BethInAK

holding a kid back rarely helps - it just makes school miserable
don't go there - although summer school may help

ej3

We're another house with the daily communication book with the teachers to keep track of our nephew's homework, assignments, and behavior. They check that he's recorded the work, they make notes and sign it, and we sign it when he shows us that he's done it. He complains about it and says that we're treating him like a kid - but we just tell him that he needs to show us that he can be responsble in completing his work. His grades (and attendance!) have improved since we started this. He still slips up and attempts to trick us from time to time but he's doing better than he was.
Has she always had this attitude to school? Or is it new? I'd be more concerned by a sudden change in grades...

dfelix

I have a daughter who is now 24 who was a model student. She did not bring home straight A's, but she stayed in the B and A average. She spent much of her time with her best friend after school and they would do their homework and so forth.

My son who is now 17, has struggled since 3rd grade. School just does not motivate him. When he studies (on these rare occasions), he does very well. Anyway, we tried everything and he still procrastinates. We are at a point where he has to stay after school everyday to catch up so that he can graduate with his senior class.

He is intelligent, has taught himself how to play the electric guitar and he is very good with his hands. The fact is, he will be going to a vocational school to learn how to repair motocycle engines, his current passion.

High school just bores him. His attention span is low when not interested in the subject and very high when he is interested.

I believe your daughter is probably an artist at heart. She will struggle through school, but, hopefully she is passionate about other subjects where she can flourish now and in her adult life.

I am worried about my son and what will happen to him when he is on his own, but, he is highly capable and perhaps life on his own will be the turning point for him to stop procrastinating.

My two cents - you can't change them just love them!

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TammyZed

I think high school isn't very kind to artists. My son truly lives weekend to weekend, because that's the only way he can motivate himself to go to school: "four days until the weekend", "three more days", "two more days", "just one more day", "thank God it's Friday". He goes to a school that has an integrated arts program, which allows him a lot of opportunity to be involved in drama, music, and visual arts. He loves that aspect of his education and flourishes in those classes, but other ones, not so much. He's burnt out from the school atmosphere. He failed a bunch of classes last year because of some complicated stuff going on in his life, and has now right out told me: "school is going to kill me. I don't know if I can come back another semester."

The thing that comforts him the most is that once you get into university, your marks hardly matter anymore. And once you graduate from university, even if you barely scraped by to get your degree, you got the degree. While that's not the greatest thinking for aspiring doctors or lawyers, it's a comforting thought to an aspiring artist.

I don't punish my children for bad grades. I look to understand why they got that grade, and if there is anything I can do about it.

meow_173

Well...this is what i would do.
1.) possibly get a tutor if she needs it, but if its just a motivating thing, i wouldn't waste the money if she knows the material
2.) get a note book or agenda book for her, and have her write down ALL of her homework. The second step to this is to have her teachers (from all her classes) to SIGN her agenda book to know what she has to do for homework. Have her show you her agenda book every day when she gets home, and then show you the completed homework. You then initial the agenda book, and she takes it to her teachers and show them that the work was done, and that you have seen the completed work.

It worked for me thats for sure to get my act together

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dfelix

My daughter did very well in school but when she graduated she wanted to go to Massachussets College of Arts to learn to become a photographer. This was her goal, her choice so that's what she ended up doing and loving every minute of her college years.

Silently I kept thinking 30K per year to learn photography? All you need is to buy a few good books and practice.

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musicmom

dfelix

I looked her up. I guess her web site is shotbycindy.com. Her work is similar to what my daughter is doing. I'll pass on the url to Audrey.

Thanks

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FooserX

lol...I'd be thinking the same thing too!

A good arts school will fine tune her talent though...plus it'll be a degree, which is marketable. :-)

30 a year? Ouch :-)

PennQuaker09

Well, Kaytee, when I was a sophomore, I would probably get home at about 6:00 (on a good night) and I probably wouldn't get in bed until maybe 1:30 (again, on a good night). When I played tennis, I get in bed by 3, maybe.

There were times when I would come home study/do homework nap for about 3 hours and then wake up and continue to study.

But, as aliinnc said, AP and IB students tend to be very driven and they understand the sacrifices that have to be made.
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In regards to the OP, I agree with what a lot of the others have said. I'd be on her like white on rice.

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