This thread is destined for parents of potential 2020 high school grads.
Hi! I have an eighth grader and while I also have two other boys (one older, class of 2016 and one younger), I have been starting to think about HS starting next year. I requested that we Parents of HS 2020 get our chatting forum, and here we are! Welcome to anyone else who would like to participate 
Thanks @fretfulmother!! Iāve been waiting for this thread! I have DDā20, another DDā18, and a DSā22. My two girls are so different and Iām excited to join this forum and start another journey with everyone!
@jjkmom great!! I have a DS16, 20, and 25, all boys.
Both of our DCā20 are the middle child. They supposed to be the most independent and hardest to influence (according to the study). Letās see if CC can help us guide them well! Hope your DSā16 have finished his college applications before the holidays.
@jjkmom - Thank you! Yes, my DS20 is definitely the most socially independent! He has been almost since birth. DS16 will almost certainly not finish his apps before Breakā¦on the plus side, thereās an excellent chance heāll finish them before Passover holidays which being Jewish, weāre allowed to use as the benchmark hee hee
Did you take your DD20 to see any colleges with DD18?
Yes, I have taken them to see many elite universities during the 8th going to 9th grade summer. Visited east coast schools like Harvard, Yale, MIT, Princeton, and also visited many wast coast universities during spring break such as UCB, Stanford, UCD, UCSD, and UCLA of course. I had strategy planned, if I expose them with best schools and planted the seeds in their heads that as long as they want, if they do well the next 4 year in HS, they can shoot high and landed on their dream school! My strategy actually only worked half way, my DDā18 started to set her goal on the dream school UCLA, but then she got couple high B+ in 9th grade, and now with couple more in 10th grade. She is taking mostly AP and Honor classes but she just doesnāt give her full potential. I felt she may not have the chance for the elite schools because she doesnāt really want it! Although she is the most obedient kid, I felt she just do whatās told and not whatās neededā¦ My DDā20 is directly opposite, if she wants to do well, she will do well. She is very quick and efficient in many ways (except her shower time, takes forever.) never see her study cause she said everything is done in school during recess. We were originally all joked about going to east coast and experience different life, however, they truly are spoiled by the great weather in SoCal, I donāt think they can survive winter in east coast. (They complained about 62 degree today!)
That sounds great, and your daughters sound like great girls. We are grateful that it has been almost 60 this week (in Boston).
@fretfulmother I canāt believe you can even begin to think about college for your 8th grader while going through the process with your senior. My senior is exhausting me.
I think my D20 is going to be very challenging for me. She is by far the most social, least STEM interested, and least academicly focused of my kids. I promised myself that I would encourage her to grow into the woman she was meant to be and not a replica of her siblings or a vision I had in my head. As a family of engineers this liberal arts kid is going to give me a run for my money.
@MuggleMom - I think maybe Iām in denial in terms of my DS16. When I was pregnant with DS25, and DS16 was nine years old, I preferred to plan DS16ās bar mitzvah rather than focus on the birth and baby issues I had to plan for imminently. 
So now my distraction is my DS20!
I am sure you will do great with your D20 if you are already aware and giving her an independent space as you describe!!
I was wondering when this thread would come along! Nice to see some familiar names! I have a D16, S18, and S20. We are pretty much done with the college app process with D16 she knew exactly where she wanted to go to school. Thankfully it wasnāt a highly selective school so sheās done except with some outside scholarship. S18 learned a lot watching his sister check out colleges and has a good idea of what he wants to do for college and what he has to do to get there. S20 is my mystery kid.
We homeschool through 8th grade and so next year will be a huge transition both for S20 and for me not having anyone left at home to school! We hope S20 will get into the same out of district high school his brother and sister attend. He has no idea what direction he wants to go in and no ECās that heās passionate about (other than Boy Scouts). Like @MuggleMom Iām afraid heāll feel he needs to follow in his brotherās footsteps and along a STEM path just because that what his brother did. Both his brother and sister are very high achieving kids and unfortunately S20 already feels the need to do as well or better then them.
Anyone starting to think about which classes your kids will take next year? I thought I had things figured out but it looks like the high school may be making changes to the classes they offer next year so Iām waiting for the new course book to come out.
Hello @3scoutsmom, I liked your screen name when I first saw it, because I also have 3 scouts, 2 Girl Scouts and 1 DSā22 Boy Scout. All 3 of them started early from Daisy and Tiger and we are truly a scout family with schedule around scouting and basketball.
Iām so mad! I typed a long long post and when I post comments, I lost majority of them! Same thing happened last night. Iām tired now and canāt retype. I was talking about my DDā20 is a lot like @MuggleMomās DDā¦
@ijjkmom that happens to me too! If I know Iām going to write a long post, Iāve taken to writing it on my computer and copy/pasting it in the text box.
@jjkmom its nice to know that Iām not alone in this adventure. Iāve been a little concerned on how I was going to handle her. Okay,its a daily concern, but right now, on the back burner trying to get D16 to get her apps done.
As far as college visits go, D20 is the only one that took notes or made any comparisons and sheās been to roughly 20 colleges. Thatās the life of a third child. My big kids actually asked her for input when discussing their options. She notices everything, but the things that were important to her (Boston U girls dress up the most, at Boston College the tour guides all had ugly shoes on, MIT girls had the nicest bathing suits, Drexel had great ice cream, etc) arenāt necessarily whatās significant in the grand scheme of things. I canāt wait to see what her choices are.
We are actually picking classes for her freshman year as soon as winter break is over. My D is stressing over whether or not to set herself up for taking the maximum math classes in HS. I think it is horrible that you need to plan your hs career out before you even begin. Personally, I donāt think she needs it, but she watched her siblings do it and now thinks its standard and she is somehow ālessā if she doesnāt. Iām not quite sure how to deal with it. If she goes STEM, its not a bad idea, but Iām not sure its necessary. If she stays liberal arts, I doubt maxing out on math classes is as important as taking classes towards your field of interest. And since ātaking over Broadwayā is not a major and she has no dance/voice/acting training to speak of, Iām thinking her current major is up for revision.
@MuggleMom - I love that your older kids asked your youngest for input!
My DS20 is in a bit of trouble for going to school (including a science lab) instead of a music āoptionalā field trip. Iām glad that his grade in music wonāt matter for real life, because I fear this teacher is a bit resentful of him now.
My 8th grader canāt wait to start high school as she will be able to play Varsity basketball if she stays in her current school (7-12, small public highly academic focus), but I was hoping that she transfer to her sisterās HS, where less pressures more activities and more fun, the drawbacks is she will not be able to play varsity. She doesnāt really care about college or future career at this moment as long as she can play basketball, any college will be fine. Iām sure that will change.
Iāve been emailing the high school councilor and found out that thereās a high school orientation on January 7th. Weāll have to take this on faith because (since itās out of district for us) DS20 canāt even submit his application for this school until February!
I also found out that theyāve changed the art requirements and heāll have to take āgeneral art 1ā before any studio classes. DS18 went directly into ceramics and DS20 thought heād do the same
I think DS20 will go with the digital graphics 1 class instead, it will meet his fine art requirements and one of the four required unweighted classes and I think heād actually learn some useful skills.
So hereās our current thought for a schedule:
pre-AP Algebra 2
pre-AP English 1
pre-AP Chemistry
AP Comp Sci
Chinese 1
computer graphics 1
AP Human Geography
The school allows you to do off campus PE so heāll do fencing for that. We go back and forth on the math, heās currently doing algebra 2 through an on line course but it does not meet the state standard for credit so heād have to test out of it and Iām just not sure thatās the best thing. I donāt want him have any gaps in math so even though some of the concepts may be repeated I think itās best to take Algebra 2 again. The high school course is taught very differently according to my older kids so it wonāt seam like too much of a review. Thankfully the school will accept his credits for Algebra 1, geometry and biology even though he took them before 9th grade because they were state accredited high school classes.
Wow @3scoutsmom thatās an exciting freshman schedule. My D is trying to figure out if she needs to double up in Algebra II and Geometry. Not seeming to be a STEM kid, I say no. Thatās a ton of math homework, but her siblings did it and thinks she can handle it. Iām not sure that I see the advantage for her. Weāre still debating.
@jjkmom, I love that at this age, things like basketball can be whatās important. I think that is great that she can play varsity as a Freshman. Keep us updated on where she ends up.
@3scoutsmom , your HS allow freshman taking AP courses? Wow, maybe thatās better to spread out AP courses instead of taking most of them in Junior year like my DDā18 plans to do next year, her schedule is crazy.
@MuggleMom , yes, my DDā20 still enjoys her life and having lots of fun in school without getting too much pressure. Her school is very academically focused, so most her friends are really self-driven. However, my DDā20 doesnāt have the same caliber, she will do well if she likes the teacher or if she has the right mood that day. I will let you know what we decide later on.