Bad Report Card

This may or may not work for you, but it worked for my mom and for me. When I was in school, I was expected to have no less than a C, and that was barely acceptable. If I brought home anything less than a C, my mother took away privledges. She removed everything but my bed and dresser from my bedroom until my grades were brought up to acceptable levels. (It only happened once). Now that I'm a mom, I have struggled with the same thing. With my oldest, it really worked well, as he was involved in rodeo. He competed in youth rodeos as well as high school rodeos. He understood the house rule, anything less than a C and no rodeos. Now this hit him where it counted. That was the thing that was most important to him. He did't want to lose his rodeos. Funny though, in the high school rodeo association, the rules say "must be passing at least 4 of 7 courses or they are not eligible to compete." Not in my house, my rule stood. Anything less than a C and you don't compete. When it came to my younger son, we have other issues, such as his ADD which makes school difficult for him in certain subjects. While he does great in math and science, english and history are his downfall. He has to really push himself in those classes or he won't pass. I think his ability in science and math come from his teachers he had in early elementary school. Up until 4th grade he was in a small school that was compartmentalized, where starting in first grade, the kids moved between classrooms and teachers for their different subjects. Also, because it was a small school(32 students pre-K through 8th grade), the first graders would be in the same room with the 5th graders, the 2nd with the 6th graders, 3rd with the 7th graders and 4th with the 8th graders. The teachers would spend the first part of the class time working with one grade then the second part with the other grade. I think he was able to absorb some of what the 8th grade was studying in math and science, because that particular teacher was fantastic at keeping the kid's attention. At any rate, my younger son's hobby is music and motorcross. He plays percussion in high school band and does motorcross racing. He knows if he doesn't carry at least a C, then he doesn't get to do the motorcross. So, take something away that he enjoys. It's summer break here, and I don't know what your school year is like, but I would sit him down and tell him, here's the new plan, and we're sticking to it. You have to apply yourself. This next school term and from now on we are going to follow this rule. If you do not carry at least a passing (or what you want him to get) then I will take away the following: (list it out for him). You will not get these items (or privledges) back until the next report card comes and you prove that you are keeping your grades where they should be. Just my suggestion.. hope that helps.

When mine have not had a brilliant report from school I usually just talk to them about it. My two boys both know what they want to do when they grow up (at the min anyway!) and so I tell them that next time they have to do better or else they will not be able too. I also tell them that if they get a really good end of year report then they will get a prize. This year if they get a good report they both would really like a Dr Who watch and so that is what they are working for.

my daughter just finished grade 9 and she did ok, not great, but did ok. it was a hard adjustment for her and with her being involved with a lot of friends and now she has a 'boyfriend', so that keeps her busy too, but math is her weakest subject as well.

It is really hard to get a kid motivated to work hard. Some kids just don't care. My son goes to school with a boy like that. He has failed twice and he is only in the second grade. He does not care if he does good in school and fails. I would just stay on him about it. Try to get him to understand why an education is so important. My son had bad grades for his first 2 years of school. He just had a really hard time concentrating. His teachers were always telling me that he was really smart, but his attitude was getting in the way of his learning. He is now on medication for ADHD and his attitude and grades have done a 180. I am in no way implying that your child has ADHD, I am just letting you know about my personal experiences.

OMG!!!! This is soooo me i have a 15 year old son who is so smart and stays out of trouble but his grades are terrible.I think as a parent it just kills us when we know they can do better. Recently he decided to play football for school in the fall he will be in JV and he has played for pop warner for 3 years.. I hoping this could motivate him , maybe thats it if they find something they like to do and have to earn it.