DC doing horribly in high school
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Anonymous
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My DC is doing horribly in high school especially sophomore year. Looks like DC will be getting a couple Cs, Bs, and few A's. DC studies quite a bit and doesn't have access to devices after school other than for school related work. So there really aren't any distractions. I know DC is trying and I do not want to add to the pressure so I don't push too much about the grades. But I honestly don't think DC is going to get into a decent college at this rate. Im very worried at this point, but am trying my best not to make it obvious.
Can 11th and 12th grade really make a difference if DC turns things around or is it just wishful thinking at this point? |
Anonymous
| This is your definition of “doing horribly?” Wow. |
Anonymous
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Same here. DC is sophomore with a weighted 3.3. He has rallied recently and should have 3.6w this quarter and I hope he can end year with a 3.4w.
He studies, but I'm sure he could do better. Really bad with tests and ends up retaking at least half of them. Tutors have been helpful at times, depends on the subject. Only one EC (band) which doesn't take up too much time, except during marching band season. He takes some honors and IB courses (he's in an IB school in FCPS). Right now, we're hoping for a mid-level in-state school, but we'll see. |
Anonymous
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The classes are too hard. Scale back significantly.
Even if, perhaps, each individual class is an appropriate level, their schedule in it's entirety is too difficult for them to manage successfully. |
Anonymous
| Does she know how to study? I never did. Help her learn to take good notes and how to use outlines and notecards to study. |
Anonymous
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It must be frustrating to study hard and have things not go well. Time to regroup. Either classes are too hard, or a professional needs to step in with study skill training. I'm sure it is very frustrating.
There are schools for kids like yours. I advise that you don't listen to other people. |
Anonymous
| How long does hw take on average? Has he been tested for learning disabilities? |
Anonymous
| Is your child in public or private school? Is the school full of high achieving students? It is now hard to get C's in some public high schools because of grade inflation. |
Anonymous
This makes me laugh every time I read it - C's are handed out like candy at our top FCPS public. A's are very hard to come by. |
Anonymous
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" Is your child in public or private school? Is the school full of high achieving students? It is now hard to get C's in some public high schools because of grade inflation."
This is also NOT true in mid-level MCPS schools. Our DC signs up for the honors version of classes and seems to end up with a 79% grade and the highest C in the class all the time. Back to the OP's thread. My guess is that OP's DC is not actually trying but rather is putting in more time doing things that don't work for longer and longer periods of time. This shows they care and want to do better but that they need HELP. OP, during the fourth quarter you need to encourage DC to go see their teachers and ask questions. They need to spend some of their time not just doing their HW but thinking about the material enough so that they can make sense of the material and formulate questions they can ask. OP, you need to look around the web for blogs or articles that talk about methods and better ways to study. You might want to find a class this summer that teaches studying skills. There is no magic way to study but lots of people get stuck on the idea that if they pay attention in class, do all their homework and go over everything the night before the test that there is nothing else. This method only allows a student to see any part of the material 3 times. Very few people can learn, say foreign language vocab or Calculus procedures only seeing them 3 times. One possible way to increase the number of times DC sees the material is to spend 2 hours over every weekend, say 30 minutes for each of DC's 4 hardest classes building review sheets (and formulating questions for the teacher) for all the material they learned in the 4 classes since the last test. When the test comes around, not only will they have a solid review sheet and answers to questions they had as they learned the material, but they will have spent reasonably spaced out time learning the material in small chunks that are more reasonable to learn than a whole tests worth of cramming. OP, please get on this. As others have said, your DC really is NOT really having problems in HS but they show signs of being on a track where they will have problems if they aim for a major that is harder than average in college. Good luck |
Anonymous
Same at our FCPS HS. Some teachers don’t even give As “as a matter of principle, because there’s always room for improvement.” |
Anonymous
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OP this sounds like my kid. Usually straighs As. Sophomore year and we are praying for mostly Bs. Our kid is definitely not working to potential though.
We have found studying sitting at the table away from phones helps a lot. We are very worried that if DC finishes the year with two Cs in core classes 10th grade that college plans will be ruined. It is so stressful. |
Anonymous
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Either the classes are too hard or your child does not know how to study.
For the first, hire tutors for the C classes, and drop the honors next time, or, keep the tutors if picks up. For the second, if you can’t teach them, hire someone for a semester to meet with them and teach them these skills. |
Anonymous
| OP I know lots of kids with grades like this or worse. Some kids take longer than others to learn how to study and work effectively. Stay positive - there is a college out there for DC. |
Anonymous
| By decent if you mean Drexel, UMBC, Catholic, McDaniel -yes. In my book they are more than decent. If you kid shows some improvement and solid SATs, these are all matches. But if by decent you mean W&M, Wisconsin, Boston College-yes probably out of range unless 1450+ on SATs. |