Isn't English your FIRST language??

I got Alex's progress report yesterday. He is not doing very well in school. I was really disappointed. Really. Disappointed.

This is a progress report, not THEE report card. I guess it's a heads up that, hey- your kid is GOING to be getting these exact shitty grades in 4 weeks. It's frustrating because Alex is a smart kid. He consistently gets A's and B's- and in the rare case that he fails a test or something, he still manages to pull of the grades. I have never really made a huge deal of Alex's schoolwork before, because he just does well.

Well, apparently those days are over.

I was frustrated and very confused about it. He wasn't doing this bad when I was at Back to School night a month ago. Something must be very wrong here. I emailed the teachers in the classes he is struggling in. Math and English, ok- I can understand that. Math is hard for me, I suspect it will be hard for Alex. We have been working on his math homework at night, and he says that his grade is currently better than what the progress report says as it came out a week ago and he just turned in a project and took a test that he did alright on, he says.

He went to 6th grade in North Carolina, and did pretty well. He told me that in 6th grade, out there, he basically knew everything already because he learned it in 5th grade, out HERE. So it seems that he had no 6th grade education, just two 5th grades. I don't know, maybe that's an excuse. He said that his English Teacher will say things like, "like you learned back in 6th grade" only he didn't learn them in HIS 6th grade. I'm not sure.

His last class with the crappy grade is Home Ec. There is never any homework- the problem is that he does the classwork, but he just doesn't turn it in. Perhaps he can't find it? His backpack is a mess. We go through it almost daily. He is starting an Organizational Skills class (that one of his teachers recommended for him.) Perhaps that will help.

In the mean time, he is grounded. No playing outside, NO computer, NO video games. Until he gets his report card, and those grades are up. I have not told his father yet. (Shhhhhh April). Nor have I told my mom (who watches him after school). I have emailed the teachers, and hopefully they can shed some light in the situation. If there is anything he can do to improve his grade in the next month, and what can I do to help, hopefully they will let me know.

I know that the 'others' will come down hard on him. Tell him he's stupid and lazy, blah blah blah. They seem to communicate in humiliation and shame. I don't believe in that- and I think it will only make it worse. I think he needs to know that I am on his side and that I'm here to help. NOT that I think he's stupid, cause I know he's not. He just needs a little help, a little direction, and perhaps needs some help to get focused.