Parent teacher conferences

I had PT conferences this week with the kids' teachers. I didn't schedule one with Mackenzie's teacher, because her grades are good and we haven't had any behavior issues. Shelby was having some behavior issues at the beginning of the year, so I wanted to see how she was doing. Her teacher reported that she is doing better, especially since he separated her and her little friend. Heh. He also said she is one of the few students in the classroom that can already write her name. I was surprised!

Hunter's conferences were on a first come, first served basis, so there were no appointments. I went over after I finished talking to Shelby's teacher. I had only intended to talk to his Reading and Social Studies teachers, but since I was there I went ahead to all of his classes, except his PE teacher. And? He's not doing so well. Out of the 6 classes I went to, the highest grade he has coming on his report card next week is an 85. He has that grade in both English and Social Studies. His other grades are far worse. Let's see: 77 in Math (C+), 76 in Science (C-), and a 70 in Reading (D). He actually had a 75 in Science, but it was like two hundredths away from being 76, so his teacher curved him. Not like it made a lot of difference in the whole scheme of things, but anyway.

It appears that he is not turning in all assignments in most of his classes. His English teacher has them do all work during their class period, so he has to turn in all of that homework. But in every other class, he is not doing all of his assignments. His test grades are sucky, too. Like F and D sucky. Those pull his grade way down, as did his 9 weeks tests in most subjects.

So, starting next week (no school this week), he is grounded for two weeks. I am copying all of his assignments from his agenda book each Monday, and he is expected to bring material home to study when he has upcoming tests. He is also expected to do and turn in all homework assignments from here on out. Some of the things he didn't turn in were so easy, too. In Science, for example, his teacher gave them the opportunity to make three 100s if they did some vocabulary. All he had to do was write out the definitions. He didn't do it, so he got three zeros instead.

He is also going to start going to an after school tutoring program the school started this year. It's optional for all students, but I got a sheet last week saying he had been recommended to go, and I signed off on it. So 2-3 days a week, he will be staying after school until 4:30. They only cover Math and Language Arts, but that's better than nothing. I'm not sure when it starts though, hopefully soon! I also told him that if he backslides and starts not turning in homework or not bringing stuff home to work on after he's off of his grounding, he will go right back on. He still has three more 9 week periods, so he has plenty of time to turn it around and get back on track.