Hello, OP here. I'm glad to read about everyone's experiences and my DD has found comfort in reading the posts, too! Our babies are really growing up, aren't they?
My two freshmen are a little over a week in and doing well. I didn't cry when they left for school. (I had my little - ok, big - breakdown last year in WDW when they went off on their own and it hit me how much they were growing up then!) It was nice they had the first day of school to themselves to learn their way around so I think that was helpful.
A few of you mentioned not having many freshmen in their classes - mine both have that, too. But thankfully they both knew someone in all of their classes. Lunch was the biggest concern, especially for DD since in MS the # of people at the table was limited and it became stressful of you were late to lunch or if others saved seats and all that. But here, they can add extra seats to tables so it's been nice, no more stress about it. DD even invited a boy new to the school and eating alone over to eat with their group and it sounded like he was glad to join them.
Of course, DD has a nice cough already and she said everyone else does, too.
(Gotta love school.) I told her just don't give it to me!
Both of them have said they love HS so far. They really like having more freedom and feeling more grown up. They've been showing a lot of maturity and confidence in their habits, which I'm so glad about, especially for DS, who shirked some of his responsibilities in MS (which was frustrating having teachers tell us he was capable of more, though he really turned that around toward the end of last year). He agreed with us about shutting the XBox Live off to eliminate that as a distraction to start the year, and he hasn't even asked about restarting it. (Surprising since two of his best friends since K moved away and that's how they've kept in touch. And thinking of their experiences in new schools altogether makes him realize that his experience isn't nearly as difficult.) From what I can tell he's been enthusiastic about doing his work and participating in class so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. He starts fall baseball this weekend and he's looking forward to that. We did some college walk-throughs this summer informally and talked a lot about possible career choices so I'm hoping that was motivating. DD loved the college environment and said she wished she could start now! But that was before HS started and I think she feels better about HS seeing she has some of the freedoms she liked about college like a neat cafeteria, more food choices, vending machines, lol, a bookstore, ability to bring a hot or cold drink to school, etc.
DS is keeping all of his classes as they are; DD is planning to change out of one elective she's not liking into something she thinks she'll like better.
So so far, so good.