Well, you've probably seen those movies or books where middle school is a nightmare. It's not, I promise! It's hard at first, but you get used to it. Overall, it's fun. Also, hi! I missed you!

Basic Rules to Survive in Middle School (WARNIN': This MAY conain stuff I've red in books. I'VE BEEN HOMESCHOOLED ALL MY STINKIN' LIFE)

Rule One: Stay VERY far away from the cafeteria food. I hear it's NAS-TAY!!

Rule Two: Make sure that you stand out, BUT also blend in. For instance, if someone you know is wearin' ripped jeans, you should also wear ripped jeans, but maybe instead of that borin' denim blue, wear a deep blue, or black, or maybe even GREEN. Yes, I know, it sound weird. I've NEVER seen a pair of green jeans in my LIFE, but that WILL cause people to notice you, but not attract negative attention.

Rule Three: Do NOT try to talk with the mean girls, mean boys, or basically anyone that's actin' mean. It won't end well...

Rule Four: If you're bringin' homemade food, make SURE that you bring a brown paper bag. Extra points if your mom hasn't written a SUPER-EMBARRASIN' message on the side of it. If she has, DISPOSE OF THE EVIDENCE. A.K.A, take your lunch out of the bag when you get out the door, and put it in a different paper bag that you stored in your backpack, and put your lunch in that, then when you get to school, throw the bag with the message on it. Or you can just scribble it out with the same color pen.

I don't know if this is gonna help, but these are probably the things I would do if I wasn't homeschooled (And held back a grade; DON'T ask, please.) so, yeah, it might help, and it might not.

The most important thing is to be willing to try new things! Don't worry about clothes or "being cool" too much. Try joining a few clubs, they're great because you start to be able to go out and do things without your parents. If it's a new school (with new classmates), it might be scary at first. But be friendly, and I bet friends will come your way. Try complimenting peoples' shoes or backpacks as an icebreaker. If you're like me, notice what people are reading in the library/bus/before class and if they're reading something you like, mention that you liked it! 

(these are all for public school)

- Middle school's meant to prepare you for high school, so don't stress over your grades/scores too much

- However, I would advise you to try not to miss any assignments–-procrastination is a huge problem, especially in high school, so it's good to try and start good habits now :)

- Make friends! Chances are, you're going to go to high school with most of them, because most middle schools have a high school that they feed into (unless you're moving/going to a private school in high school)

- Clubs, in general, are pretty cool, so even if you don't want to make a full-time commitment, you could probably attend a couple meetings of things you're interested in, to meet new people.

- Don't stress about getting in trouble, it's not the end of the world (do try not to get in trouble in the first place XD), because my friend once got sent to the principal's office for uh ... flipping a waterbottle

- If the time between your classes is less than five minutes (to get to and from your classes), just don't use your locker to store anything, except for classes right after break/lunch

Well, I've been homeschooled for my whole life so I don't really have good advice. Just try not to worry to much about grades since they won't matter much in the future. And talk to people and make friends! good luck! <3 <3

For a second I was really confused as to why you were almost 12 and going into 5th grade, and then I realized that not only does your school probably start middle school in 6th, I'm also about a year young for my grade so that's why I expected you to be younger. So basically moral of the story, my school is really weird. XD

It's going to be alright! You'll do great, we all believe in you.

Just study hard, have a good schedule, know your teachers, behave well, know when all the stuff is due, and know when the tests are coming! Easy! 

*dark* If you go to Harker or BISV, though, it's a whole other story.

Whelp, hope you have fun!

- misty 

Middle school isn't super hard, but I do have some suggestions.

-Make sure you try to make new friends while keeping old ones.

-Don't sign up for too many activites that could crowd your schedule

-You'll need to make more notes and study more for tests

-Don't get to worried! If you pay attention and act responsibly, everything should be fine :) 

My advice is to have fun. I had a lot of fun in middle school and once you graduate, you miss it, so make the most of it. 

I would say don't try to be in the "popular" group just find your own set of friends to be close with and have fun with and don't worry about what other people think of you.

I would also suggest trying sports, even if you're not super athletic. It might have been different for me because my school only had like 35 people in a grade, so it was easy to get on the sports teams. But middle school was the first time I ever played a sport and it was really fun and having the community of a sports team is really nice.

Also just try not to worry, middle school might sound scary, but it's not as bad as it is made out to be and it can be super fun.

Sorry I have no advice. I am a fourth rising fifth grader. But my cousin is in middle school and I asked her. She said that you should just treat it like any other year. It isn't impossible, just new.

So, like a lot of people have said, middle school is WAY different from how it is portrayed in the media. It's basically just elementary school, but with switching classes, better clubs, and slightly older people. Most people don't make a dramatic change between who they are in fifth grade and sixth grade.

In my experience (this is just my school, so I don't know how it will go in yours), there was a large section of sixth graders who are so blown up with the idea that they're old and cool now, they're middle schoolers, etc, and so they start doing stuff like having huge food fights and regular fights and being generally annoying and disruptive. This is not cool, so try not to be that person, and if your friends are, please tell them that you love them but their actions are kind of annoying and disruptive, so please stop throwing canned peaches across the table. For me, this kind of behavior settled down at least a little in seventh grade, but, like I said, my school is probably completely different from yours, so it's just a possible warning.

Second, just be yourself. You don't have to go from being a kid to a teenager just because you're in middle school now. If you want to start wearing makeup and crop tops and start dating people because that's what you want for yourself, then great, do that! But if that's not what you want for yourself, it's okay not to change just because you think that's what other people are doing or how you want people to see you: be the person you want to see yourself as. And if you don't quite know who that is yet, that's okay too! Middle school is not the time when you have to decide who you're going to be for the rest of your life, so just do what you want and be who you want. And, despite what you may be telling yourself (it's certainly what I think sometimes), the whole world is not watching your every move, so if you do something awkward or wear an outfit that you only realize you don't like right after you enter the school, it's okay. Your world doesn't need to fall down because of that.

Anyway, good luck! And I hope you have fun in middle school. Join clubs, make new friends and enjoy spending time with your old ones, figure out what teachers you think are awesome. You're going to do great!