Post Ideas

I know I said I would only post when I felt like it, but I saw this article online about 5 important blogging tips to follow, and one say to post regularly. Well, you know how I feel about that, so I figured I would ask you guys a question. What do you want me to post about? Supplies? Social Issues? Academic Stress? Extracurriculars? TELL ME! i'm pretty open to new post ideas, so if you have something you want to know, comment, and I'll do a post on it- as long as it relates to high school somehow.

-Eliza

Places to Find Info

I've done some searching online, and although I've found some information, it wasn't much. Here's the sources, though, so you can find what helps you. There was only source I found that had good information, but that's just me.

• http://www.beinggirl.com/article/nervous-for-high-school/
• http://kidshealth.org/teen/school_jobs/school/starting_high_school.html
• http://www.wikihow.com/Survive-High-School
• http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/high-school-tips/

I didn't look at being girl, but the only one I found useful was the kidshealth. If you go to the bar on the side, click on School and Jobs. You'll find a lot of other links, so if you look, I'm sure you'll find something. They're all two or three pages, so it just depends on which link you click on. 

This is a relatively short post, because I'm just providing resources for you. Do what you want, and if you have any post requests, leave a comment!

-Eliza

Things I'm Looking Forward To

Since I did a post about the things I'll be scared of when I start high school, I figured I should do a post about the things I'm looking forward to. I don't know if this will be longer or shorter than the other one, so just read on and we'll both find out. 

• Starting at a new school. I've done a lot of changing since I started middle school, and now that I've been at the school for three years now, I'm looking forward to a fresh start. None of the teachers know me or my older sister, because she went to East instead of West High, which is where my twin and I will be going. It's a completely fresh start, and for some reason I'm just really looking forward to starting over. 

There aren't that many things actually. I said everything I wanted to in the last post about band, I'm not doing any sports or anything, and I talked about the curriculum in my very first post. I guess I'm kind of looking forward to making new friends, but not really. I mean, I'm perfectly happy with the friends I have right now, but it would be nice to make some new ones. i don't want to get a whole new group of friends, just maybe one or two who are in the same fandoms I am. I'll do a post about the fandoms I'm in another time, and another one about my issues with the popular people. But that's all I have for now, so I'll talk to you later. As always, tell your friends to check about this blog, and comment about what you're looking forward to in high school. If you have something you want me to do a post about, comment, and I'll see what I can do! It has to be related to high school though, but that's pretty much the only limitation I'll place. 

-Eliza 

Pre 9th Grade Classes

This post is going to be a lot about the classes I am either taking right now, or will be taking in preparation. 

I'm all of the advanced classes (which are basically the 9th grade classes) except for U.S. History, because my schedule is too full with band and ELP. If I were to drop one of those, it would be a different story, but that's not the case, now, is it? So, to even that out, I'll be taking History over the summer. Once 9th grade starts, I'll be all evened out and ready to start my pre-IB classes. If you want to know what IB is, you'll have to scroll ALLLLLLLLL the way down to my very first post. To be honest, right now it's not that far to scroll, but eventually this blog will get to be quite lengthy. 

I'm taking Spanish One, which is another thing offered so we can get the credits we need for college that we might not otherwise get because of, once again, a full schedule. These are really a problem sometimes. It turns out we don't have a placement test like I thought we did, but we do have a final test at the end of the year. They want us to use that to think about if we should go ahead with Spanish Two, or repeat Spanish One. I'm going to study really hard, because having to go to school and stuff an hour early nearly every day (minus a total of four days I, personally haven't been there, but there were some days most of the class didn't show up because of a miscommunication) had better be worth it, or else. 

Wow that really wasn't as much as I thought it would be. I have to go to bed, and I don't have much else to say, so I'm going to sign off. Oh, one last thing; I did this post on my phone with the Blogger app, so I'm still getting used to it. It'll be a bit before I can use it fluently, so if there's any typos or anything, don't point them out TOO harshly. 

-Eliza 

Find Out More!!!

I have a Pinterest, and among other stuff, I have a board about school. A lot of it can apply to most grades, but I've found it especially beneficial for high school. Here's the link to the board specifically: https://www.pinterest.com/bizzygirl00/school/. Check it out if you want, and if you want to follow me or whatever, you can, but I'd rather you check that board specifically. Combined with this blog (will eventually have more content, especially once I start getting supplies and start school), and the board, I think we'll be off to a pretty good start!

So again, check out the Pinterest, keep reading the blog, and tell your friends to check both out. Thanks!

-Eliza

Possible Clubs

I've been thinking about what clubs I want to join next year, just so I can get all my ducks in a row. I've been doing a lot of thinking about this, and so far there aren't any I have my heart set on, but some I'm considering.

I was going to try out for the dance team, but I have NO prior dance experience: the closest thing I do have is tumbling (which is basically gymnastics for those who don't know) classes, about two years ago. They have a session to learn the dances to try out with, but I don't think it would be a good idea for me to do it. It's a shame though, because I love watching their performances, and I think I would've had a lot of fun.

I'm not going to do any sports except maybe softball, but I'm hesitant because it's fast pitch. I've played slow pitch at this other park for, oh I don't know, maybe 4 years now, and adjusting to fast pitch would be hard. I've heard you can get a lot of scholarships for it though, so I'm still on the fence. I also don't like a lot of the girls I would be on the team with, and they've been playing together for a while, so I would be the loner with no friends.

Debate team, however, is one I'm seriously considering. If you haven't figured it out already, I'm more of an academic person. I don't think I'm that bad at sports, I just don't care that much about them. Anyways, debate. I went to a debate tournament at one of the other local high schools with all the other 8th grade ELP students, and it really made me think about joining. If I had had more time to work on the essays, I think I would've done a lot better, but I feel pretty proud of the work I did. I'll meddle around and see if I can figure out some way to upload them onto here, but it might not happen for a couple of days. I actually did have a lot of fun though, but I'll have to do some more thinking.

Student Senate is another one I've been thinking about joining, but that's iffy too. I think it'd be fun, but I saw a poll in the yearbook from West that said Student Senate didn't have as much influence as the students thought they should, and that's got me thinking. I don't know if I would want to partake in something I think will be as time consuming and have it be for next to nothing.

Spanish Club is another one that's been on my mind a lot. I'm taking Spanish One right now, so I can get the required credits by the time I graduate (I've got a pretty full schedule, with the advanced classes I'm planning to take.), and this would help me even more. It wouldn't be as much immersion as I could get, by say, moving to Spain, but what are the chances I'm going to move to Spain? Spanish Club, however, is a good way to get help with any of the classwork and to learn the language by listening to people I know speak it, not people who are fluent and can speak it without a second thought.

Marching Band. Oh, Marching Band. This is one "club" (would you even call it a club?) I absolutely have my heart set on joining. I've been playing flute for going on three years now, and I've been fascinated with anything band-related since my older sister was in high school. I'm so excited I don't even know how to put it into words. All I know is marching band is going to be the highlight of at least the semester, if not the whole year.

The last club I'm pretty sure about joining is the Gay-Straight Alliance. It kind of means a lot to me, because my older sister (not my twin), is a lesbian. So therefore, it's important to me, and I think this would be a good club for me to join. I'm pretty positive I'm joining this, but it depends on how much time band and advanced classes will take up. This is the next priority on my list, after band and advanced classes. I suppose I should add the fact that these are in no particular order, just in the order I thought of them in.

That's all I can think of right now, but if I think of anything else, I'll let you know. Do me two favors:
1) Comment and tell me what clubs you're thinking about joining, and
2) SPREAD THE WORD. I want this blog to be the go-to website for incoming high schoolers, and the only way that can happen is if they know about it. So if you're an eighth (or ninth grader, depending on how your school is set up), tell your friends to check this blog out, and then have them pass the message! Thank you so much, and I won't forget about those files!

-Eliza

My One (Okay Two Actually) (No Wait Three) H.S. Experience

Hello All,

Today I'm going to tell you about the the three times I've been in the high school I'm going to. Share your experiences, people= I want this to be a blog people can relate to.

1. Band Concert, 5th Grade. I've played flute since 5th grade, and we had this all-city concert where all the fifth grade band students in the school district went to the high school and played some songs. It was at the high school because it was a big enough space that we could fit everyone and their families, so that's how it went. It was one of my favorite concert I've played in three years, and I remember being astounded at how big the school was. There were so many hallways and lockers, it would've been easy for me to get lost. After the concert, when people were cleaning up and putting the hundreds of chairs away, I went outside the gym where we were playing (but no further away, I was careful) with my brother and one of my friends.

2. Theater Competition, 7th Grade. This was with my ex-boyfriend and another girl he was friends with, and there was a state theater competition at the high school we're all going to. The performances were all over the building, so we ran around quite a lot. That's probably when I learned the most about how the school was laid out, but when you read the next part, you'll realize it wasn't exactly...enough.

3. Talking to Counselors, This Year. One of my best friends, Liz, (I'll talk a lot about Liz and Hannah a lot, so get used to it now.) found out she could get into an advanced class, so we went to talk to the high school counselor to get it all straightened out. When we went there, we weren't sure where to go, so we asked for directions. Thankfully Liz has been there a couple times, because she has two brothers in high school. If she hadn't been there, I would've gotten lost. Everything looked the same, and I just remember being really confused and disoriented. I actually almost went the wrong way, so Liz would've been outside and I would've still be stumbling around, trying to find my way out.

Those are the only three times I've been inside West, what about you? Have you been inside your high school? Tell me about it!

-Eliza

What I'm Scared Of

This is a post that I wanted to do for us to have something to identify with. As you can tell by the title, I'm going to tell you what's scaring me about high school. Then, in the comments, I want you to write what's scaring you. Maybe I'll give some advice, or maybe you guys can find people who are scared about the same things. Tell me what you want me to do, and I'll see if there's anything to be done.

Anyways, my fears. 

• Getting lost. The building I'm going to be at next year is HUGE compared to my middle school. It's weird though, because I wasn't nervous at all about starting middle school, but now that I have to basically do the same thing, I'm freaked. 
• The older kids. I don't know how much interaction I'll have with the sophomores and up, but they're going to be so much taller than I am- I'm one of the shorter kids in my grade. 
• Not having classes with my friends. I only have two close friends, which I'm perfectly fine with, but I'm pretty nervous I won't have any classes with them, and I'll be all by myself. 

I'm not scared at all about the academic workload, because I know I'll be able to handle it. I've been in advanced classes, or at least doing advanced work, since kindergarten, and you can see my first post for my ranting about classes being too easy.

So that's what's freaking me out about high school, what about you?

-Eliza
P.S. This is going to look different than my first post because I copy and pasted that from a Google Doc, whereas this I typed in the Blogger interface. (I think that's the right word, but I'm not really sure.)

Well Hi There, Pal

Since you’re reading this, you've probably found my blog: Hacking High School. I’m starting high school soon myself, so I figured I would start this blog to help the future 8th graders (or 9th graders, depending on how your school is set up). I've already done some preparing, so I may as well just jump in.

I've planned out what classes I’m going to take next year; now I just need the order. It was so confusing, because we had to go through a really long process, and I had to make sure I was taking the classes I would need in order to graduate. (Yes, I’m already thinking about college. Don’t judge me.) I got through it though, so this fall, I shouldn't find too many surprises on my class list.

I’ve also started thinking about the curriculum. I’m going to take as many advanced classes as I can, because I find myself bored in class a lot. There’s this new curriculum they implemented in West, that I plan on partaking in. It’s a faster curriculum, and you sign up for it. This way, I won’t be in classes filled with people who just want to goof off: this program is intense. It’s great preparation for college though, but I would do it even if it wasn't. I’m in as many 9th grade classes as I can be in already, but even then, I still get bored. I need a curriculum that’s going to provide a challenge, and I need to be in classes with people that take school as seriously as I do. You all have that one person who is always distracting the teacher so you can’t move on to the next lesson or whatnot, and you’re sitting there, bored. And what if you’re one of the “smart kids” who finishes work before everyone else? You either help other students or sit around bored. Notice a pattern? If you aren't being intellectually stimulated at school, chances are, you’re BORED! That’s why I’m looking forward to this new curriculum so much.

Let’s see, what else have I done to prepare? Oh yes, I've begun thinking about what school supplies I’ll need. Usually I’ll make this huge list, or go by the list the school sends out, but it’s all a bunch of hooey. This year, I’ll think about what I used a lot, what I didn't use at all, what I should've had, and what I just needed to leave at home. I’ll write up the list some time, and put it on here.

Until then,

Eliza

P.S. I won’t do posts regularly, I’ll only post when I actually have something to post. I’m not going to do a low-quality post just because it’s been a week since I last posted; if I’m writing a post, it’s going to be on my own terms, and it’s going to be legit. I know some bloggers make sure they do a post every Sunday or whatever, but that's not me. I’ll post studying tips I learned, school supplies you’ll need, general tips, and anything else. Comment and tell me any questions you have, but if they aren't about high school, I’ll ignore them.