Is it too late to think about applying for next year? Looking for good academic support, sports

My daughter is an 8th grader at a very good charter school. She is a pretty good student with mostly A’s and B’s and the occasional C. Last year’s last term grades were down due to a concussion. She is a strong 3 sport athlete and I think all the schools have her sports. She was called up to play in one varsity lacrosse game as a 7th grader (then got a concussion in gym class right after) and this year she is playing goalie on the varsity soccer team. She has an interesting life story that I won’t get into but the fact that she is doing as well as she is in her current school is amazing to me as her current school is pretty challenging.

I started down this path when I noticed a middle school girls basketball showcase for prep school coaches. Didn’t even realize that was a thing! That brought me back to CC (after a couple of years off) to read the prep school forum. The post on schools with good academic support was great and gave me a lot of information. She is very interested in going to a boarding school, which surprises me. I would love to see her in a nurturing school with small classes, good academic support (although I think she may be able to phase out if things keep going well) and good structure - meetings with advisors, study time. Ideally, I would like to see her in the northeast so we could see her and go to games but I have family in the mid-Atlantic area so that may be an option.

So, my main question is am I crazy to start her down this path so late in the game? It appears that most people start this process a year in advance. She hasn’t taken her SSAT and I’m not sure how well she will do on it. I haven’t broached this subject with my husband, so that is obviously my first step. I don’t know if we would get any financial aid and I don’t think he will be keen on spending $60K plus with 2 others in school. We haven’t looked at any schools but the other posts helped me start a very long list.

I don’t want to make a wrong move as she would not be able to go back to her current school if she left and she has no interest in going to our district school. My older kids all went to the same charter school and my husband and I were both public school kids. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

You are definitely not too late- many kids are just starting their visits this month and next. Plus, a good number of the schools that offer structured academic support do not require the SSAT results. We D2’s boarding school journey mid-winter - after the application deadline. Granted, that was fo junior boardings school, but for the schools I think you may be considering you should be OK.

Agreed. You aren’t too late but do start now since researching for fit will be of paramount importance.

We’ve been considering BS for several years, but wanted to wait until DD visited the schools to decide for sure if she wanted to apply. So we literally just decided officially a few weeks ago that she would apply, despite “starting” the BS journey a few years ago. We don’t feel at all rushed. Sure, DD is studying for SSATs now, and will take it in Nov and Dec. Maybe that could have been a little less rushed? And we are just now gathering the info for her essays and such. She hasn’t written anything yet though (but her interviews did help her frame up her own story). And, we plan to get recommendations going at the start of november, per timing I’ve seen suggested. Anyway, all that to say, I feel completely on schedule and we are only a few weeks “ahead” of you.
The one area that could be a risk of “rushing” is the mulling it over part. We’ve sort of lived with the idea for a few years, knowing that once we made the decision to pull the trigger, it would be a bit go-go-go for my DD to get her apps done. I might point out that the pace of applying over the next few months could impede a more relaxed mulling-over process. That said, you can mull a little more freely between Jan 15 and M10, and then use revisit days as a key data point. You don’t have to decide really until A10, so you have almost a half a year, even if you can’t sequence the mulling and application process in the classic order.
Did that make sense?
Also I will add: Some of the best decisions of my life have come from a quick moment of clarity that led to a “last minute” decision.

@Theretheygo Def not too late. I encourge you to look at a wide variety of schhol, including the “hidden gems” like Mercersburg where you child could SHINE on the athletic field/court. There are places like Mburg that challenge kids to be their best selves, yet aren’t so athletically inclined that only the elite athletes get to play varsity. My daughter is a 10th grader, and was a 3 sport varsity athlete as a 9th grader. Some of these schools (Mburg happens to be one but there are many others) are very generous with Fin Aid, and make helping the “middle” group (folks who can pay some/most but for whom it would be a stretch) a priority.

I assume her school will change a bit from 8th to 9th grade. She can always do one year of her charter school for high school and then come in as a sophomore if she is still interested.
Also, if you have a recent neuropsych, you can bypass the SSAT at many of the academic support schools. I believe there was a list on the academic support thread, but if not, I talked to many of the schools last year and can share my experiences with you.