I must vent.

[cincoflex]

Today I received an Email from my son's teacher telling me that Younger Son missed turning in a major assignment. She went into great detail about how she'd informed the class about the project three weeks ago, that the dates were posted on her web page for the school site, and how she was accepting late work only through tomorrow

Comments

[kosmickway]

This was quite an interesting look at the OTHER side of the equation, seeing as how I'm the one doing the emailing and calling, not the one doing the "hurry up and get your ASS in gear, before I make it hit the wall."

I'm appalled that any teacher would grade based on what they KNOW the parent has done and not the kid, but I also know that there isn't really a way around that particular mire because what parent is going to admit publicly, to a teacher, "hey, yep, I did my kid's project but I still want you to grade it like he did it himself." It's a sticky situation.

I had a parent yeterday complain about the fact that I "let" her kid (even though it was actually the kid who CHOSE) to write revisions to his quite badly written movie review during his life skills class with his paraeducator instead of taking it home to correct over the weekend. When I asked why precisely she was upset that I'd let the kid do revisions at school under the supervision of a teacher where I knew I'd immediately get it back instead of allowing him to take it home and risk the chance of NOT getting it back from him anytime in the next century, she pretty much flat out said she didn't like the fact that I wouldn't let him take it home because then she couldn't do the revisions FOR him.

I'm sorry you're frustrated and upset but you really are doing the right thing. You're teaching him that actions have consequences, that those consequences can be severe and unpleasant, and that mom isn't always going to be around to help you with your work. Plus, you're taking ownership of YOUR TIME and telling the kiddo, "hey, mom needs time to herself and that's just the way it is." You're not being a fraud and a failure as a parent ... you're being an EXEMPLARY parent. I want more parents to do as you're doing.

[cincoflex]

Yeah it's a tough call. Both of my kids are within the autism spectrum, but I won't play that card because it's not always relevant, and yet--their keyboarding skills aren't up to typing papers at the level the teacher wants, and even hand-eye coordination for glue and paper projects is touch and go at best.

And of course we run into the added issue of two or more teachers piling up assignments in the same timeframe. I empathize with the teachers since I am one myself, but holy cow, two kids with two to three projects each? It's enough to drive a parent batty.