Blueprint

8th grade: know yourself

Build the habits and pick the high school path. Nothing this year goes on a college application, and all of it decides how freshman year starts.

This year's checklist

• Make grades a routine: a set time and place for homework, every school night.
• Ask the counselor which high school math and English track the student is on, and what it takes to move up one level.
• Take high school credit classes in 8th grade if the school offers them and the student can carry them. Algebra I is the common one.
• List what the student likes and is good at: subjects, sports, arts, service. This list becomes the activity plan.
• Choose the 9th grade schedule on purpose. Ask which classes are honors, pre-AP or advanced.
• Try one summer program, camp or volunteer role tied to an interest.

The money move

Open a simple folder, paper or digital, for report cards, awards, certificates and service hours. Scholarship applications ask for these years later, and families who saved them fill forms in minutes.

For the parent

Your job this year is the routine and the schedule. Meet the counselor once before course selection and ask one question: what should my student take in 9th grade to keep every option open?