No, this blog wasn't written by my 10-year-old daughter, soon to be a sixth-grader.
She is completely fine with starting middle school. Calm as a cucumber. She's mainly preoccupied with calculating how late she gets to stay up on school nights and getting a hamster.
Not me. I am dying for the scoop about how to prepare for this new stage in our lives and finding tips hard to come by.
For example, this is the first year we haven't had the convenience of buying a school supply kit online and either picking it up at registration or having it delivered to the classroom.
I'll be the first to admit that this practice is ridiculously indulgent. Going to buy school clothes, shoes and supplies is a must-do ritual this time of year. But I've been spoiled for the supplies part of it, and now I've gotta go cold turkey and do it on my own. I'm helpless standing in the back-to-school section of Target, already fully stocked with mini tissues, hand sanitizer and Justin Bieber notebooks. What does a middle schooler need?
I turn to the and there's NADA info about . (I can barely figure out when school actually starts looking at the thing.) I'm desperate for an online FAQ page for new middle school parents.
I was traveling so I missed the middle school's one orientation night for parents of sixth-graders. Though, according to the husband, they didn't talk about school supplies there anyway. The only thing he remembered was, "Your child may start experiencing mood swings."
Start? She's been having mood swings since she came out of the womb. But what about the school supplies??
My anxiety doesn't stop there. Do they really change classrooms eight times a day? Will she get lost looking for her classes? Will big huge scary eighth-graders bully her in the bathroom? Does she have to carry all those mystery school supplies around all day in her backpack?
Maybe the lack of information for parents is a proverbial cutting of the cord. I can hear the school district saying: This. Is. Middle. School. We don't really need you hanging around your kid anymore, so BUZZ OFF parent.
With that in mind, I'm really trying to let her out of the nest more than ever, to prep her for this new era of challenges and responsibilities.
Her face brightened like a star when I sent her off on her bike to the grocery store a few blocks away to buy a few things I needed for dinner. She brought back each item on the list absolutely perfectly and didn't even spend the change.
But could someone just tell me how many notebooks to buy and whether she needs the three-subject kind or the singles?
It might just make me feel a little bit more ready.
I see kids in my neighborhood with back packs that weigh more the they do.