Teenage problems/summer school or held back
 

This is a combination whine and a request for advice.

My 9th-grader attended Connections Academy this year, which is an accredited online public school. She has migraines which were affecting her school attendance, so we tried homeschooling. This turned out to be a huge mistake. She's a very smart kid, usually makes straight A's. But their workload was overwhelming for her. If she missed a day, she'd end up with 5 extra lessons to get caught up on later. Throughout the year, her overdue lessons added up, and she'd start feeling hopeless and overwhelmed, and work slower. She's doing well on the assignments she's completing, but as soon as the school year is over her incomplete lessons are going to be dumped, and that will pull her grades all the way down. It's like a race to get it all done, but she probably won't. Right now we're both pulling for her making all C's just so she won't get held back.

So she's facing summer school, which I just found out will be $100 for each 1/2 credit. WTF I'll pay for it, but I'm not sure if taking a half credit in each course would keep her from being held back. She wants to go back to public school next year. She has great friends, and I don't want her being pulled down to a grade below them. Intellectually, I think that she'd be able to catch up with 10th-grade curriculum fairly quickly, if the teachers are willing to work with her and give her a few extra assignments to help her where she's behind. But it's probably the school system's rules, her failing grades which would keep her back.

Has anyone had any experience with this kind of thing, and know if we'd be able to work with a guidance counselor or her teachers in order to keep her from doing 9th grade again?

I would talk to the school first, and if they're completely unreasonable, then perhaps go to the schoolboard? I just hope that her school and school district is much better than mine.

I would just say at least in my experience, with schedules and grades and such, that you start with the counselors and work your way up. Try them, and if they say there's nothing they can do then go to the next level, and if worst comes to worst, the level after that.

Just know that a lot of the time, the parent has a pretty big say in what happens with grades. My mom had an issue with my brother failing out because behavioral problems (he's ADHD, and his medication was being fine-tuned), and she went through hell, but they gave him enough work and tutoring to keep him from failing the sixth grade.

Hope any of this helps, and good luck.

One thing I hate about schools these days is they don't let students go at their greatest possible speed. This year I actualy had to make up 2 different required courses through computer learening and testing. Do you know how long it took me to finish them at my own speed? Less than 3 weeks, and I haven't forgotten what I've learned either.

Yeah, it does help, thanks guys. I am just so tired of stressing over this, I've been worrying for months. I'll have to go to the school tomorrow and see about getting an appointment with the guidance counselor.

I went through a lot of stuff like this when I was completing highschool - lack of attendance due to depression, dropping out of courses, blah blah blah, etc.

Anyway I'm not sure how it is in the US, but I managed to get away with entering year 12 at a school in Australia with no completed year 11 studies (I stopped going halfway through the first semester and only went back for the prom >_<). All it took were a few excellent past report cards and my mother's assurance that I was a highly capable student.

Also, I'd be really surprised if the counselors couldn't help your daughter with catching up on year 10. Situations like this are what they're there for.

I hope it all goes well tomorrow, and best of luck to you and your daughter.

That was very encouraging, Cicero. I'll post how it went. Hopefully it won't be another rant.

If you can get her to focus on English and solcial studies classes as you are generally required to have 4 compleated years of those in order to graduate the classes that should get the least priority are math classes (generally speaking you only need to achieve a specific level that most people are able to achieve a year or tweo before graduation) and electives. That way even if she fails a few classes she should still be on track to graduate with her friends.

Oh hey, Lia and I talked to her counselor today, and he said that she can work on her credits through high school and summer school for as long as she needs. He said every class is flexible except for math - she definitely needs to take that during summer school, but her other classes she can do in the summer and/or work them out with her teachers throughout the year.

So she gets to move on into the 10th grade! She's very happy, and I'm relieved.

My 9th grader is having the same problems. We had to pull her out of school earlier this year for awhile due illness and now she's pulling double the work load to catch up.
We don't have summer school here , she's having to pull virtue school and regular school now. She gets so overloaded at times she cries but she keeps on trucking.Fortunately her counselor and online teachers let her go at a little slower pace because of the double load but we had to call and ask each one of them for the extra time, which they gave.

Poor thing, she must be so stressed out. I hope she can catch up soon. At least her teachers are being good about it.

I'm going through kind of the same thing, only my issue involves only going to school one week out of an entire year because of family issues. Now I'm having to try and figure out what all I need to do so that I can get into the next grade when the new year starts.
>.<

Indeed
 

Yes it sure is. Whoah and I thought I had to do a lot of work! Poor kid, probably going through a tough time.

If it makes you feel any better, she's not alone. I've had migraines since I was 10-12, and they've been a problem. Right now I'm a college student with a 3.5 GPA, so here's a bit of advice I got:

Go to the school and lay out what's happening in the beginning of the year. Talk to the counselors and tell them that she has migraines, and that they do take away from her ability to do work. They might recommend that you sign a disability form. There are two types of disability forms in my state, one puts you on a Special Ed. program (Not what you want), and one gives her extra room to do work (This is what you want). Make sure you read the fine print before signing any contract.

Make sure that you communicate with the school, and be adamant about it. Communicate to them that:

a.) The migraines aren't stopping her from progressing at the same rate her classmates are intellectually.
b.) The migraines are, however, stopping her from finishing the coursework at the same rate.
c.) She should continue to be put in the appropriate classes with the rest of her peers.

If you can, have three things on file:

a.) Dates and names of doctor's that you've visited for the migraines.
b.) Any prescriptions taken for the migraines.
c.) A note from your doctor testifying to the migraines.

This will make your life incredibly easier if anyone asks you to prove that she has migraines. Doing both of these essentially allowed me to pass high school so much easier compared to the first two years. (My GPA jumped from a 2.5 to a 3.8 in high school).

Hope that helps, and congrats on getting her ont rack.