Topic : School Issues

Our middle son is 15, and he is in 10th grade.  Junior high is such a change from elementary school...instead of one teather, they have 5 or 6...and that makes it more difficult to track one student...the teachers have 100 or more students to keep track of...

 

I would suggest getting in touch with the school counselor before it goes any further...we are dealing with the lying too...our son will say he doesn't have homewor, and then, missing assignments show up on the school's grade-check website...

 

The grade-check website is an excellent tool...but the drawback is that I don't find out about the missing assignments until it is too late....

 

Set up a conference with each of your son's teachers...or a group conference with all of his teachers and the school counselor...

 

In the conference, set up arrangements where you can email the teachers once a week to find out what the upcoming assignments are...that way, you can be ahead of the game by already knowing what is in store...and then, ask your son to show you the completed assignments when he says he is done...

 

We also dump our our son's backpack on a regular basis to see what is in there...he has his assignments well organized...but they are blank...

 

He is making excuses in Science class that the teacher picks "favorites", and that he "already knows" everything there is to learn in the class.....because of a failing grade in Science, he has been banned by the school from participating in Pep Band for the basketball games...according to our son, a high number of sophomores are failing in that particular class....I'd be interested to find out the real story...I'll be stopping in to see the teacher right after Christmas break...I will be emailing the teachers today to find out if there are any assignments or projects expected to be done over the break....

 

Communication is your greatest weapon...we found that banning our son from all fun things wasn't working...we made a contract with him...a point system based on improvement of his grades every week...if there was improvement, he gained points...if there was grade-sliding, he lost points....with a reward at the end of the school year for making the set goal of points (basically a B average)...he did actually  improve his grades...however, this time of year seems to be the most difficult for him...

 

I should mention that our son has Narcolepsy, and ADHD...so it is more difficult for him...but we are not allowing him to use those as an excuse...other than Science, he is doing pretty well...

 

I hope this helps...Becky

I guess it *has* been a while since I've been over here! I've fiddled with what is about to be the "new" Dr. Phil.com site off and on.

 

Glad to hear things w/the boys are improving, somewhat. I'll refrain from putting in my 2 cents about the science class, as the issue appears to be resolved for now.

 

School stuff with Anne -- is going. I'm annoyed that she's decided to fool around in class, rather than work, and the in-class work is the bulk of the grades! YIKES! I guess they've had too many problems with parents doing HW assignments *for* the students.

 

Hubs' job prospect appears to be at a dead end. The response from his letter of continuing interest was lukewarm in tone and late in coming. The upshot is I'm now looking for work, as his current position will end with the retirement of his boss. That could well occur next year.

 

Weather-wise, the last few days and nights were COLD -- by North FL standards, at any rate -- lows in the LOW 20s for the last 4 nights. The damage to the strawberry and citrus crops is still being assessed. Most of our plants made it (I think!), but we have a couple that are looking pretty ratty right now.

 

How much have you done on the BETA site? Not much, I gather. Tell you what I'll do -- I'll post a "comment" to your blog over there. Once you get the relevant info, just refuse to accept the comment, and it won't appear on your blog.

 

Prof

 

Hi Dr. Phil,

 

I'm a student in a High school...

I really have a motivation to send this letter to you.

I heard about you, and I like your show, also I Iike your way of thinking and talking honestly.

I really hope that you will help me and give me some information about fear of examinations.

 

There are more than 40 student in our high school have this problem "fear of examinations”, so my friends and I decided to make a study and a small project about this theme, maybe it will help those student to get over this problem, and we have some questions about fear of examinations, besides I want you to help us Dr. Phil, only you the most famous psychologist in the world.

 

Your great qualities and wonderful characteristics inspired me to ask you if you really want to answer!

 

Are you willing to give me your answers of my project theme?!

 

If you agree just send a massage to my e-mail address (s.massarwa_15@hotmail.com)

I hope so...

 

Thank you for everything...

 

Yours,

S.M

 

I have this problem too and do not know what to do. I hope I get an advice oand help.

 

This is my daughters 4th day of school.  The first days she cried but now she is sreamiing.  She says that she hates school and that she doesn't want to go back to school.  I stay firm and with the pain I am also feeling I try to keep her calm but it has gotten harder. 

Today as I she was walking to her class she was still crying and screaming,  one of the helpers told me that it would be easier if I just dropped her off and left.  I didn't like that, I figured that since it wasn't her child crying and screaming, it was just easy for her to say that.  I waited until they went into class and she was still crying. 

What can I do???  I am super upset today I just want to burst into tears and cry.  I am wondering if she is being treated right, if she is getting yelled at because she doesn't stop crying.  I just don't feel a nice connection between the teacher and the kids.  She seems to be treated the kids as 1st graders.  I don't know if I am being over protected but I already talked to the teacher about her telling my how my daughter was not good in school.  She told me in front of everyone, that doesn't embarrass me, its that she is not really caring about the kids feeling.  It was their first day of kindergarten and she was already embarrassing them in front of everyone.  I called the teacher and I told her how I felt, since then she hasn't said anything about any student, and that makes me feel that she listens to us and is willing to work with us, but she still doesn't make me comfortable, what if she is just putting a nice face in front of me and then screams at my kid. 

Please someone help me.  What should I do???