It’s one thing if you’re in the middle of your class grade wise then fail a midterm. It’s different if you’ve filed every single test in 2 important (4-credit) subjects. Learning is cumulative - the low grades could indicate poor comprehension, poor processing, lack of work, etc. It’s important to know o that it can be rectified, but three weeks of class content at a college pace is roughly solar to two months in a high school class, so the student needs to fix things quickly to both master the old material AND learn the new material properly.
In my opinion, if one of the classes could be taken pass/fail it may be a solution, or checking for any class that can still be taken so he doesn’t get to part time (skiing may only be offered in the second half of the semester, for instance, hance still possible to add for +1 credit that keeps him at 12).