Report Card Time

Published on June 24, 2004 By Tinuviel_04 In Home & Family

Well, it's the dreaded end of school year. Report card time. My child's report card arrives in the mail last week. All A's with the exception of one C-. Reading class. She says it "HAS" to be a computer error. So, being the optimistic parent I am, I attempt to reach her teacher. Do you know how hard it is to find a teacher after a school year is over?? Finally, after days of trying, she gets my message and calls me back. All hopes of mine then shatter. It is not an error. Apparently, my child spent more time being "in love" the last semester of classes then she did doing her homework. Many of her assignments were never turned in. Now, it is the job of a parent to come up with a feasible punishment for the summertime. Don't get me wrong, a C- isn't "that" bad. But it is to me when it's due to not turning in homework. And, for the real kicker, this child is ONLY 10. Middle school next year. This is going to be fun. NOT

Comments

kimk546

on Jun 25, 2004

Oh boy. Well, she's obviously smart - getting all those good grades in the other classes. You probably shouldn't use reading as "punshiment," but maybe you can get her to brush up skills this summer. I think positive reinforcement (rewards for good behavior) is better than negative (punishment for bad) when it comes to school and learning anyway.

I wonder if she did her assignments, but never turned them in, or if she never completed them in the first place.

Splateaux

on Jun 25, 2004

You can have her read you a bedtime story every night

Heck, I want a bedtime story too!

simplethings

on Jun 25, 2004

Hey! I want a bedtime story! Send her over! lol. . . Maybe I could have my little sister read me a bedtime story! Good thinking Splateaux. I liked your idea.

Um. . . I'm a teacher so I see this quite a bit. But unfortunately I'm not a parent of a 10 year old, and I have no idea of a good punishment for it. I know a parent from last year had her child do the assignments over, although they wouldn't get graded again, but still, you could show her that if she doesn't do them during school, she'll do them during summer. Maybe you could talk to her teacher about giving you the assignments she didn't do... That's all I can think of.

Emma

Jamie Burnside

on Jun 25, 2004

Getting mostly As shows that your daughter is a motivated student.

Is this C- her first low grade? If it is, ask her how she feels about it. Maybe she's disappointed in herself enough that she'll try a bit harder in that subject next year.

I think that it is more important to help kids establish internal motivation than to punish failure.

Tinuviel_04

on Jun 25, 2004

I think what is most frustrating is that I know she can get good grades. This is the first C- she's had. It's always been A's and B's. It's that she isn't even bothering to do or to turn in the work once it is done (combination of both). Don't get me wrong, I am VERY proud of her and tell her so. Her grades are so much better then mine were. Her focus is mostly on boys and it's hard to divert that. I told her that her punishment is coming up with a solution to the homework not getting done problem. Maybe her seeing that her grade fell from a B+ to a C- because of homework has shown her that it does really matter.

mrperky

on Jun 25, 2004

I'm unsure of how it came down, but your description seems to indicate that she lied to you about the reason for the low grade. That seems pretty egregious in itself. Just an observation.

--MrPerky

Tinuviel_04

on Jun 25, 2004

No. I don't think she intentionally lied to me about the grade. I guess there was a glitch in the computer system the beginning of the school year and she truly did think it was a wrong grade. And when I told her which assignments were missing, she got somewhat quiet. Almost like I was refreshing her memory on it.

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