5th Graderitis
My kid has is.
Having taught in middle school, I’m not sure why this is such a huge surprise to me…..but it is! Jordan’s grades took a real nosedive last 9 weeks, and they haven’t improved this 9 weeks much either.
We had parent teacher conference last night…..which we usually look forward to, but not so much this time. It wasn’t so bad really. I got 5 teachers to tell my that my kid is one of the smartest kids they have ever had, he’s basically a genius (got that from me, you know!) but he LOVES to talk and isn’t working up to his potential.
He’s always been a talker. But this year the kids started changing classes, which makes them WAY more responsible for their own things. You don’t have one teacher at the end of the day doing a ‘don’t forget to take these books home for this homework’ recap. Plus, as much as I’d like to pretend it’s never going to happen….hormones are setting in. He’s even more scatterbrained than before, clumsy, awkward, and easily embarrassed.
Now we just have to figure out how to get him back on the right track…all A’s and B’s. We hasn’t been allowed to watch tv, play computer games or have wii for 3 weeks…and that seems to be doing nothing. There are two brand new Bionicles sitting on the mantle in the living room for him to look at every day, as an incentive to perform well. I had planned to give those to him as a report card award….not they are just sitting and waiting.
*sigh*
I feel his pain. I am about 5 weeks away from my associates degree and do not want to do anything to get there
Amanda
February 2, 2008 at 9:06 am
Ugh… Isaac’s got it, too. He’s always been a straight-A student, and is one of those kids who do really well in school without trying awfully hard. This year, he’s making B’s and doesn’t give a hoot about homework. So, now, when he gets home from school, he has to do homework until I have dinner ready, and if he doesn’t have homework to do, he has to read a book.
Hey, I moved — http://rebeccaburch.com
Don’t forget to update your blogroll.
Becky
February 4, 2008 at 12:06 pm
Oh, wow – kind of like senioritis for the younger crowd. Would it help him to have a small homework notebook to write down everything he needs to remember? I know some of my students use that technique and it really helps them keep track of everything.
lambs
February 5, 2008 at 9:27 pm