SD not doing well in school
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| Mon, 11-20-2006 - 3:40pm |
Our kids all got their report card last Fri. My DSD who is in 11th grade, apparently failed Science. I say "apparently" because I didn't see her report card, although from what my DH told me, that's what I gathered. I don't know what her other grades are but I guess she passed. Last year, she did ok, but in 9th grade, she had a problem w/ failing math, (among many other problems) so in 10th grade, she had to take the regular math class, which was Geometry, then she had an additional math class to help her pass the test that's required for graduation. She did pass that.
So my DH was really upset. He said "I thought these problems were behind us." He was particularly mad because whenever he asked her how things were going in school, she said ok. She had missed handing in some homework or assignments and that probably affected her grade as well. She is taking Environmental Science, which has a reputation of being easier than Chemistry, which is what most of the juniors take, although I don't really know if that's true. I don't think she can't do the work, it's more a combination of laziness, not caring and when things get hard, she doesn't ask for help.
So my DH, who doesn't have a good relationship w/ his DD anyway, started lecturing her on Fri. night. Some of the things I agree with, like getting her a tutor and having him look over her assignments on a weekly basis and getting notes from the teacher to make sure everything is done. But then of course, he doesn't know where to stop and starts the rant about how she's going to lose her privileges and all the stuff she has in her room if her grades don't go up. He lectures her so much that I think she just tunes him out. He was doing this while her friend was up in her room waiting for a ride home, so finally I broke in and said that it probably wasn't the best time to talk to her when her friend was at the house. He was mad at me for that one, but he could have waited til the girl went home. I ended up driving the friend home cause I went to the store w/ my DS. We like to get out of the house when he gets into these rants. I guess my DSD was upset cause when I went to ask her something at about 10:00 she was asleep (or at least pretending just to get away from him?)
My kids are really into school and getting good grades and I don't know how to get through to her. I would like to be helpful. One thing I did mention to her is that she said she wants to be a teacher, which means she has to go to college and that if she keeps failing courses, she won't get into any college, or at least won't have much of a choice of where to go. It doesn't seem that she's mature enough to think about how this will affect her future. She definitely is more interested in what shows are on TV and goofing off on her computer than doing her homework, but since she does work in her room, it's hard to tell what she is doing. I think having her dad look at her homework is one step in the right direction. Also, tonight is parent-teacher confs. She tried to tell her dad that she never got the sheet to make the appts. (she has never gotten one since 9th grade!) but he called up and at least got an appt. w/ the science teacher.
