Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Did you ever let your child fail a course?

Especially in a higher grade, middle or high school, and a course that is required or fulfills a requirement? What happened in the aftermath?

Sorry to hear this is happening NotherBen. My older DD did have to drop a course (Latin 3) her senior year of H.S. But it wasn't required and we figured it out before the drop date that she wasn't going to pass & it was better for her college chances to drop the class. Crossing my fingers we haven't crossed that bridge, although it did seem close a few times. I have a neighbor who's kid got through H.S. by the skin of his teeth. I don't know all the details but there certainly were a few failed classes. He ended up at community college & from what I know is doing fine there. We have a good community college in the area, many kids choose to attend, it's an OK place to pick up the pieces.

Do you have anything like Halstrom or Fusion Academy near you? They are both "one-to-one" at your own pace accredited High Schools. Not online school. Very expensive if your going full time, but you can sign up for just one class. And it's particularly good if it's a required class.

HUGS.

My older son did some college courses in the summers at the community college (as well as an online course while he was enrolled in his university!) so I'm on their email list. Just learned that they have a guarantee with some pretty good schools in our state, two years at CC guarantees admission to the University. So that's good to know.

A Fusion did open not long ago. I talked to DS about it, and he says he LIKES going to high school, being in class, being in music, and doesn't really want to go to one-on-one, even though there's no homework (his bugaboo). But, he may have to, at least for this required class.

One issue with Fusion is they don't do AP courses. They can prep you for the exam, but you don't get course credit. Well, since DS dropped AP physics and still got 5 on the exam, that's kind of the same thing, so I would certainly consider it for AP Bio if the same thing is going to happen. I'd love for him to take his 4th year of English there, too. I wonder how hard it would be to get the HS to okay it? Since he really has to pass that one, and I'm not hopeful, I think I will bring it up with his counselor and SpEd. He is new to SpEd, though; I may need to call in the psych and evaluator for support.

I believe Fusion will just do one class. Theoretically you can take one class & still be enrolled in regular H.S. The question is do they offer exactly the same class as was failed, and if your H.S. will accept that class for graduation.

I talked with Halstrom after DS's frehsman year. They would only allow you to take a repeat of failed (or D) class. Or to take a non required class while dually enrolled in a another H.S. My idea of having him take English through the one-on-one wasn't going to work out.

Can he just repeat this class at his H.S.? (I know that's no fun.) The problem is it's a bit too late to cover the grade for university admissions for this application go around. At our school if you repeat the class after getting a D or F & get a C or better the second time round the transcript only records the later grade.

Oh.. We do have another friend who's kid did fail (or get D's I'm not 100 sure..) some classes freshman year. This kid did get into a local public university for Engineering but he did remediate both classes in a different way.

Fusion will allow you to take one class while at HS, the issue is whether the HS will allow the credit to transfer. Sigh.

Yes, he will have to repeat this required class at HS, but he will have to drop a course to do so. That will be hard. The most obvious choice to drop would be band, but I'm a strong advocate for taking an arts class during the day to flex the brain differently. I'd rather he drop AP Bio, believe it or not. He thinks he needs it for college, but that is certainly at odds with his not passing the required one-semester course.

Well! I just learned that DS' IEP, which he received on the last day of school in the spring, is supposed to follow him to his online school. I learned this from the online school website. Looking into this today, but of course the online school IEP liaison is on vacation this week, and our School staff isn't back yet, though our brand new SpEd director has sent an introductory email.

And, now our school says they don't have to support the IEP in the summer, though one of the supports has an explicit start date of last May. The online school says the local school does have to provide the supports that the online school cannot. (Some accommodations adapt to online courses, others do not). I know that students with IEPs who take one of the few summer courses offered at our school do get support. Meanwhile, time is slipping away.

Maybe he will learn more from having to drop a more desired course next year? Harsh but in life that is often how it works.

I agree with you on keeping Band and dropping AP Bio. As puffin said, life doesn't always work out the way you want. AP Bio isn't going to help much for getting into colleges, if he doesn't even pass this required class.

The the summer school was through your school district, they should have supported his IEP. It's really a bummer this hasn't worked out.

Thank, puffin, yes, we needed that reality check. And Bluemagic, thank you; I am certainly on the same page with you about that. I have explained that conundrum to DS, you need to graduate in order to go to college. They could admit you with or without AP Bio, but if you don't graduate from high school they can in fact rescind your acceptance.

Meanwhile, waiting waiting to hear back from our HS about three important pieces of information that we need to make our decision. The IEP permits us to purchase a 4-week extension for DS if he continues in one of the courses. Those 4 weeks will overlap with our school year, so his IEP would be supported from here for a short time! A little late...