Okay, if you are following this, you know that I was absolutely at my wits end with Morgan and her school situation. Here are the highlights:
- Not turning in homework on time, even when it's done
- Not bringing home assignments, so she was getting zeroes for those, too
- F in Math
- Found a BUNCH of notes in her backpack that she and her friends were passing while she complains of not having time in class to do regular classwork
- Bad attitude, talking back, lots of fighting over assignments, crying, begging
That is the short list! LOL
There wasn't any time before our Xmas break to do anything about it, so we took a nice, family break and had a good time in Europe.
When we got back, I told her that she was not allowed to take the school bus home anymore. The one thing I was happy about was that the buses here are safe. They come TO our house and drop her off AT our house, they are required to sit in their own seats and noise is minimal. Morgan reads on the bus and visits with her neighbor. So, that privilege was gone. Me or daddy were picking her up from school and going IN to the classroom to make sure she had written down all assignments and didn't forget anything, even her jacket.
She has several teachers, one main teacher, a math teacher, art, music, PE. The main and math teacher have been in communication and cooperative with helping us keep her on task. One key, though, that we've found is letting HER be accountable for her own mistakes. The teacher was having her write 100 times if she didn't do assignments, so instead of punishing her at home, I would let her take those lumps and just let it go for the most part. That way, she wasn't getting a reaction out of me, which sometimes I think she almost enjoys! LOL So, she was hating it for a while because she was under almost a "lockdown" of sorts.
So here's where we are now:
- 2 weeks ago, we got her progress report and she has all As Bs and Cs.
- She has been consistently bringing home ALL assignments and completing homework in less than 3 hours vs the old 4pm till way past bedtime with lots of crying, whining, bickering
- Her attitude toward her schoolwork and family have improved by miles
- She has all privileges back, except Game Cube which is gone until Summer break
- She is back taking the bus in the afternoons and now realizes that it's a privilege that she likes and wants to work to keep
- Her teachers have nothing but praise for her at this point
- She placed FIRST in the school Science fair and her project went to District Fair
- She is working really hard on this big project that all of the NC kids have to do by April...we work on this every weekend
I really am feeling like it was helpful to let her have the reigns and decide for herself if she was going to be in trouble or not and not to nag at her, just let it happen. We are really relieved!
Branden - 8yrs 
Linear Mode
