DD is struggling a little bit with the transition to middle school. It is not the difficulty of the work (I know you all are shocked) but the complexity and number of "things to remember." She has a daily planner, which she keeps up with, but things are falling through the cracks.
One teacher in particular has a chaotic classroom and DD has missed several handouts (that is, they didn't get to her and DD didn't notice--this would be a pretty typical DD behavior) that are now late. DD didn't notice them at all--I did, because I checked online and saw them. DD has done them but keeps forgetting to hand them in, so they are getting later and later. I don't know how she can "remind herself" to turn them in. Thoughts?
That same class has a daily "turn it in as you leave class" assignment that DD has forgotten to hand in several times. I think this is handed out at the beginning of the class and they must remember to complete it and hand it in. Again, thoughts on how she can automatize this?
In addition, this teacher sends things home for parents to sign, etc that do not end up on the things they should write in their planner --that is, she throws it at them as they leave class, etc. These end up forgotten because they are not in the planner.
The class, IOW, is very hard to manage for a child who is not super great with remembering everything. DD is doing absolutely great with its actual content but is probably currently getting a C due to missed work.
This is the hardest one to handle (other teachers do not seem to be at the same level of micro "stuff" plus classroom chaos--as a parent, I am also finding that class a challenge as she has asked a lot of US!), but there are other things she is struggling with. In elementary, all HW was very clearly delineated and written on the board every day to copy in the planner, and DD dutifully did this and it worked out. This is a more fluid system with more kid responsibility and...yeah. The school also uses a combo system of written planner and Edmodo, which can confuse things.
As I write this out, I see that what is really happening here is that DD does fine with a strong system but when teachers expect her to be able to go off script and handle "extra" stuff, it's not great. She has no ADHD diagnosis--shows some signs, but it's mild. I don't think she would ever receive one that would get her accommodations. What I am looking for is tips and hacks so she can do better. At home, we rely heavily on checklists (at night, she goes through them to make sure she has done things like gather up all HW and record instrument practice) and they work very well. She is motivated to succeed.
