She may not live to see 15

A+
F
A+
F
A+
D-
F
F
F
A+
D-
A+
A+

So, you might ask is this some weird pattern?
Could it be a code?
No, it is my darling Lindsey's grades from her Honors English class. Currently her average is a D-. English, her most favorite subject in the world. The A+ are Homework grades, the Fs and Ds are from quizzes.

The school uses a program called PowerSchool. Unfortunately, since the start of this semester, PowerSchool wasn't working. Everything hit last Thursday and the initial average grade was an F. Lots of things happened after they hit.

I sent an email to her teacher and Lindsey which basically said:

"Lindsey,

Unless you have a really good reason why you have an F in English, and a B- in Chemistry and Algebra, you will be grounded until all of them are at least a B+. No exceptions, including Youth Ministry, Winter Formal, talking on the phone and just plain "hanging out."

I would like to suggest that maybe you should try, oh, I don't know, how about studying?

We will talk tonight.

Love,

Mom"

Her teacher is fabulous. Before he got my email, he had already tracked her down at school and talked to her, including telling her that he is available during any activity block to work with her.

He also sent me an email. I responded. He responded. I called. We talked. His concern was that there was such a huge gap in her grades. He said that through discussions in class, he knows that she has read everything she is supposed to read but is obviously not paying attention to the details.

Lindsey, of course, responded that he asks such inane questions. The nerve. Even though he told all the students that because this is the study of American Literature which includes the study of the authors, they will need to know such wonderful details like birth years and death years, some of the history of the time, etc. The nerve. She isn't happy when we say that he can ask anything he wants. He is the teacher. He told them what to expect. Pay ATTENTION to the DETAILS. Read it more than once. Take notes.

Keep in mind here, that both Dave and I have been in school almost full time through 2007. Dave finished his Masters in 2000, I went back to school in 2001, finishing with my MBA in 2007. She is used to us studying. She has watched us take notes, do homework, write papers (with the MLA handbook open and used). Dave is a teacher. Complaining about teachers, homework, questions on quizzes or having to study does not cut it in our household.

The school sent a letter which received on Saturday. She has to go to a "special" study hall during activity block every day through at least Friday. At that point, her grade gets checked. Dave did ask her how many Honors students are in the special study hall. He got "the look."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She did go to Andrew's winter formal on Sunday night. He had paid for the tickets, etc. However, they did not go to her winter formal which was on Saturday night.

Monday (there was no school), she headed towards the computer. I asked her what she was doing and she said "checking my email." Nope.
She wanted to go to Youth Liturgy practice last evening. Not.
She was appalled when she found out that our computer and phones can be checked to see who/what/when.

I understand that I cannot block her from checking email or socializing at school, but for Lindsey not being able to talk on the phone, computering, etc. is devastating.

We did tell her that spending a boat-load of money to send her to a private high school is a privilege. If she doesn't get her grade up, we will move her. Period.