My DS14, h.s. freshman, isn't getting the grades that I feel he needs in H.S. and the schools expectations to stay in the honors classes. This is his last week of the first semester and his finals are next week. (Our school calender is really late this year.)
My biggest disappointment is his honors Algebra II. He has always been a good math students, very quick to pick up new topics, and did very well in both H. Algebra I & H. Geometry in Jr. High. Thankfully he had excellent teachers for both grades. He came home yesterday with a F on the latest test. It's frustrating for both of us because he seems to understand the material (I've been quizzing him the night before tests) and can do all the problems in the books. He alternately does well on the tests/quizes or messing up. But he comes home and says the tests are very hard, and questions are way harder than anything in the homework. This is an honors class so this is expected. I can't see the tests so I really have no idea what he is having problems with. And I am unsure how to help him except to get him to do a LOT more problems, particularly multi-step ones. I was warned about this teacher, but it's not easy to switch teachers, and I don't really see how the teacher is to blame. (Unless she really is making impossible tests.) I don't expect him to have a major problem with next weeks final as it is multiple choice and the same test they give the "non" honors class.
At least he is doing well in the honors science class I pushed the school into letting him into. H. Social Studies didn't go well at first but he has figured things out and grades are improving. But he isn't doing well enough for AP US next years. I am honestly relieved at that because I never felt AP US was a good fit for my son.
And he is being dropped from his H. English class for next semester. This was a big blow a few weeks ago. He is doing really well on most of the English curriculum, but he just isn't getting H.S. level literary analysis and has done very poorly on his essays. He did go to the teacher to talk about this multiple times. This teacher states that honors students "don't need instruction in literary analysis". I don't really understand how he missed this as he has been doing literary analysis since he started the 4th grade honors program. But I wonder if this is partly his tendency to "overanalyze" things.
It looks like he is going to end up in mostly non-honors classes next year and this worries me. There is a huge difference between the honors & non-honors classes at my son's school. My biggest worry for him since he was little was getting to high school and getting bored, and then giving up. I have started to become a "big nag" and I hate this.. Not sure how I best support my son.
Last edited by bluemagic; 01/28/14 10:39 AM.
