DS not taking freshman year seriously

[Anonymous]

Title says it all- DS is not taking his grades seriously and his grades are sliding to Bs and Cs. He was a straight A student with little effort in middle school. His teachers tell me he is distracted in class and talking with friends. I took his phone as a consequence until he starts to put forth his full effort and not be disrespectful and talk with friends in class. It doesnt yet seem to be sinking in...anyone been there before?

[Anonymous]

Do colleges look at freshman year grades?

[Anonymous]

Have you asked him what he thinks about school? What is hard and easy for him? What are his goals? Problem solve with him instead of for him and you're likely to get much more buy in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do colleges look at freshman year grades?

They don't look at HS grades at all unless they are just all D's.
SAT score and Exit Level Testing Scores are all they care about. Oh and that fat paycheck from .Gov student loan money laundering scams or momma and daddy's bank account.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do colleges look at freshman year grades?

Yes, they are equally related to 10th and 11th grade with few exceptions. (And senior year is too late to make up much ground.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do colleges look at freshman year grades?

They don't look at HS grades at all unless they are just all D's.
SAT score and Exit Level Testing Scores are all they care about. Oh and that fat paycheck from .Gov student loan money laundering scams or momma and daddy's bank account.

Well, this is completely false. Of course they look at GPA, which includes freshman year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do colleges look at freshman year grades?

Yes

My main plea is get your kid to shut up in class. Other kids are trying to learn and focus. My child is so frustrated by these kids.

I would tell my kid no phone or social life until the reports from the teachers are better and grades are up.

[Anonymous]

Are you sure he has the skills? Straight As in MS aren’t necessarily indicative of ability to perform in HS. Punishment isn’t going to help if that’s the problem. You probably need to spend some time figuring out what’s going on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you sure he has the skills? Straight As in MS aren’t necessarily indicative of ability to perform in HS. Punishment isn’t going to help if that’s the problem. You probably need to spend some time figuring out what’s going on.

I agree with this and also maybe it’s not that complicated. Not paying attention in class will get you low grades in high school. Smart kids can maybe get away with that in middle school. Barely pay attention and then catch up before a test or an assignment is due.

But Qs to ask:

Are you paying attention in class? If yes…
Are you understanding what is taught. If yes…
How are you organizing your homework and studying?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do colleges look at freshman year grades?

They don't look at HS grades at all unless they are just all D's.
SAT score and Exit Level Testing Scores are all they care about. Oh and that fat paycheck from .Gov student loan money laundering scams or momma and daddy's bank account.

Well, this is completely false. Of course they look at GPA, which includes freshman year.

This and you need the A's in freshman year to prop up the GPA. Once it goes down it's hard to get back up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Title says it all- DS is not taking his grades seriously and his grades are sliding to Bs and Cs. He was a straight A student with little effort in middle school. His teachers tell me he is distracted in class and talking with friends. I took his phone as a consequence until he starts to put forth his full effort and not be disrespectful and talk with friends in class. It doesnt yet seem to be sinking in...anyone been there before?

1. Middle School is not HS.
2. This is normal for kids that are not the brightest blubs
3. You raised a twat and taking his phone will not fix this.
4. You didn't teach your kid learning is important.

[Anonymous]

The kids I know who had this issue fell in with a loser peer group. How are his friends OP? That is the biggest driver of how your kid will respond effort wise to school.

[Anonymous]

BTDT but had way more serious issues than grades. DS had As in middle school and ended 9th with Ds, Cs and I think 1 B. We had lots of meetings, him skipping school and a world of trouble.

So, here’s how you can benefit from our thousands spend on individual and family therapy. We were actually told to back off, which went against everything we were doing. But know your kid. Is your kid going to respond to taking away his cell or dig in more and make it worse? Ours dug in and did nothing when we took things away. We had to change to parenting a teen and give him control.

He’s finishing up senior year and had better grades in 10th and all As in 11th and 12th. He’s had his choice of colleges. Many great ones, and we found colleges don’t care much about 9th grade since he had such a strong upward trend and great EC.

TLDR - he had to grow up and we had to change our parenting style.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do colleges look at freshman year grades?

They don't look at HS grades at all unless they are just all D's.
SAT score and Exit Level Testing Scores are all they care about. Oh and that fat paycheck from .Gov student loan money laundering scams or momma and daddy's bank account.

Well, this is completely false. Of course they look at GPA, which includes freshman year.

+1. Absolutely false. All four years go into the weighted and nonweighted GPA

[Anonymous]

The UC system does not look at freshman year grades, just in case that's helpful to OP or others. (They also have a lot of other peculiarities so read up if that's an option you want to pursue.)

More directly to the point, OP some kids can skate through MS but have trouble with the workload and pace of HS. It's a lot! Figure out whether it's an executive functioning issue (missing assignments etc) or more general falling behind - your kid may need subject-specific tutoring or organizational help. Or both like my oldest! But he's now a pretty successful college senior with good study skills and habits, so things can change. Good luck!