My tween has an 'F' in home room and I'm not sure what to do about it.

[KrisM]

We go through the online info on Sunday night. Most teachers have it updated for the week by then. We make a list of what homework will be due, tests, etc. In 6th, most of his teachers will take homework late without penalty. Maybe he can make up some of it.

[squimp]

We're just starting middle school this year and there are lots of reasons why a kid might have an F. It's not the end of the world here, it usually means kids forgot to turn something in or completely missed the boat on an assignment. If he missed one day, he may have missed a key assignment, and hopefully you can make it up. At our school they are allowed to make things up and retest if they catch it right away, it is nice having that option and takes off some of the stress. Our teachers also are very open to parent communication, they don't mind hearing from us and encourage us to write if there are issues.

We have a study hall grade here, it's kind of like homeroom - they have to demonstrate that they have their binder and schedule organized. Kind of a placekeeper, but they seem to take everything seriously here, including gym. It definitely takes some time to adjust to middle school and stay on top of things, many of DD's friends have had an F on the online system when they missed a key assignment.

It's good that you noticed it online - now you or DS need to find out why. I would start with seeing if DS can figure it out himself by talking with the homeroom teacher, and if that doesn't work then email the teacher or wait until conferences. The critical point here is the end of the quarter, grades become set at that point, so it's important to resolve any issues by then.