school issue - Page 2

[mtiger]

One thing your son may not realize is that his grades in MS may well determine how he gets placed in HS. C's? He'll be in with the average kids, doing the average work, he shouldn't expect to be challenged. If he'd bored in MS, he's gonna be bored in HS unless he's placed in Honors classes. And with C's..... no Honors classes.

My son's a Soph, and we were in the same place. Honors classes were better, but it was only when he hit Pre-Calc and Hon English this Block that he really *got* what it meant to be challenged in school. He has to think now, instead of just recite the answer. If he'd blown off his grades in MS.....

And no, HSing wouldn't have worked for us for any number of reasons.

[mommy68]

Originally Posted by kathymuggle

Mommy68 - I think it is common and certainly not abnormal for a young teen to still need a bit of help being organised and staying on tracks. Schools, for better or worse, like to promote independance and persoanl accountability. Those are great attributes in adults, but 12 year olds are not adults - it is OK if some still need our help in this department.

I agree. I think it was putting as much (if not more) pressure on me as the parent when my son just would not get better at being more responsible. That made it harder.

[ricemom3]

momy68, I totally agree about the pressure on you. I've had similar issues with my son, since 8th grade. Mainly it's my husband that thinks we've got to be "on him" to make him do his work and get decent grades. I figure by 11th grade, it shouldn't be us, it should be him. I didn't mind in 8th grade, since it was his first year back after hs'ing. But by now, he should be organized, shouldn't he?

mtiger, you are correct about ms grades determining hs classes. The problem is most kids don't realize that, or care. Around here, hs goes year by year, so if you really screw up 10th grade honors something, they drop you down. I don't necessarily agree, maybe offer help or something.

[rhubarbarin]

I was a smart kid and I never did homework. It was bad enough that I had to sit in a desk all day, wasting my time with things I didn't find interesting.. the last thing I wanted to do was waste a second of precious reading/making clay animals/outdoor playing time with more silly papers that didn't teach me anything, or at least not nearly as much as I could learn myself just by doing something myself or opening a book! By the time I got to high school, I was doing no work at all, except taking tests, which I usually got good grades on, but that's not enough to pass the class. I never cared a fig for grades, thought kids who did were weird.. just nothing about the school system appealed to me. It just seemed so arbitrary (not to mention dull)and I had no respect for it. My mom's solution was to scream and yell about it, which didn't motivate me any..

I would like to say though, my attitude towards school bears no relation to my attitude towards work. I'm a good worker, responsible and I've never been fired. When I am being paid to do my job and other people are depending on me, of course I do my best, never had any inclination to do otherwise.

Anyway I will be watching this thread, cause goodness knows I'll have no idea what to do if my kids are the same way! I want to give them the option of traditional schooling, because I know a lot of kids do well in it.. but.. I wish to goodness homeschooling (by someone other than my mother) would have been an option for me.

[ricemom3]

rubarbarin- It's funny that you said you'd wished hs would have been an option for you. Just yesterday, my son, who is one of these do poorly in school kids, said that if he wasn't going into his senior year, he would want to go back to hsing. He said the two years he remembers actually learning something worthwhile were 7th (hs) and 8th (1st year in ps, but it was an academy that chellenged them). I like that you said your school attitude bears no relation to work. I hope that my son will be the same way when he gets a job, b/c working around the house he doesn't have that work ethic (what kid does? haha)
I would say just remember how you felt in school if your kids go through this.