<p>Hi,
Just wondered if students can view their grades throughout the marking periods online? (e.g. tests, quizzes)? As a parent, would be curious to know son’s progress (if he would consent, obviously). Not trying to be intrusive, but since he’s a freshman 900 miles from home, would be interested to see if he’s managing to make th academic adjustment/have focus, as needed.
Thanks for any thoughts!</p>
<p>Step back, helicopter mom. Your son doesn’t need any additional pressure on him. Gotta learn to trust his judgment. He may choose to only let you know his final grades. He’ll make adjustments as he sees fit. It will be hard, but you will gently loosen that tight grip you have on your son. College is about him cutting those apron strings and managing on his own. Give him the chance to show you how responsible he’s become.</p>
<p>It just depends on how much the instructors of his courses make use of eLearning. The lower level courses in those subject areas that everybody takes - y’know, the maths, histories, sociologys, chemistrys, etc - tend to make use of it more. </p>
<p>Midterm grades for freshman and sophomores are required to be posted on myBama.</p>
<p>Well, Batllo, that’s probably true. lol. </p>
<p>My ‘plan’ was not to mention to son that I had read any of the grades. :-)</p>
<p>Interesting about the elearning.</p>
<p>Definitely a process, the letting go… :-)</p>
<p>Thank you have a good humor about being called out. Your son is lucky to have a parent who is concerned about his well being.</p>
<p>Thanks, Batllo. Not so hard, when you know the call is probably right, lol.</p>
<p>My kids are funny…as soon as they get a grade, they send me a text. They’re great students so they’re probably fishing for “attaboys” (which I do give! 
)</p>
<p>Frankly, especially if parents are paying or a scholarship could be lost, I don’t see anything wrong with parents wanting to know how their kid is doing. I’m not suggesting that parents should act as some kind of “grade hound,” but if mid-term grades are lower than your child is capable of getting, it would be a good time to discuss what the problem is…too hard a schedule? too much partying or socializing? too many hours at a part-time job? If a solution can be found at mid-term, then final grades will likely improve (which is very important if scholarship $ is tied to maintanence of GPA!!!). Some kids can figure this out on their own, but some freshmen still can benefit from some advice that can help keep them afloat. </p>
<p>When DS1 was a freshman, he became a bit overwhelmed. He was then surprised when I told him to tell his part-time job boss that he needed to work less hours. I guess DS1 thought that we (his parents) wanted him to work all these hours. We let him know that school comes first and that we’d rather pay for more things for him than have him work more hours and have schoolwork suffer. Cutting back his part-time job to 8 hours a week, still gave him some spending money, but gave him more time to study, etc. Our younger son probably would have figured that out by himself…but DS1 was operating under the misunderstanding that he was supposed to work more hours.</p>
<p>I’m not a helicopter parent. I don’t hound my kids, and I certainly don’t contact their profs or anything like that. But each child is different. Some have no problem juggling it all right from the beginning. Some need a little “coaching” so-to-speak when they are feeling overwhelmed. That isn’t wrong…don’t we do that for our spouses, family, or friends??? Heck, I’m in my 50s, and when I can’t figure out why my dryer isn’t working, I call my dad!!! Does that mean my cord is still tied to my parents? NO! My sister calls me for parenting advice. My brother calls me for college advice for his high school kids. That’s what loved ones do!</p>
<p>We shouldn’t “come to the rescue” for every little bump in the road, but sometimes a kid will try a few solutions, come up short, and then need some advice.</p>
<p>I have known several kids who lost their scholarships because their GPAs were just a little bit short. Their parents regret not advising them at all…in one case, a kid was taking 18 credits. If he had just dropped one course at mid-term, his GPA and scholarship would have been saved. The kid never thought about that. If his parent had known his grades, his parent would have advised him. Things are a lot more complicated than when we went to college.</p>
<p>College is just tooooo expensive these days to blindly write checks and just “hope for the best.” I know that some parents specify that their kids must maintain certain (reasonable) GPAs in order for their parents to continue paying. That may seem harsh to some, but when some parents are paying “full freight” at pricey privates, I can see their point.</p>