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The Middle School Saga is over


heidiiiii

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I thought since all of you (cyberspace in general..LOL) have been in on this saga of Natalie and Middle school that I would share.

I was a relentless pest. Emails, voice mail messages...I needed to know what was going to happen. The 8th graders go on a end of the year camping trip (this thursday & Friday). You have to be passing to go on the trip. So if you arent allowed to go on the trip..it is more then likely that you arent going to graduate.

So I pestered because they didnt have an answer for me. See they dont have a plan for kids that dont pass the 8th grade. They said they have never had an 8th grader stay back.. :groucho:

Last Friday was the deadline for the paperwork for the camping trip. I ramped up the pestering questions. Plus they knew that I have been sick (gotta use the guilt card anyway you can..right?)

They talked to all her teachers and they said she is squeaking by. But this is what they all decided. In a nice way they said Nat is lazy (telling me something I dont already know), she is a smart girl and they think that one more year in the 8th grade isnt really going to make a difference.

So they are graduating her and she gets to go on the camping trip!

She is just going to have to change her ways next year. High school is a whole different ball game. You dont do the work..they dont care.

So I have 2 kids graduating this month. Chelsea on the 20th..Natalie on the 21st. I plan on all of us going to a Japanese restaurant for dinner for Chelsea and going to an Northern Indian restaurant for Natalie.

Chelsea has 2 more hours of volunteering to do today to qualify for her 40 hrs to graduate! She loves to have everything down to the wire. Drives me insane!

If I knew then what I know now...Boy I think I like changing diapers and screaming toddler fits much much better!

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Good to hear Heidi! I think I would have to agree, if it is a study habits thing, then staying back won't help. Plus, the beginning of each new year is usually a lot of review (at least when I was in school) so she will have time to get herself organized. Just getting used to high school will take a little time. But, with a fresh start, she can begin on the right foot!

Congratulations to you all! Hope you have a fun summer!

Traci

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Yes Traci, that is her problem. She was unfortunate to have been in elementary school right when they started NCLB. So her problems with reading and writing in her early school years were not properly attended to in school. So all these years she has been thinking she is stupid. When someone gets that into their head, it is very hard to let it go...no matter how much your family cheers you on!

Summer..ugh! I havent even thought about summer yet. Chelsea is going to continue to volunteer at this state run daycare center over the summer. Then they said in the Fall, she can be hired as a full time teacher assistant. This will give her money, something to put on her resume, and an opportunity to think of maybe going to school to be a teacher. Everyone is always telling her she would be an excellent teacher. It is a daycare/preschool for kids ages 2-5 yrs. She did the majority of her volunteering there already.

Then Nat has to find out about volunteering for the summer for the city`s recreation department. I dont want lazy lumps sucking up AC and tv for the next 3 months..

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Sounds like it is all working out, Heidi. I'm glad she is moving on and I'm sure she is. I hope she is able to find the study skills she needs in high school. They threaten in middle school that the high school teachers are uncaring, but it isn't always true. The parental pressure has softened high school teachers. Of course, I have now heard stories of parents calling college professors over their son's/daughter's grades and I find that a bit over the top.

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I have never ever ever called a high school teacher about Chelsea`s grades . The only time I have contacted them was via email to tell them she was sick (or like with the wisdom teeth) to get her assignments for her.

I would never contact a college professor! The kid is an adult at that point. Time to make adult decisions and consequences!

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Oh, Heidi, I agree, but college professors have told me they have received phone calls. As a high school teacher, I didn't mind as long as it was legitimate. I just found that some parents and I were doing all the work and the kid wasn't living up to his/her end of the bargain. At times there were legitimate concerns and I was happy to help when I could. Of course my philosophy as a teacher was to give them as many chances as they could or as a former coworker said give them enough rope to hang themselves. Then when a parent questioned a grade you could show them all you did and that it was the kid's own fault for not studying.

I was just trying to let you know that high school teachers are not as scary as middle school teachers try to make us sound.

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Good to hear! The NCLB doesn't make sense to me. I have really seen a difference in they way teaching is done from the time Mabyn was in grade school to Alysia. They really stress the ISAT's and teach more for that than anything. Alysia had an F on her 3rd report card. I went to talk with the teacher to see why (if she didn't understand or wasn't doing the work). She wasn't doing the work. I had over heard some teachers talking about how they didn't get to do some of their planned lessons done because they spent so much time on studying for the ISAT's. Here is the kicker of Alysia's F: The entire 5th grade only had 3 science assignments for the second semester. Alysia was missing one. The rest of the time they were studying for the ISAT's. I am a bit peeved that she didn't learn anything for science this year. I still have some of Mabyn's 6th grade homeschool materials so I am going to have her work on science and math this summer.

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Congratulations to Natalie. I can understand her problems with reading and writing, Chris had the same thing. They weren't teaching phonics here they teach sight words only. Now how is that suppose to help? We fought with them all through elementary school and when he started intermediate they tried to say he had a problem learning and should be put into 'special education'. Greg flipped out on everyone including the superintendent. But they still insisted that he be tested, just so they try could prove us wrong. He passed with flying colors and then looked and the guy who tested him and asked why don't the teachers actually teach instead of just giving us(the kids) assignments and telling us what page to be on then leaving the room? That turned everyone there upside down. If it would have came from us they wouldn't have listened but since it came from him they changed alot before this year started. This year at the beginning Chris was having some problems reading but as I found out his teacher was 'hounding' him, always standing over him and so on. So we told her that if she would leave him alone that he would be fine and sure enough he did perfectly well after the first nine weeks.

I agree with you Heidi, I would rather put up with the screaming and diaper changes too. :groucho:

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Congrats to Natalie!

My son failed kindergarten because he didn't know his sight words. I learned phonics in school, so teaching him the sight word stuff is confusing to me!

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I thought since all of you (cyberspace in general..LOL) have been in on this saga of Natalie and Middle school that I would share.

So they are graduating her and she gets to go on the camping trip!

She is just going to have to change her ways next year. High school is a whole different ball game. You dont do the work..they dont care.

If I knew then what I know now...Boy I think I like changing diapers and screaming toddler fits much much better!

WOW Heidi....this sounds exactly like we were talking about it chat...remember? I was telling you what happened with my girls years ago, seems like deja vu to me. :groucho: I'm happy for Natalie (and you). Hopefully it's just a maturity thing and she will work harder in HS. Congrats to Chelsea too!

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Congratulations to both your girls, Heidi and mega-congrats to you for staying relatively sane throughout this ordeal! I really have so much respect for parents, especially in dealing with all the crapola that comes with education these days. I seriously think that if things don't improve, I may look into homeschooling when I have kids (thankfully I have awhile before THAT happens LOL)

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so teaching him the sight word stuff is confusing to me!

Flash Cards!

when my oldest was 2 he had a reading vocabulary of 30 words all of them learned by flashcards.

when Catriona started Spanish she made flash Cards she learned the vocab before anyone else.

even children not yet speaking can learn by flashcards.

and pointing to each word while reading to them.

kids minds are sponges...its up to us to fill them.

congrats about Nat!

nutti :groucho:

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I would never contact a college professor! The kid is an adult at that point. Time to make adult decisions and consequences!

Bless you! Back when I taught at SUNY-Albany, I even had an irate parent barge into my office!

Now that Nat's middle-school worries are over, and after she's had a bit of a summer break, it's time for her to think about what she wants to accomplish in high school beyond slogging through to graduation. The more she has goals she's willing to fight for, the more easily she'll be able to endure the dull or apparently meaningless bits. To the extent that she's allowed space for electives in the first two years, one goal should be "trying new things" -- for all anyone knows, she has some fabulous talent in some field that she's never been exposed to yet.

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it's wonderful to hear that Nat will "move up" with her class, and that you'll have double graduation. CONGRATS to all!!

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  • 2 weeks later...

We had a high school drama yesterday. Chelsea went to pay for her AP exam and she accidentally overheard that she might be losing her credit in accounting due to an unexcused absense. They were not planning on telling her (or anyone else that has the same problem). So she went right in there and pleaded her case. After alot of cajolling, they fixed her paperwork and she is all set. What were they going to do? Wait until graduation and hand her a blank diploma? What about any other kids that have the same problem?

Come to find out they had forgotten to excuse any field trips on their records.

So in 5 days I will be the mother of a high school graduate..and in 6 days Nat will be officially a freshman in high school.

I better buy some stock in Nice `n Easy!

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