Again OP- if you had identified a complex void in your son’s reading comprehension or ability to craft a topic sentence- you’d have a problem. In my experience, by HS these are issues which are time-consuming to identify and fix.
Missing a portion of the geometry curriculum? This is a piece of cake, even if your son is not a self-starter. It’s a discrete body of knowledge, followed by enough practice questions to make sure he’s nailed both the concepts and the mechanics.
Done.
In the amount of time it will take you to get aggravated with the counselor, go over her head to the headmaster, loop in the head of the math department, mobilize the other parents who don’t realize their kids are being short-changed, you could find a HS senior at your school who is the known “brainiac”, set up four tutoring sessions (done during lunch?) and be done with this entire business. If your son has time for ACT review classes, he has time for a legitimate pedagogical/curricular course like some missing geometry sections.
And if his EC’s are so time consuming that he really can’t spare the time to learn geometry- I’d rethink the EC’s.
@cpamum I do not know your child, but it is not unusual for kids much younger than him to self-teach (not just self-study) difficult content to a high level of mastery. Really, it is not a given that a 10th grader should need monitoring to study content required for their own benefit.
If your child is not motivated to study in order to improve his scores, motivation is probably a far bigger issue than the school not enrolling him in the geometry class.
@cpamum, how important are his ECs to him? He seems to have turned the tables and is holding you hostage to his ECs.
My 3 kids ranged in the schools they started out at, from BC to Community College (since enrolled at Rutgers) to Yale. They have to own their education. The one who wasn’t ready to own it spent some time at a CC. He owns his education now.
I don’t know you. However, I have a feeling that the power struggle with the GC is more comfortable for you than facing the struggle more directly with your son. I might of course be wrong; I often am.
Appears that the OP was mostly here to get affirmation for her blame game. Maybe it’s time to face up to the fact that your son isn’t that great at math and needs some additional test prep help, and that blaming the school isn’t going to get him what he needs. You could hire a student to help him during study hall–ask him who the math brains are and get him to contact them for tutoring–or he could work through the geometry and bring questions to the math teachers at school. No time required on your part. If this school is so bad, why are you paying a fortune for it? If you can afford that kind of tuition, why is a few hundred dollars to fix this problem prohibitive? I think you are creating a much greater problem for your son here than the one you currently have.
"We pay $17,000 in tuition a year … and instead of taking a class for free during school hours I’m supposed to find and pay for a tutor and interrupt my career and his schedule outside of school? That’s frankly absurd. "
Ah, yes.
Another all-or-nothing parent willing to “throw the baby out with the bath water”, so to speak.
ranting is easier than listening or changing…
I think that’s all the OP came here to do…
$17k is a lot to pay for high school, I get it. If you don't like this school, find another one. It's not like you have no choices at that price.
If your son is not a self-starter and needs a constant kick in the pants, what makes you think he will suddenly gear up and perform/learn in the advanced geometry class? Kids like that often perform MUCH better with one-on-one tutoring, which holds them face-to-face accountable. No hiding in the back playing with his phone.
I like to rant/vent too. You've done that, great, now move on and fix the problem. As you yourself have noted, there is a short period of time to get this fixed. Yes, it is still fixable. No, yelling at the counselor/school/teacher won't fix it.
I don’t get why OP would have to interrupt her career in order for her son to be tutored.
Anyway, has it been determined yet whether the “30% to 40%” more content in the school’s advanced geometry class is, in fact, the very same material that OP’s son missed on the ACT?
Checking for clarity. This is an immature student. He doesn’t have the self discipline to self study or do an online course in geometry. He was not placed in the advanced geometry class last year. He is not getting excellent scores on the math ACT practice tests. He isn’t planning on applying to tippy top schools.
His brothers got scores in the 30’s on the math ACT section. SO WHAT? He is not his brothers. You say his older brothers were more mature and independent. So let’s not compare this student…or his ACT math score to that of his brothers.
Really? Does he plan to tell all of his classmates his ACT score? If so…why? Plus, you don’t have a crystal ball. He might do just fine on the actual test.
I agree with others…repeating this course is not needed. What is needed is analysis of the errors he made by a decent math tutor who can help plug in the holes.
And at the end of the day, this kiddo might still end up with a math ACT score that isn’t what the parent hopes it will be.
First you criticize me for helicoptering. Now you want me to ask for and then analyze two geometry syllabi and every wrong answer on his practice tests. If that’s not a helicopter exercise, I don’t know what is.
It’s freaking geometry. He can be put in a class and be done with it. I’m sorry, we don’t have time to drive him around to a tutor and we don’t have the budget for it either. Why disrupt our life for something the school offers for free. It’s senseless. The class might be reduncant. Well, psych is redundant if you plan to take AP psych but most students go that route. This is the definition of mountain out of a molehill.
Actually, the OP has probably spent more time on this thread than she would have had to spend setting her kid up on Thinkwell, and the kid could do it during study hall or whatever. Kids like being on computers. Online courses are a bit like games. It’s motivational. So are tutoring sessions with peers.
I can understand the irritation of a person who is paying $17K per year and their kid is not benefiting from it as they had hoped.
My kid went to public school, and I can assure you that there were teachers there who cared very much about him, and still do. (He’s 25.) Sure, it’s not the same as being the parent, but still.
@cpamum, you are clearly very stressed about this whole thing. I sympathize. But bite the bullet and either sign the kid up for an online course or find a tutor to help him cover the material. I can’t imagine that he’s so busy that he can’t spare a few 45-60 min sessions per week for a couple of months.
Cross-posted: tutors normally come to your house. Certified teachers cost a lot, but a HS student doesn’t. Again, Khan Academy is free, and Thinkwell costs less than $200.
Where is he in this process? Can he not look at a TOC of a resource like Thinkwell and tell what he learned and what he didn’t? Can he take a practice ACT math test and read the explanations for the problems he got wrong? Why is all of the responsibility yours?
There’s no accountability in an online course. He is not mature and I don’t trust him to stay on task. It will just result in me babysitting and added aggrevation. Versus a grade and GPA being on the line at school.
" Now you want me to ask for and then analyze two geometry syllabi and every wrong answer on his
practice tests."
Not YOU!!
The Math tutor is the one who should do this! Someone who knows the material !
Surely there are tutors that the school can recommend, including perhaps a SR math wiz who can tutor him at lunch time for a few bucks. Or a retired math teacher that can come to the school to tutor.
Ever heard the saying…
“If ye do not ask ye shall not receive”???
Try asking for a math tutor that can work with your son at school.
@cpamum, how about you tell him that either he agrees to complete the Thinkwell course on a preset schedule OR you will force him to be humiliated by taking the class with younger kids?
I believe most online courses have unit tests. You could just check those.
It seems the only answer you will accept is this - Go to the counselor or principal and tell them that if they won’t put him in the advanced class, you will change schools. If they won’t do it, then find a school that will. That seems like a terrible amount of trouble to go to versus hiring a tutor and will certainly involve a lot of time, effort and money on you and your son’s part. Much more than tutoring. But if that is the only thing that will make you happy, then do it. You have seen all the reasons why it will hurt your son and your son’s transcript and you remain unconvinced so it sounds like the only thing that will satisfy you.
@gettingschooled I love that I’m the crazy parent who needs to threaten to pull my kid from the school in Sept. (Do you know how private prep admissions work?) Isn’t the school the issue here for letting this become an issue? It takes the counselor one click of her mouse to add him to the requested section.
@cpamum, how many times and how many ways do people have to tell you that having your kid enroll in that class will DETRACT from his college admissions chances?