Topic : School Issues

You could drive him to school, walk him to his class and stand outside the door until school is over.   

Tammy 

I would ask your mom a directly question of why she would want to pull you from AVID?  This would give you the option to overcome any objections she has.  I have a BA but am a stay at home mom.  I have heard the arguement many timesabout getting a degree and then staying home.  I have told people that I look at it like life insurance.  It is there to help me get a better job and get a job quicker than without a degree if I ever need a job.  We can't be sure what life will throw at us and if my husband gets hurt or something where he can't work bills will not just stop.  Try to figure out how to steer the conversation to where she would WANT you to take this course.  Even if you need to work it to where she would take pride in the fact that she has a daughter smart enough to be allowed into this course. 

Tammy   

Hello,  

I have a question, My son is 6 and in the first grade. He is a very smart little boy, does fine in his school work. Brings home good grades. His teacher tells me, he is one of the nice, hard working little boys she seen. He is not hurtful to others, and love to lean and work on school things. But then it comes to free time, sitting still, hands to him self, or trying to be center of attention. It all falls apart. They have a program, a dime a day, or cash out. You can cash out up to 3 times. You guessed it he cashes out 2 to 3 times a day. For things like making noise when they are to be quit, jumping up and down in line, and a lot of other things like this. Not hurtful to other, just distracting to others. 

We have cleaned out his room, then let him work to get it back, had him write many times over what he did wrong, Taken him out of football games and other things, grounded over a day or weekend, so many things. It does not seem to get better. It just stays the same. He tells me, he just can not stop, or does not know why. He will do something get in touble, then 5mins later do it again.I do not want to medicate my son, I believe that is what it is leading to. What is left....... 

Hope someone can help,,,,,, 

I am having the same type of problem with my oldest child. She has now failed the ninth grade and is headed down the same path this year. She has already missed 16 days out of the school year and we have had a conference with the school regarding illegal absences. Nothing seems to make an impact on her attitude. She takes my cell phone and uses all of the minutes, driving up the bill. She steals $ from us and my younger daughter.  

When she was evaluated for ADHD they put her on Stratera, but it was a joke to her and so we stopped giving it to her, knowing that taking it sporadically, would be worse than not at all. Just be very careful. Listen to him, care about him, know his friendships. We only seem to gain ground with her when we are open to her and let her tell us ANYTHING! I still give her my concerns in the ? form, but I try to get her thinking herself. Little by little, they can come back. 

Good Luck and remember, they never said parenting was easy! 

Have you tried grounding her while supervising her.If you take things out of her room, cancel out a whole lot of privlages,and keep an eye on her at home she might feel as if your invading on her life, but it might make her tell her the message that she's being watched, and she can't get away with everything anymore. 

What are you doing now?  Are you attending a private school?  An "alternative ed" program?  Getting homeschooled?  There are also programs out there to help you get a GED.  

I understand your frustration.  I agree that there are a lot of problems with the public school system and that it's hard to fix it.  (I know because I've tried, but that's a long story.)  But if you don't find a way to finish your education, you're only hurting yourself. 

Do you have regular communication with his teachers?  Does the first hint of a problem come when you see the report card?  By then it's too late.  Our school system sends out "midterm" progress reports when the marking period is supposedly half over, but even those arrive too late.   

I have plenty of ideas of things to try, but first you have to figure out WHY he's failing.  Is he just not doing the homework (because he's lazy)?  Or maybe he missed something in a previous grade and he needs extra help getting caught up.  He could be feeling overwhelmed and doesn't know where to start to get things turned around.  What were his grades like before 7th grade?  If he's been struggling for a long time, maybe he has an undiagnosed learning disability. 

That why I think you should start by talking to his teachers.  Request a face to face meeting.  Find out what they think the problem is.  If you're not satisfied with their answers, you can request that the school conduct a formal evaluation. 

Also, ask your son what he thinks the problem is.  And really listen to what he says.  You might learn something valuable.