Sunday, May 25, 2008

Paying the Price

At this point we are waiting to see where my daughter is going to school next year. This year she was at our district magnet school. To remain there, she has to maintain a C average in all subjects. If she fails to do so one nine weeks she is put on probation. That happened during the third nine weeks because she chose not to do her work. During the fouth nine weeks I followed her work in that class very carefully. She was grounded, but told that we would re-asses when interim reports were issued. When interim reports were issued that class grade had improved tremendously; but she had neglected another subject. There is a distinct possibility that she won't get her C. While there is an appeal process; I rather doubt her reason is what it was designed for. She insists she likes the school and wants to stay there, and I'd like to keep her there, but she does seem to spend a lot of time on homework. I keep trying to tell myself that if she fails to get her C she has made her own bed and the consequences are hers (and mine--choice #2 is a Catholic school with tuition).

What is a parent's responsibility as far as homework goes? Is it really my job to check every assignment to make sure it is done? Does that fact that she isn't willing to do the homework mean that despite the fact that this is where her friends are and despite the fact that she likes the classes, the school isn't for her? I don't watch her every second she is doing homework so I don't know if she is actually doing it, or sitting in her room reading (and to some extent she has to do that because reading is an assignment), or how efficient she is at homework, but I have read that some parents pulled their kids from the school so they could have a life. I don't know how the homework compares to other schools, but at this point, I couldn't imagine her on a sports team having to practice daily or trying out for a play or some other time-consuming extra-curricular activity. I don't know how the homework compares to honors classes in other schools, but those kids do seem to manage to play sports, put on plays, march in the band etc.

Did I ever say how much I hate homework?

4 comments:

  1. I am right there with you. I also hate homework (seeing it with my children, giving it as a teacher and correcting it).
    Can she go back if she takes a semester off?
    Sounds like many changes are coming your way!

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  2. She can apply again. I'm just not sure about when. I think the apps were due before Christmas, which means that she'd only have one nine weeks worth of next year's grades. She'd have to have C's or above to get in, and she'd have to beat out other kids who want the slot (this year they did have a few unfilled slots and didn't turn away any qualified applicants). I'm just not sure if they will just look at next year's grades or if they will look at this year's too. If she gets kicked out, I can see her wanting to go back after a year somewhere else; I can't see her wanting to do so after two.

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  3. Yes, you have mentioned how much you dislike homework :)
    Remember what you did with your ds, would the same work with dd???

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  4. That's how we got into this situation in the first place. Until the bad grades came out, I didn't know she wasn't doing it.

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