Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Needing some help...

I don't usually ask for parenting advice but I'm kind of stumped right now and starting to get frustrated. GG is in 1st grade which is the first year she actually gets grades on her report card. First quarter she had all A's, three being A+'s. She just got her report card for the second quarter and she had all A's and one B this time and I believe two of the A's were A+'s. She is inconsolable about that B. I have had in great length, talks with her about how great of a report card she got and as long as she was trying her best that is all she can do. The B was in Math, which didn't surprise me, because the packet of work she gets sent home for us to review, she has always struggled with the math portion. They do speed drills and so she gets all the plank ones marked wrong but all the ones she has filled in are the correct answer, she just doesn't have enough time on the test. Next year she is going to have to answer 100 math problems in 5 minutes so this is preparing her for that. I have even told her I would work with her on her math but she just feels so bad she didn't get all A's. She even told me she was the ONLY one in her class that didn't get all A's which I know to be false. The school sends home the honor roll along with the GPA of everyone that is on it. There is high honors and then honors. There were a few kids in her class that didn't even make it on the sheet so they couldn't have gotten all A's. But I don't really feel I can share that with her. Well I feel better after getting that off my chest, please any help/advice with this from you moms out there with grade school kids would be greatly appreciated.

3 comments:

Crissybug said...

Help her to take 'control' of the situation. Ask her why she thinks she got the B, and what she thinks she can do to improve on it. It already seems like you have tried to help her understand that the B isn't bad. Just let her know that the best thing she can do is keep on trying. Have her set goals and make a plan on what she can do to improve her grade.

I obviously don't have kids in grade school, but I think it really helps when a child can face the problem...and try to come up with her own solutions. It has to be so hard to watch your little one so upset! Darn grades!

Anonymous said...

Lib got her first B this year in
4th grade and was devastated by it. We found out right before Christmas and she was so upset for a few days. We knew it was possible so she was at least prepared for it though and so were we. I tried to compare it to her hobbies where she doesn't always do her best and there's room for improvement all the time and even show her as adults like where her "dad" doesn't always win in his fishing tournaments. Life is going to be full of disappointmetns, big and small and they have to start equipping themselves for them now. I don't know that will help much but that is how we have tried to handle it. She brought it up to an A on this last progress report.

hestermom said...

My kids are not grade school age yet (my oldest is almost 5), and I homeschool, so needless to say I have no experience with this...so take it for what it is worth (if anything) and ditch the rest. But this is what I would do...:
I would read her the "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God..." (Rom. 3:23) And I would explain that we as humans, miss the mark. We always have ever since the first sin. Whether it is math, laundry, controlling our tongue, making our bed...we will never hit the mark every time. However, God has provided a remedy for that in Christ. In heaven, we will always make the mark!! But for now, we must pray, and ask for the Holy Spirit's power to help us think clearly, to remember what we have learned, and we must do our best, not for the praise of men, but for our Heavenly Father, who is always pleased when we do our best!!
"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men." Col. 3:23 Good luck, I will be anxious to hear how it turns out!!