems to understand gifted kids, but she is a hard nut to crack and hides her abilities to fit the situation too well. Hopefully she'll get a good teacher who sees her for all she is.

DD10 is starting at Davidson, so she is anxious about not really being smart enough to be here, but excited to be here too. Hoping the transition isn't too overwhelming for her.

I am (tentatively) excited for DS's 4th grade year. It will be our second year in the charter school, and our first year with an IEP in place! We love the Spec. Ed. teacher(s) and the administration and nurse were all great last year. I am hopeful he gets good teachers again this year that are up for working with him! He's still not in the gifted program, but hopefully we can sort that out this year with the IEP in place. I'm also happy that they sort of re-organized the school so that 4th grade is on the side of the building with K-3rd, instead of the upper grades. (Last year one side was K-3, the other was 4-11, no 12th grade then... this year it's K-4 on one side, and 5-12 on the other.)

DD7 starts at the Charter school and I'm curious to see how it'll go for her. The charter school has seemed a bit ahead of the public school, academically, and DD7 is pretty hard-core ADHD, so we'll see how that goes. (Adderall to the rescue!)

DH and I were explaining to DS5 at dinner that they will give him some tests to see what he can do when he starts kindergarten.

DS: So you mean, to see if I can read, of course. And math. Like, they might ask me...two plus two? No, they wouldn't ask me that. That's way too easy. Two TIMES two? No, that's too easy, too. I know! They'll probably ask me nine times nine! Nine times nine is 81.

DD9: Mama? Why do you and Dada both have that look on your face?