Not my kid but myself! I was just not motivated until like 8th-10th grade then became obsessed and was almost the top of my class - top 5%. i did it for me from then on out (ie college, grad school)

I hit my stride junior / senior year in high school and it carried on through college and law school. A change in my group of friends as they spun off into distractions found me hanging more with the college-bound crowd and my grades improved.

I did this too. I was extremely young for my grade, which I think factored in since I wasn't socially on the same level as many of my classmates. Things generally came easily to me, so I didn't focus. By high school it evened out, plus getting to pick some of the classes, plus after school activities, and the classes getting harder, forced me to focus and organize myself so that I did a lot better.

I don't know about my Dad but I know that I struggled in ES and a bit in MS and only hit my stride in HS.

My dad struggled in elementary and MS, but “got it” in high school, graduated early, graduated college early and went a top Ivy for Law school. He was always highly intelligent, but think he may have a mild learning disability (maybe ADHD) tha kept him from being a great student in the early years. but he figured out how to compensate by high school.

I struggled all the way through HS, did extremely well in college, went to a top ten law school, and am very successful now.

Some kids deal much better with independent learning.

https://psychcentral.com/news/2011/10/21/iq-can-significantly-change-during-adolescence/30587.html

My DD was a so-so student in lower grade school, labeled as "average" in testing. Did fine, but mostly 3s. Was very resistant to reading.

That changed in sixth grade when she turned it around big time. Now she's in 8th grade and just earned straight As in all honors classes across the board. She is now an avid reader.

I'd rather have my kid hitting his or her stride in high school when grades actually start to matter!

Lol, I'm pretty sure that my son had one or two of his elementary school teachers convinced that he was just not meant to be much of a student. Truth was, he enjoyed chatting, reading Diary of the Wimpy Kid books and more or less coasted academically at school. He did what was required, did pretty good on the standardized tests. He was good natured, sweet, an easy kid to have in class and he liked going to school (which is huge). PE, recess and lunch were his favorite parts of the day. We used to read together a lot at home so I knew that his reading level/comprehension was very good.

He really didn't even start to apply himself academically until later elementary/MS and that was with some parental pushing. 10th grade is probably where he really started to put the pedal to the metal.....

And my dad barely graduated HS, started his own business and now is a multi millionare.

My kid struggled in ES but hit her stride in MS. A great tutor helped.

Anonymous wrote:My husband struggled in school, including high school. His SAT scores were abyssmal. But he did great in college and went on to get his Ph.D. and has had a very successful career. I suspect he has some low-level ADHD, so when he was able to study what he was interested in, he excelled.

I struggle with this with my DS (14) -- he gets As in the subjects he likes but struggles to stay engaged and turn work in on time in classes he dislikes. So, a typical report card is As in math, social studies. Bs in science. Goes back and forth between Cs-Bs in English and foreign language. So frustrating. I do think he'll do fine when he gets to college and can focus on subjects he likes, or at least he knows are working toward his goals. And, he says a primary screening criteria when he applies to college will be that he doesn't want to go anywhere that requires him to take a foreign language!

Anonymous wrote:My husband struggled in school, including high school. His SAT scores were abyssmal. But he did great in college and went on to get his Ph.D. and has had a very successful career. I suspect he has some low-level ADHD, so when he was able to study what he was interested in, he excelled.

Similar for my brother. Parents held breath at his high school graduation. Got into college based on test scores--test scores were good--not grades. (This was a very long time ago.) Flunked out first year of college, then worked and went to night school to get grades up. Went back to college and did fine. Went on to law school on a whim and really, really thrived. Highly successful attorney and family man.

He was always a voracious reader--he just read what he wanted to read--not what he was supposed to read. He was a good kid--not a troublemaker, but just didn't care about school.

I went through some similar issues with my now grown son--my brother told me that there was nothing I could do -that there was nothing our parents could have done to make him study and do well in school. He was right--but, I spent a lot of time nagging my son. He barely got into college, but he graduated on time -but with less than stellar grades. He has gone on to have a good job and is successful-although it took a year or two to find the right fit.

My advice: Do what I say and not what I did. Back off. I regret the constant nagging.

My husband struggled in school, including high school. His SAT scores were abyssmal. But he did great in college and went on to get his Ph.D. and has had a very successful career. I suspect he has some low-level ADHD, so when he was able to study what he was interested in, he excelled.

My father apparently did, and so did I. HS was a breeze for me, same with college and grad school. But I simply could not understand what was being asked of me when I was a child.
I am now wondering if my own kids will have the same experience. It is only as they are going through puberty that they seem more in tuned to what is happening in school.