Ahhhhh, middle school interims are out.

[luckey-lasvegas]

My DD did this last year in 7th grade. I shouldn't complain too much because she still managed to get really good grades, but the missing assignments just really pissed me off. So this was my sollution 1 missing assignment = 1 day of missing electronics. ie, phone, T.V. Ipod, Wii, computer etc. It worked like a charm for me . This year I told her that if she went the entire year without a missing assignment that I would buy her the DSI that she wanted. In truth it was a pretty safe bet for me but she now understands that we don't play with missing assignments around here!!! 1/2 credit is better than no credit.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Two in MS here. Thank you for this thread!

It's nice to know we're not alone, isn't it?

 

[punkin]

My DD did this last year in 7th grade. I shouldn't complain too much because she still managed to get really good grades, but the missing assignments just really pissed me off. So this was my sollution 1 missing assignment = 1 day of missing electronics. ie, phone, T.V. Ipod, Wii, computer etc. It worked like a charm for me . This year I told her that if she went the entire year without a missing assignment that I would buy her the DSI that she wanted. In truth it was a pretty safe bet for me but she now understands that we don't play with missing assignments around here!!! 1/2 credit is better than no credit.

DD12 hates TV. She lost her phone at a party last month and I have not replaced it. She doesn't play Wii unless she has friends over (like I'm going to allow that with these grades). She only uses the computer for school work.

The only leverage I have is the iPod on which she listens to her emo music and her sport and her music (did I mention she has an A in orchestra?).

I am not willing to punish with the Sport and the music because I think they are good for her. I will have to consider the iPod.

 

[joviroxx]

I find extra pain in the patottie chores work really well for my DD. Washing my car, scrubbing grout... yep, thats me, Mommie Dearest but sometimes you have to do , what you have to do . DS has a fit if I take away the phone, so that works with him. They both lose allowances as well.

 

[rszdtrvl]

I am a bad mom (at least will be qualified as one on the 'Dis) as I bribed DS with a trip to Great Wolf Lodge this summer, IF he gets all A's & B's. He can also get 1 C and also qualify for the trip.

I can access his grades online too, and do - almost on a daily basis.

In fact, yesterday I told him that his grade in English was a C+ due to lack of AR reading and that he needed to pick up the pace on his reading. He finished a book and will test on it today. And begin another book this weekend.

He appreciates the fact that I am looking out for him because of his incentive to get good grades. Which beats the heck out of him thinking I am stalking his grades.

Win/Win, in my opinion!

 

[Kae]

I am a bad mom (at least will be qualified as one on the 'Dis) as I bribed DS with a trip to Great Wolf Lodge this summer, IF he gets all A's & B's. He can also get 1 C and also qualify for the trip.

I can access his grades online too, and do - almost on a daily basis.

In fact, yesterday I told him that his grade in English was a C+ due to lack of AR reading and that he needed to pick up the pace on his reading. He finished a book and will test on it today. And begin another book this weekend.

He appreciates the fact that I am looking out for him because of his incentive to get good grades. Which beats the heck out of him thinking I am stalking his grades.

Win/Win, in my opinion!

I went for the all A's bribe with custom made Nikes.

Now before I get yelled at, his 2 B's he got were an 89 & an 88 so to me that means just a push to do better & it was Homework issues not test issues. that brought his grades down. And the teachers have told me if he would just proof his homework/classwork better.

But it not working his still has a 89 & 88 in those 2 classes.

Kae

 

[luvsJack]

With both of my sons, middle school was bad grade wise. They stayed with an overall C average but could have done much better. Once they became freshmen in high school--things went soo much better--A and B averages, sometimes all A's.

Our school is K-8, so the 7th and 8th graders are the "big dogs", add that to the raging hormones, spring fever and just plain ole' burn out and it makes for some tougher times. Besides, for us anyway there is a big change between 6th and 7th grades. In 6th they have 3 teachers and those 3 work closely together. In 7th they have 6 teachers and they are very seperate, so 3 of the 6 could possibly assign big projects at the same time.

DD has stayed with C and above and I have basically just encouraged her to do better and to push herself and given her the chance to adjust to the changes. I made it clear to her (just as I did with her brothers before her) that she had to keep up with assignments and she was required to do all assignements even if she was so late that she got no credit for them. Missed assignements are just not an option.

 

[esbrick]

A week ago our DD13/ 7th grade approached me and told me that her grades were unacceptable to herself. She told me that with her vollyball practices and games that they were messing up her ability to concentrate on her homework. INITIALLY I was impressed in her taking the lead and coming to me and explaining the situation and how she intended to fix it next semester! Her presentation was very mature. . . until the holes in her story started to form. . . One of the things that she told me was that she was never sure when she was going to have practice. So when I got home that Friday I had her practice schedule all ready to upload into her IPOD. I told her what the plan was and as if we had never had the conversation, she looks at me and said, oh no I already have that! Mommy gave me those dates and that's what we did. I just looked at her. . . que crickets. . . back tracking all of that. . . (back story, DD13 is my step daughter. She lives with her mom but is at our house one day during the week and every other weekend. We all try to work together when it comes to DD13's school work but her mother for years has thought and treated her as if she was slow. Until this year when things somewhat clicked!) This week we have delt with the agony of studying for a science test, a subject where she did not do well at all last semester, and forgetting in school a directive syllabus to tell her how to put together a science project for Today. This from the girl who told me that she was turning things around just last week!

Time management is not her strong point so I know we are going to have to speak to her about how she is spending her time after school. She is with her mom this weekend, so we will speak to her next week as I know her mom is under the weather and when the 3 of us speak to her, understandibly, she feels ganged up on. I think that when kids get their report cards that signifies to them that the new term is beginning, when infact, in our school the new term starts a week before report cards.

 

[Erin1700]

Mine's only in 4th grade, but can I join in too??
My gifted, straight A+ DD is currently at the point where the teacher emails us the upcoming tests! DD has to work for her grades and I guess this quarter she decided, 'if I dont tell mom I have a test, then I dont have to study!'

Oh my! Yes she is smart but she needs to study a little each night and add to that her swim schedule and I guess she just wanted more time to be a kid. Who knows! She was doing horribly this quarter until the teacher jumped in to alert us to tests.
Problem is she now has been getting super grades, so how long do we rely on the teacher??

 

[kydisneyfans]

We've got a 12 year old in 6th grade and would like to know what is going on. He has always been an A/B student and is having problems with one class this year, science. He absolutely hates this teacher, and the grades show it. We then checked online, and the work done during his weeklong absence from an excused illness shows 0's-over 500 points worth. No wonder he was .4 of a point from an F. That was October, this is March, and it still isn't taken care of.

This midterm comes, the grade goes from 68 to 110. We asked why and he said "Dr. ------- is not there, we have a different teacher-he's the greatest teacher ever.

Tenure is not a good thing........

 

[dislaney]

This sounds just like the conversations in my house. How hard is it to turn in the work after you've done it.

Oh we went through this with my daughter. Somehow, she thought she would magically get a grade if she did the work, forgetting that you had to actually turn it in. I don't miss those days!

 

[NotUrsula]

For issues with turning it in, consider using a scanner to have them email the assignment to the teacher as soon as it is finished. We ended up doing that with DS because he had this issue, and his teachers were willing to accept it electronically overnight. (In his case he was forgetting it in his homeroom locker.)

We still miss one or two on occasion, but he does better with turning it in right away instead of having to keep track of it at school for several hours. And yeah, I thought about the whole "manage your stuff" lesson, but in the era of things like turnitin.com, I'm not sure that it really counts for all that much.

 

[marcyinPA]

I really love it when you go talk to the teachers and they say...
"Oh, its normal. Its very common in Middle School..There is so much going on with hormones and everything. Getting a C is fine."

Yeah... Thanks.

Ha!! That is what my DS15's French teacher said (to HIM!!) Now, I have to say, that she is known to be a horrible teacher. She taught my SIL, who turned 50 this year! The woman has tenure, and she's not going anywhere till she's ready...

BUT, my DS 15 stayed after school for extra help several times and still failed every test. She passed him with a C-. He learned nothing.

We are now in the second quarter, and he failed his first test with a 15. Stayed for help, re-took the test. He failed it with a 68. She told him he did great...that the test was hard! HUH? I sent her an email...she told me how wonderful my son is, and whether I realize it or not, he is doing very well. WHAT??? He's FAILING!! The kids who pass with A's are the ones who do extra credit. They don't pass the tests either, but they study for the extra credit and get A's. Makes absolutely no sense at all. My friend's daughter had this woman 15 years ago, and she would give the kids one point per can of food for the food bank. So, her daughter brought in many, many cans of food, and passed with an A...but failed the tests.

People have complained, ranted, raved....the teacher is STILL there. So, I told my DS to play the game. Stay after school, bake her cookies...whatever it takes to get an A. It is ridiculous, but it is also evident that he will not be learning anything in French 3 this year.

 

[Cinderella94]

People have complained, ranted, raved....the teacher is STILL there. So, I told my DS to play the game. Stay after school, bake her cookies...whatever it takes to get an A. It is ridiculous, but it is also evident that he will not be learning anything in French 3 this year.

I'm a senior in HS and have had to do a ton of "playing the game" too . Sometimes it's just much easier.

 

[nuttylawprofessor]

Apparently a C is not fine. DD got a C in English and her teacher marked off the box that said "failing grade".

Of course she did actually fail another class.

Thanks God these things are not the final grades. She still has time to bring them up. The problem is she is completely uninterested in bringing them up.

What can I do?

The only people crazier than middle school students are the teachers who stick with that grade level for a number of years.

My 8th grade social studies teacher would send out midterm "warning cards" to just about everyone she didn't like. People with B's got warning cards.

Chances are, your daughter will grow out of it. I was a beast in 8th grade. I didn't do homework, didn't turn it in. I grew out of it. It really is typical behavior.

Preteens and early teens. Can't live with them, can't sell them to the circus.

 

[punkin]

The only people crazier than middle school students are the teachers who stick with that grade level for a number of years.

My 8th grade social studies teacher would send out midterm "warning cards" to just about everyone she didn't like. People with B's got warning cards.

Chances are, your daughter will grow out of it. I was a beast in 8th grade. I didn't do homework, didn't turn it in. I grew out of it. It really is typical behavior.

Preteens and early teens. Can't live with them, can't sell them to the circus.

I don't know about that...I've been considering lately that she would make a first class lion tamer.

 

[Cinderella94]

My brother is 13 (7th grade) and like this too. Maybe they outgrow it.

....and before you know it, they have senioritis .

 

[ENSOCK]

Both of my DSs do the same thing. Our speech is "homework is a gimme grade, do it and TURN it in!" Loss of cell, and other stuff does not sink in!

 

[dhcoffey]

Problem here is the work my DD is not turning in is done at school. They actually have very little homework believe it or not. She's way too caught up in the drama at school and we've had many punishments and talks about it. Thankfully her grades are getting better but still not where they should be.

Heather

 

[piperdown]

Our school district updated our online system this year so get email notification of grades below the parameters that the parent sets. Right now, I have it set to email me for a daily grade below 80, and an average less than 90. I like this much better than having to check everyday.

I got tired of nagging, so I let her know my expectations for report cards and progress reports, and it's her responsibilty to make sure that happens. There are specific consequences (loss of ipod, phone and/or laptop) if that doesn't happen.

What has irritated me the most this year was when she got a B in band. Why? Because she didn't turn in her practice cards. She was responsible enough to get her dad's signature on the cards, but then decided not to be bothered to turn them in. It was her only B on that report card, and she would have made honor roll if she hadn't been lazy.