nervous about the upcoming school year?

Yes! DD10 will be in the highest grade at her current school, and I'm worried about the lack of academic peers.

Yes two words...

middle

school

dd just said this evening "I wish school would just start already so I wouldn't have to worry about it anymore"

i am worried about DS10 socially. i'm worried about DD8 academically. *sigh*

Try one in high school, one in middle school, one in elementary; moving to a new "abode" (same city) with a different living arrangement...um, I am a little excited, a little nervous. I think I will be needing a lot of support this year.

This year was a good year socially and academically (except math). DS8 had a great teacher who loved trying to find new ways to challenge DS and his classmates.

I am already worried about next year because in previous years we got to meet with the new teacher as the school year was ending to plan for the following year. I know nothing about DS8's teacher for next year.

Worried? Not sure that's the right word. Oldest is going away to a military academy, DS8 is straddling middle school/high school this year, DS6 has SPD's that make school challenging some days, impossible the rest. Oh yeah, and myyoungest is starting Kindergarten.............

Beginning to freak out!

Yup. Trying not to be, because three years in, DS7's school have been great so far, and so the rational expectation is that they'll continue to be, but every year is different so every year I'm nervous... He'll be in the "upper school" next year, which gives him a longer school day (till 6pm every day) and more specialist teaching (which I am pretty sure he'll enjoy). He is still slow to get his ideas down on paper (dislikes the physical act of writing, and typing isn't much better) which limits him; I'm still content that he's best off with age-peers, especially as he gets on well socially with them, and as he is small and a bit inept physically. He'll need his own maths of course; we'd be happy to continue organising it, but also, the head has apparently found "a high powered maths lady who is keen to work with" DS so we're waiting to find out more about that. Could be fantastic... we hadn't felt it was time yet for him to really need a maths mentor other than us, but if she's good... and it's lovely that people at the school care enough to be this proactive. I'm a bit concerned about science; until now, it's been wrapped up with "project", but now it'll be separate lessons. On the one hand, DS is excited about using science labs and doing experiments etc., and on the other hand, it may be about to get much more obvious that his theoretical knowledge is way ahead there as well - and if that does become a problem it'll be harder to fix than the maths (because he has practical vs theoretical asynchrony within science, whereas within maths he's reasonably synchronous, just ahead). I'm also anxious about how music practice is going to fit in - he's going to have to take responsibility for practising mostly without supervision in breaks in the long school day, and he's due to take a piano exam next term, so if he fails to get that going it'll have fairly immediate consequences! Breathe, breathe...

Me too.

DD9 will also be straddling elementary/middle school and the school principal who we have worked with for the past 3 years has moved on to a new school. So if anything comes up, we'll be dealing with a new administrator who will probably think I am either crazy, negligent, or a helicopter parent.

Friday, I found out that the school day is going to be 30 minutes longer This means we will be commuting back home across town closer rush hour with infant in tow.

I did end up ordering school shoes and backpack over the weekend to feel like I was on top of things.

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!

I'm nervous, mostly about whether DS6's new teacher will be supportive or dismissive, and about what sort of enrichment our son is going to receive. In the end, though, I am starting to think he'll be all right no matter what; in the end we may have to consider some radical options but the most important thing is that he stay happy enough to be able to learn.

I'm a little worried about ds8 going into 3rd grade - I though I knew who his teacher was going to be (he went to her class for math last year) - but that might have changed. The principal had put a bunch of particular kids in her class, but she told him that she'll be on maternity leave in Jan, and thought it might not be good for those kids to have a sub for so long. So - not sure if he's still in her class. Last year she was out for 3 months, as she had a baby who was then very sick. His 2nd grade teacher was also out on maternity leave during the school year. It WOULD be nice to have his teachers there the whole year this year. I also don't know which class he'll go to for math, I don't know any of the 4th grade teachers. I just hope that the two teachers (3rd and 4th) have got their act together to co-ordinate their classes, so they both have math at the same time. That has happened the past couple of years, and it makes it so much easier for ds to switch from one class to the other. Ah well - only 3 weeks and we'll know what's going on :):)

I am very nervous for DS10. I still haven't recovered from his 4th grade experience. Not sure how he is feeling; I'm afraid to ask.

I am hoping, sort of, that he gets placed in the blended 5/6 classroom, so he can "eavesdrop" on the 6th grade lessons and perhaps actually learn something, and get to know the older kids; but then again, he is not much of an independent worker and may catch plenty of trouble for his distractability.

Sigh.

I'm trying not to be nervous this year. But, once again I find myself second guessing our educational decisions. DD9 was evaluated in the spring for a grade skip. They did the Iowa Acc. Scale. She came out as a good candidate, but we ultimately opted not to do the skip. She will have the only teacher in the district who is licensed for GT. Supposedly, she is wonderful. So, we opted to stay in fourth grade and do subject acceleration for math and reading. I think the high expectations for this fantastic teacher are making me more anxious in a strange way. I hope we didn't make the wrong decision. I guess if it isn't working, we can re-evaluate and move her later.

DD5 is starting K. She is already reading a little bit, but really seems to be a mathy kid. She counts forward, backward, adds, subtracts, etc. I suspect she'll end up in the same ballpark as her sister with regard to IQ. However, she is a totally different kid... Easygoing, rolls with the punches, super social. I would say she is more "pleasantly" gifted. I'm thinking (hoping) that she will have an easier time with school because of her personality.

How will DD9 do with this wonderful GT teacher and her subject acceleration, and how will DD5 handle K? We shall see. I'm trying not to worry!

yes. Ds6 did an online school for k but did 1st grade. We enrolled him in a decent school this year and in 1st grade, so he's ahead, repeating 1st grade. It should be an interesting year. He starts in 12 days....yikes...we are excited and nervous at the same time.

I suppose the reason I'm nervous is because this is the first time our son has gone to school.

He's 4.6 and will be in preschool held in a church. From what I can tell, he's working at a first/second grade level across the board, with exceptions in physical (riding a bike, cutting on a line...). Will he like the preschool just for the fun of seeing the same kids a couple of times a week? Since he's an only child and we live pretty remote, the social aspect of preschool was the main reason we wanted him to go.

On the sign-up sheet for the school, they asked you to describe your child. When my husband returned it, they told him that it was the most complete form they've seen. (gulp) Does that mean I'm anal? AND...prior to that, they told my husband that the "interview" he had with the school before we decided on them, contained the most amount of questions they had recent memory of being asked. (gulp, again.)

I'm nervous that he'll be disappointed in his first experience with school.

For once, I'm not nervous. I'm going with the school's proclamation to us that DS is not in school for academics, but for social reasons. I'm not expecting anything out of them, and not upset about it! I feel a lot more confident in my ability to provide him enrichment out of school and I'm going to rely on that for his education, not the gifted school This makes me a much happier, more relaxed mom!!!

All I can say is wow... they aren't there to educate your child.. wow

I feel a bit different appoaching this year but, I can't let go of the nervous.

For several years, I was looking for teacher's to do more for my kids. I moved them to a gifted school last year and it has been better. This year, I want my kids to approach school more ambitously with better organization. I want them to really step up, even if it's not all perfect for them and show what they are capable of and take pride. They are pretty good students. I have some knowledge of promoting this desire but,I don't feel like I got it right in the past. I need to give less advice so they can figure it out, listen more and encourage the drive they already have. I also want to be a better example for them.

Somewhere, I heard "do your best and someone will notice". I think this will encourage getting more of what they need in life.

Frankieandejsmom, To make it more of a "wow," this is a GIFTED school ha ha!!! I was shocked into silence when they said it to us at the end of last year, but this summer I had a change in mindset and it really helps.

Quoting myself for context. It seems DS was placed in the straight 5th grade classroom. The teacher? Since 2007 she has been a part-time Title I remedial reading specialist. Last year she tacked on a half-day of Kindergarten, as well.

I'm so sad.