i hope i made the right choice?

[Mrmrezg]

Ok, let me start by saying that my son is very smart. last year he made all As throughout the third grade. This year his grades fell a little. He made two Cs the rest were As and Bs.
The problem is that Louisiana does the LEAP test. If a student fails the LEAP test, they must either go to summer school or repeat that grade. Basically, the test exist only to contradict the teachers.
My son failed the LEAP test. The dates for summer school encompass our disney dates. We were able move our dates to the middle of July, from BLT to SSR.
I told him earlier in the year that if he failed, he would not go to WDW. He technically passed the fourth grade but, the school says he didn't.

My thing is, are we doing we doing the right thing by changing our date to allow him to come with us? Or, should we have stuck to our guns and plan to leave him with a family member?

We don't think it would be fair to our daughter or anyone else for us to not go.

i don't know, you would that after 10 years this parenting stuff would get easier.

 

[papamouse1]

Oh my... let yourself off the hook. I would have done EXACTLY what you have done. Now, if my son was a problem child, or he willfully failed to give his best, then MAYBE you stick to your guns... sounds like your son genuinely tried, and got caught in a mess not all of his making. I applaud you for not punishing your son for that.

It is always hard to give any advice to someone about raising kids. There are no fast rules for all people... but I think that whatever path you take, as long as you keep the goal "helping your child" over "correcting behavior" you're going to far more pleased with the results.

Bless You and I hope your son gets it all straightened out, has a fantastic time at Disney, AND learns a valuable lesson.

 

[wasnotafan]

Sounds like the right move to me. Don't even get me started on state standards and testing.

 

[NWDAD]

I say move the dates and take him. By his grades he passed. I do not put much stock in a state test. IMO, the schools put to much pressure on kids to pass a test and some kids just do not test well.

Kevin

 

[GoofyDadinVA]

Oh my... let yourself off the hook. I would have done EXACTLY what you have done. Now, if my son was a problem child, or he willfully failed to give his best, then MAYBE you stick to your guns... sounds like your son genuinely tried, and got caught in a mess not all of his making. I applaud you for not punishing your son for that.

\

Sounds like the right move to me. Don't even get me started on state standards and testing.

I say move the dates and take him. By his grades he passed. I do not put much stock in a state test. IMO, the schools put to much pressure on kids to pass a test and some kids just do not test well.

Kevin

They all said forms of what I was going to suggest. It's 4th grade and doesn't seem to be a result of being a bad kid. He's got summer school to make things bad enough.

 

[theduck619]

You did the right thing. Some kids do horrible on tests. I had a buddy in high school who struggled with the state test ISTEP, but graduated 2nd in our class of 400+. He graduated with honors from the Universitty of Michigan.

Your son will appreciate you believing in the work he did throughout the year

 

[Mrmrezg]

Thanks guys, I know I am more of a reader and not much of a poster but I knew y'all would help to ease my mind. To be honest, we could not imagine going without him.

 

[AirGoofy]

One more vote of confidence. And as you said, he passed the grade, just not the test. Disney is just one of those special family things.

 

[papamouse1]

By the way, Mrmrezg... I love your avatar! Did you make it?

 

[Mrmrezg]

no, i didn't make that avatar. that is the original disdads logo. the logo was changed because this one looked too much like a disney channel logo.
you get to pick, i am either too rebellious, too nostalgic, or too lazy too change it.

 

[Marc Jenks]

I mean, you can choose which way to go and rationalize it because of the contradicting results.

If you want him to go, it's because he did well in his grades.

If you want him to improve and stay home, it's because he did poor on his tests.

The best advice I share across the broad opinions of parenting is to be consistent (make good on your threats, come through on promises, always give the consequence or reward that they were told would occur). You seem aware of this as well. Good job on recognizing the value of consistency.

 

[Mrmrezg]

WOO HOO!!!! One week until we depart!

 

[Mrmrezg]

we will be hopping on that big ol' jet airliner bright and early. this will be our first time flying to WDW, and the first time the young ones have ever flown.

 

[Twin Dad]

Have a good time.

BTW, as an ex-teacher I think you made the right call. Only teacher bashers really take stock in what standardized tests say