Class of 2026 Parents

[Colleen27]

I did a search and didn't find a thread, so I'm guessing there isn't one yet. But with the new school year just around the corner, I think it is time to get this party started. The "class of" threads for my older kids' classes have been such a great resource and place to vent with parents dealing with the same things at the same time, from starting high school all the way through now to graduating college and getting launched into adulthood.

Where are my fellow class of 2026 parents at? How are y'all feeling about having a new high schooler?

For me, it still feels a little unreal to have my youngest starting high school. She's 10 & 7 years younger than her siblings, so absolutely the baby of the family, and we've had a great time this past year living it up with her as more or less an only child since her big brother bought a house, taking one of my bonus sons with him, and her sister is off at school on the other side of the country. She's making the jump from a tiny private school - 6 kids in her 8th grade graduating class - to a small but feels big to her public high school where she'll be in a class of about 125, so she's understandably nervous about the transition. But she has a few friends a year or two ahead of her who did the same, and she knows the drama director from our community theatre so I think she'll find it easier than she thinks to find her place.

School doesn't start for another month for us, but volleyball practice starts next week so it feels a bit like summer is over already. Which is both good and bad; even with traveling for 5 weeks and having drama camp for a week, DD14 is definitely ready to have a little more structure and socialization in her days, even if I'm not entirely ready to go back to having to wake her up in the morning!

 

[Skippy918]

I’ve been on these boards for so long and now there’s a class of 2026 group. I have a 9th grader. He starts school in 2 weeks. He decided to take all honors classes and one AP class. Not sure how that will pan out. Hoping he likes high school and joins some extra curriculars.

 

[Colleen27]

I've been around here a while too, Skippy. Longer than I've had my class of 2026 kid, actually!

Our school doesn't let freshmen take honors or AP classes, not that I'd have encouraged DD14 to do it even if they did. She is an A/B student but has to work for it, and I don't want her jumping into the hard stuff right away. But she will be in geometry, which is usually sophomore math, because her middle school has a dual enrollment agreement with their affiliated private high school so she was able to take freshman algebra as an 8th grader.

 

[bcwife76]

Yay, I can finally join one of these types of threads lol
So we live in Canada and in most places, high school starts at grade 8. My oldest starts grade 9 in September so this is technically her second year of high school, but she's still part of the grad class of 2026! She was big into the extra curricular clubs last year so I'm sure that will continue this year. AP and honors classes are not offered in high school here (at least not in our district).

 

[Skippy918]

I've been around here a while too, Skippy. Longer than I've had my class of 2026 kid, actually!

Our school doesn't let freshmen take honors or AP classes, not that I'd have encouraged DD14 to do it even if they did. She is an A/B student but has to work for it, and I don't want her jumping into the hard stuff right away. But she will be in geometry, which is usually sophomore math, because her middle school has a dual enrollment agreement with their affiliated private high school so she was able to take freshman algebra as an 8th grader.

My son will be taking geometry as well. The AP class is AP human geography. It’s the only AP available for freshmen. The on level course is world geography. I tried to steer him away from the AP, but ultimately it was his choice. We’ll see how it goes. They can downgrade to on level within the first few weeks.
he is looking forward to his electives especially the programming class.

 

[Colleen27]

Yay, I can finally join one of these types of threads lol
So we live in Canada and in most places, high school starts at grade 8. My oldest starts grade 9 in September so this is technically her second year of high school, but she's still part of the grad class of 2026! She was big into the extra curricular clubs last year so I'm sure that will continue this year. AP and honors classes are not offered in high school here (at least not in our district).

That's interesting about high school starting earlier there. A few schools here have moved to a two-school model (K through 6 or 7, and then 7 or 8 through 12) as a cost saving measure, but not many group 8th graders into the high school otherwise. What extracurriculars is your daughter involved in? Mine is a drama kid through and through - she's currently preparing nervously for her first singing audition, for a part in a local production of Sound of Music - but she's trying out volleyball this year because our high school will waive the PE requirement for students who play two seasons of a sport.

My son will be taking geometry as well. The AP class is AP human geography. It’s the only AP available for freshmen. The on level course is world geography. I tried to steer him away from the AP, but ultimately it was his choice. We’ll see how it goes. They can downgrade to on level within the first few weeks.
he is looking forward to his electives especially the programming class.

DD is looking forward to her electives too - she signed up for the intro level culinary arts class our district offers and she's really excited for it. One of the potential career paths she's talked about is cooking, and she's already a better cook than me (though that's not a particularly high bar), so it is nice that she'll have a chance to explore it a bit beyond just cooking at home.

 

[bcwife76]

That's interesting about high school starting earlier there. A few schools here have moved to a two-school model (K through 6 or 7, and then 7 or 8 through 12) as a cost saving measure, but not many group 8th graders into the high school otherwise. What extracurriculars is your daughter involved in? Mine is a drama kid through and through - she's currently preparing nervously for her first singing audition, for a part in a local production of Sound of Music - but she's trying out volleyball this year because our high school will waive the PE requirement for students who play two seasons of a sport.



DD is looking forward to her electives too - she signed up for the intro level culinary arts class our district offers and she's really excited for it. One of the potential career paths she's talked about is cooking, and she's already a better cook than me (though that's not a particularly high bar), so it is nice that she'll have a chance to explore it a bit beyond just cooking at home.

Middle school is not very popular here, there are a smattering of them from district to district but most districts here in BC are K-7 and then 8-12. In ON, K-8 and 9-12 is a popular set up.

The club that keeps her the busiest is called Project Equal and they are all about the environment and giving back to the community. So through that they do a neighbourhood clean up once a week, they volunteer at a local soup kitchen, they organize the recycling program at school, they run fairs where it's all about upcycling and such. They have a community garden right next to the school and over the summer several of them have volunteered to water each morning, her morning is Wednesdays lol She's also in the creative writing club and there might be one more.....I tried to get her into grade 8 girls volleyball last year but she wasn't having it (she was playing that in elementary before the pandemic) so maybe she will join this year.

 

[pookybean]

This is me! My baby is starting high school in a few weeks. She is my youngest of 3 and the only one still living at home, so she too is reaping the benefits of that!

I wont lie, Im nervous (as is she). Lots and lots of changes this year and we are a little worried about how everything will work. I know it will likely be fine, but in the waiting there is nothing to do but... worry.

 

[Skippy918]

DD is looking forward to her electives too - she signed up for the intro level culinary arts class our district offers and she's really excited for it. One of the potential career paths she's talked about is cooking, and she's already a better cook than me (though that's not a particularly high bar), so it is nice that she'll have a chance to explore it a bit beyond just cooking at home.

my son signed up for a culinary class a well. Not sure if he’ll get selected as there is limited enrollment.

 

[Colleen27]

Middle school is not very popular here, there are a smattering of them from district to district but most districts here in BC are K-7 and then 8-12. In ON, K-8 and 9-12 is a popular set up.

The club that keeps her the busiest is called Project Equal and they are all about the environment and giving back to the community. So through that they do a neighbourhood clean up once a week, they volunteer at a local soup kitchen, they organize the recycling program at school, they run fairs where it's all about upcycling and such. They have a community garden right next to the school and over the summer several of them have volunteered to water each morning, her morning is Wednesdays lol She's also in the creative writing club and there might be one more.....I tried to get her into grade 8 girls volleyball last year but she wasn't having it (she was playing that in elementary before the pandemic) so maybe she will join this year.

That sounds like a cool club. My older daughter was involved in her school's ecology club, which did some of the same things, and tried really hard to get a community garden started under that umbrella but never had enough student interest to really get it off the ground. After she graduated, the Knights of Columbus and the ladies who run the parish food pantry took it over, so it is still doing good but I know my daughter was disappointed more students weren't interested in helping.

This is me! My baby is starting high school in a few weeks. She is my youngest of 3 and the only one still living at home, so she too is reaping the benefits of that!

I wont lie, Im nervous (as is she). Lots and lots of changes this year and we are a little worried about how everything will work. I know it will likely be fine, but in the waiting there is nothing to do but... worry.

I'm trying very hard not to be nervous for my DD because I know if I am, she'll pick up on it and be even more nervous.

She didn't make volleyball but was offered a position as team manager, which is kind of a "best of the players who got cut" position - she'll practice and attend games with the team but won't play unless someone quits the team or is removed - and so far she's really taken that in stride. She knew it was going to be tough to make the team, coming from a middle school that barely had sports while most of the other girls either played for the very good team at the public middle or in private leagues, but since her main interest in sports is qualifying for a PE exemption rather than any true passion for the game and this counts towards that, she's content to practice and try again next year. So that's one of my first worries put to rest; I was afraid if she didn't make the team, she'd be discouraged and drop sports entirely.

my son signed up for a culinary class a well. Not sure if he’ll get selected as there is limited enrollment.

When will he know? We get our schedules and pictures and school IDs and all that about a week before the school year starts, so DD will know if she got her requested classes on the 24th. But from what I hear from other parents at the school, our culinary program isn't so popular that it is hard to get.

 

[Skippy918]

When will he know? We get our schedules and pictures and school IDs and all that about a week before the school year starts, so DD will know if she got her requested classes on the 24th. But from what I hear from other parents at the school, our culinary program isn't so popular that it is hard to get.

We got the schedules today and school starts Wednesday. He got the culinary class along with all his other choices.

 

[bcwife76]

Since our schools don't start back til after labour day, my DD won't know her schedule until sometime during the week of Aug 29th (though we were told to expect it anytime after the 26th lol). School supplies are all purchased for both kids (my youngest is going into her last year of elementary) so now it's just waiting on the schedule ;-)

 

[leahgoogle]

DD #1 graduates in 2026. School started Aug 10th here. We are in a rural town so our Elementary/MS/HS are all in one building (Elementary and MS have their own hallways) so the transition to HS is no biggie. It's not like it was when I went to HS where three Junior High Schools filtered into it! DS just graduated in 2022 so I have some time to plan for the next one.

 

[isabellea]

My oldest daughter will graduate from high school in 2026 but I think she's much younger than most of your 2026 graduates! She's 12 (almost 13) and she's starting sec 2 (equivalent to grade 8) this fall. In Quebec, we don't have middle school, only elementary (K-6) and high school/secondary (sec1-sec5 or 7-11). Then, she will do 2 years of CEGEP (equivalent to grade 12 and freshman year) before going to university (most programs are 3 years with some exceptions like medical and law schools that are 4 years).

 

[Skippy918]

Happy to report my son had a great first day. Tomorrow he meets the rest of his teachers and classmates. He’s on an A/B block schedule. He has friends in almost all his classes.

 

[Skippy918]

My oldest daughter will graduate from high school in 2026 but I think she's much younger than most of your 2026 graduates! She's 12 (almost 13) and she's starting sec 2 (equivalent to grade 8) this fall. In Quebec, we don't have middle school, only elementary (K-6) and high school/secondary (sec1-sec5 or 7-11). Then, she will do 2 years of CEGEP (equivalent to grade 12 and freshman year) before going to university (most programs are 3 years with some exceptions like medical and law schools that are 4 years).

Oh that’s interesting! My son is one of the younger ones in his grade. We have a sept 1 cutoff and he was born in august, so he’ll be 14 at the end of the month. Many of his friends will be 15 in the fall. High school is grades 9-12. Most kids graduate when they are 17-18yo.

 

[Skippy918]

DD #1 graduates in 2026. School started Aug 10th here. We are in a rural town so our Elementary/MS/HS are all in one building (Elementary and MS have their own hallways) so the transition to HS is no biggie. It's not like it was when I went to HS where three Junior High Schools filtered into it! DS just graduated in 2022 so I have some time to plan for the next one.

That’s a small school. I think there’s around 400-500 kids in my son’s grade.

 

[DLmama]

Hard to believe, but this is me! My only DS started high school last week! He's liking it so far, has made a few new friends and hasn't complained about his teachers yet. Lol. He's taking drama, which he wanted to drop after the first day, but now seems to be sticking with it. Also taking intro to engineering/design, which he's excited about.

Wants to try out for basketball in the winter and either track or swimming in the spring.

 

[isabellea]

Oh that’s interesting! My son is one of the younger ones in his grade. We have a sept 1 cutoff and he was born in august, so he’ll be 14 at the end of the month. Many of his friends will be 15 in the fall. High school is grades 9-12. Most kids graduate when they are 17-18yo.

Our cutoff is September 30th and my daughter’s birthday is Sept 12th. I remember when she was the youngest of her elementary school when she was in Kindergarten. At the time she was very proud to be the only 4yo at the school! Time flies!

 

[leahgoogle]

That’s a small school. I think there’s around 400-500 kids in my son’s grade.

It is small. Each HS class has between 60-85 students.