JC
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Posts: 205
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Post by JC on Mar 4, 2008 11:11:15 GMT -5
my oldest Will will be turning 7 in just 2 weeks.. he is in first grade. he has made straight A's every semester this year, and made the equivalent last year. he is VERY smart, he takes after me, when i was in school all i had to do was listen and i made A's. his progress report came home yesterday and he made a B in science. knowing him like i do, i know the only reason he made that B was because he wasn't paying attention. so i got on him last night about it. told him i didn't want to see anymore B's and his report card ought to have straight A's again. Both James and Blake (his bio dad) said that was too hard. but, neither one of them made straight A's, so to them a B is still pretty awesome. i say that if i let him think getting a B is ok, he wont strive to turn that B into an A.
what do you guys think?
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Post by sheyd on Mar 4, 2008 11:17:15 GMT -5
Did you ask him before you got on him for the B? My daughter is like that too - and her reason is that she doesn't turn in homework. (Sometimes even homework she finished - she just forgets). At any rate, if you find out the "why"s of it all, it is easier to deal with that than stressing the grades. No one will care when he is 30 that he got a B, but they WILL care if he takes shortcuts just to get the job done, or gets lazy. It isn't really the grade that is the problem, and if you stress the grades, he may take "easy" courses when he gets older just to make sure he keeps his 4.0. I would rather see a kid get a C in a challenging class than an A in an easy one...
If he is getting As easily, you may want to make sure he is challenged enough. No one pays attention when they are supremely bored. That wouldn't be his fault, but it would need to be addressed. Bright kids in elementary school have higher dropout rates in highschool than average kids - you want to make sure he is challenged.
Shey
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JC
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Posts: 205
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Post by JC on Mar 4, 2008 11:25:48 GMT -5
yeah he is in the advanced program in his school... he is also a talker, which has been a big issue. im dreading spring break right now, because i know that it is going to take Will some time to transition back into school afterwards, and he will be getting in trouble on a daily basis, just like after christmas
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Post by rocko on Mar 4, 2008 16:30:43 GMT -5
Jacob (4th grade-age 9) is allowed As and Bs. I do not set these rules....step son
Alec (K-age 5) gets check and plus signs on his report card...I dont' stress over those...He has all + except in the shoe tying thing...working on it. I do require 100s on all weekly tests. He has done this except three little things and he was sick at school and I didn't know it the day he had those. I let him know that I thought he could do better, but that was all. I always make sure to say positive things about the 100s EVERYTIME.
Kyle doesn't get grades, but I comment on his work positive and negative.
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Post by Dave on Mar 5, 2008 13:06:20 GMT -5
I hate grades.
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Post by finding on Mar 5, 2008 13:07:50 GMT -5
The grades themselves aren't what I find important, but if they (my daughter as the boys aren't graded) do their best and put in the effort.
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JC
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Posts: 205
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Post by JC on Mar 5, 2008 13:11:37 GMT -5
that is the point. my sons best is straight A's anything less and he is screwing around.
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Post by sheyd on Mar 5, 2008 13:40:51 GMT -5
Yeah, but when and why was he screwing around? Once my daughter had a teacher who assigned them 3 pages of math a day in class - for a 45 minute period. Noone could finish in that time, other teachers only gave select problems from each page, and my kid's teacher told the kids to take it home and do it. Mind you, they already had a page or two of "homelinks" - math pages that are associated with their day's work so parents can work with the kids and know what was going on. I refused to let my daughter do her in-class homework at home. I think that amount of homework is counterproductive, and I wanted her to "have a life". Her teacher started keeping her in at recess, and was making her do math sheets from a quarter that was already done and no grade could be raised. Which it couldn't anyway, since even without her in-class work her test scores had given her an A. (Isn't homework/classwork only really there to teach you the lessons? She already obviously understood, the rest was just busywork and a waste of her time!) She finally got the feeling she could never catch up, so what was the use of trying and messed around even more during math. That was my kid messing around, but the issues were not only because of my kid. I still say you can't just assume it is him messing around without figure out WHY is he messing around, and maybe fix the root problem....
Shey
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blu
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Post by blu on Mar 6, 2008 22:38:56 GMT -5
I tell my girls that I expect them to do they best they can and I happen to know that for my oldest, who is the only one graded now, that is A's!
When she brought home a B+ in math we discussed it, she was upset with no 4.0. I just told her that A's require attention to details and checking her work.....
I don't want her to overly stress, but school is her job in life and I expect her to give it her all any any given day. knowing that will vary....
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Post by murdock on Mar 7, 2008 12:25:24 GMT -5
My daughter is a straight A honor student. My son is more of a C average kid. I accept the level they both are on and encourage them. My daughter started jr. high last year and her grades droped tremendously. I had to let go for a minute because she actually had a social life for the first time ever. I gave it a semester and then laid down the law. It is hard to find balance. They are kids and sometimes they need to be cut a little slack. My brother was a complete slacker in elementary school. In the 7th grade he kicked it into high gear and actually graduated from college with honors.
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Post by prairienomad on Mar 9, 2008 23:31:41 GMT -5
JC, I agree with you 100 percent. If he's capable of getting a's and then gets a b, then there is a reason. He is probably not trying.
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JC
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Posts: 205
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Post by JC on Apr 17, 2008 15:47:40 GMT -5
got his report card the other day.. he got straight A's!
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Post by sheyd on Apr 17, 2008 16:05:48 GMT -5
Yay! Congrats!
Kit missed her 4.0 by one B+. Sure enough, she missed one little 10 pt assignment, that was the difference. Sigh.
Shey
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