Grades

Last week the first quarter grades came out. Overall, we were very happy with them. William made straight A's - and that included Honor English and Honor Chemistry. (Still not sure how we got such a smart kid!) Melissa, also, made straight A's - including Honor English & Lit, Algebra, & Spanish.

Then there's Benjamin..... He made all A's except for one B. We were talking about it over dinner one night. This B is in English - not his favorite class. When we asked him why he has a B, he felt like it was because of the "daily bites". This is where they have to edit a paragraph. They usually go over it with the teacher and can make corrections if they missed any. Ben claimed he DID correct it, but she would still mark it wrong.

William piped up, "It's probably your handwriting."

We all agreed. No matter what we do, he just won't write any better!

I told Ben he should ask his teacher how he can improve his grade. And he did. Yep. It's his handwriting.

When I worked last week, I asked the teacher if Ben talked to her and so, she told me about the conversation.  She said, "I felt so bad! But I have 160 students. I just don't have time to sit and try to decipher bad handwriting!"

I replied, "Please, don't feel bad!!  We have been trying to get this kid since first grade to write better! But unless I'm literally standing over him, he won't! He needs make it better!"

We'll see how the rest of the year goes.  He really has gotten off easy with his other teachers.  He smiles so sweetly, gives them some puppy eyes and has them wrapped around his little finger! They know how smart he is (once, again! Not sure how we got these three, but very happy about it!) and that he totally understands the work. So, no teacher has made him be better in his handwriting.  He's not a  behavior problem, so they just let him do his work then do whatever he wants to do - which is usually to read a book.

In first grade he would do all his work in twenty to thirty minutes while it took the rest of the class an hour and half or so. He would finish, read a book, take a  comprehension test, go to the library, get another book, read that book, take a comprehension test, then go back to the library... He would sometimes go to the library three or four times a day! I didn't realize this until the end of the year. Had I known I would have asked the teacher to make him do extra handwriting work.

She should have known to make him to do extra handwriting work! But she hated to push him, because he would show those puppy eyes full of tears.  He hates to be told he is doing something wrong, so he ends up crying. The teacher see the tears and then backs off.

So, here we are in sixth grade still with bad handwriting.

Hopefully, he'll get it together and not only get an A in the class, but, also, improve his handwriting!