All A's in MS - what gift?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All As isn’t anything unusual in public school these days. It means they met the standard.

Do you have a kid who has gone through middle school yet? If they took a bunch of high school classes and got all As throughout the, no, it’s not “standard”.

DP here (I said the grades are the gift, early on in this thread) but yes, my DD took Honors math classes in 7th & 8th, she took Honors French and Honors Chinese. She left Pyle as a straight A student. She is now in 11th grade and ranks #1 in her HS because of this work she did and the accumulative WGPA it has given her. For what it's worth, she was run of the mill at Whitman with friends out-doing her in AP classes. We have since moved and that is why she is now ranked #1 in her HS.

So leaving Pyle with all A's is very much the "norm"

Not among the kids I know from Pyle.

Regardless we didn’t do anything special for my magnet kid who was one of a few to get all As thoughIt middle school. He took pride in keeping his record intact and so he should have. I doubt he’ll have the same flawless success in magnet high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s great to reward your kids for having a great year but I would reconsider tying it explicitly to A’s. I saw so many of my peers struggle to live up to parental expectations even when they were tying their hardest. A lot of things may hinge on their grades but those things don’t need to include your approval.

I agree with this. We did it. I don't remember how much, but we gave some money reward each year if they got all As. I have three kids and two of them got the reward year after year but for one, as he got older, as the difficulty of classes increased, the kid probably worked much harder than in MS (frankly, all As in middle school isn't all that hard) and I think this focus on grades just added to the anxiety.

It would have been fine if we had one kid, but at some point, it became a contrast-- one kid got all As, the other didn't (third was in college at this point) (But the Bs were classes such as AP calculus an AP Chem). We worked it out, but it would have been easier if we'd tied it to something less rigid-- "I know you worked your butt of this year, so ___(reward)___." Also, if I were to do it again, I'd do something slightly different each year (maybe different timing or different reward or different explanation for reward) so that if you pivot in another direction based on kid's needs, it isn't so obvious.

What school allowed your child to take AP calculus and AP chemistry in middle school? That’s impressive!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The gift is the grades, OP. That's the gift.

+1
We didn't do anything. I do wish their school would have given them a certificate or something like other schools did though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I made my kids a cake for the last day of school. Both my A student, and my B student got to eat it.

This.

OP, celebrate the end of the year, not specific performance

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DS got all A's in middle school. We should probably do something for his achievement. Any ideas?

In my Asians family:

A = Average
B = Below average
C = Can't have dinner
D = Don't come home
F = Find a new family

So, no present, sorry.

[Anonymous]

Nothing. This is incredibly easy to do

[Anonymous]

The gift of your time and attention to honor their energy and focus, regardless of the actual grades they brought home. A special lunch or ice-cream stop one-on-one where you thank them for working hard and trying their best, and give them 100% of your attention. And if that would be the kid's worst nightmare based on age and stage, a low-key affordable outing like mini golf where you can chat while you play.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All As isn’t anything unusual in public school these days. It means they met the standard.

Do you have a kid who has gone through middle school yet? If they took a bunch of high school classes and got all As throughout the, no, it’s not “standard”.

DP here (I said the grades are the gift, early on in this thread) but yes, my DD took Honors math classes in 7th & 8th, she took Honors French and Honors Chinese. She left Pyle as a straight A student. She is now in 11th grade and ranks #1 in her HS because of this work she did and the accumulative WGPA it has given her. For what it's worth, she was run of the mill at Whitman with friends out-doing her in AP classes. We have since moved and that is why she is now ranked #1 in her HS.

So leaving Pyle with all A's is very much the "norm"

Which school district ranks students? Certainly not MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Growing up, we had a nice dinner at home when I had a good grade in a subject that was hard for me, otherwise it was just a verbal nicely done.

[Anonymous]

God, people suck. If you want to celebrate your child's accomplishments, and encourage hard work going forward, just do a nice dinner someplace fun. I always do Hot Pot or Hibachi with my kids for those sorts of accomplishment, after recitals, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:God, people suck. If you want to celebrate your child's accomplishments, and encourage hard work going forward, just do a nice dinner someplace fun. I always do Hot Pot or Hibachi with my kids for those sorts of accomplishment, after recitals, etc.

We aren't saying don't celebrate, but don't tie the celebration to all As. Celebrate a year of hard work coming to a close. Celebrate the beginning of summer.

Because what happens to that straight A student that comes up against a hard teacher? A challenging course? What if they get lower than As in the future--we aren't going to celebrate their hard work and other accomplishments unless they show 100% perfection all the time? That's setting the kid up for anxiety and perfectionist tendencies

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All As isn’t anything unusual in public school these days. It means they met the standard.

Do you have a kid who has gone through middle school yet? If they took a bunch of high school classes and got all As throughout the, no, it’s not “standard”.

DP here (I said the grades are the gift, early on in this thread) but yes, my DD took Honors math classes in 7th & 8th, she took Honors French and Honors Chinese. She left Pyle as a straight A student. She is now in 11th grade and ranks #1 in her HS because of this work she did and the accumulative WGPA it has given her. For what it's worth, she was run of the mill at Whitman with friends out-doing her in AP classes. We have since moved and that is why she is now ranked #1 in her HS.

So leaving Pyle with all A's is very much the "norm"

Which school district ranks students? Certainly not MCPS.

You are correct, we are no longer in MCPS. We just left. Did I not say where we went? Oh well that's probably because it's none of your business.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nothing. This is incredibly easy to do

No it isn’t.

[Anonymous]

Those of you saying that all As is easy haven’t had kids taking high school level classes in middle school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Those of you saying that all As is easy haven’t had kids taking high school level classes in middle school.

Wrong. My DD took 2 Honors level Math classes and 2 Honors level FL classes (these at the same time) during MS and she was straight A grades all three years. And even she knew that was "normal"