Learning better organizational skills - anyone?

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You may want to contact the school and see what the MINIMUM requirements are for passing 6th grade. The school may want you to think that you need to pass all the classes, but in reality that is seldom the case. I know people who failed every history class they took yet kept moving up grades. The school realized that memorizing facts about Columbus wasn't worth them spending an extra year teaching a kid which would only cost them more money. They of course have to put up the appearance that everything is important or else parents will complain about the school wasting their time. But if you actually talk to them alone then you may find the reality different then the publicly stated school propaganda.

If your going to do that then try to appear as though you are a worried parent who is desperate to help their child. Try some phrases like: I don't want my child to fail, is there some other way she can pass? Is there some test she could take to meet 7th grade entry requirements? etc... If you just go up there and say: This school is a piece of crap and we both know it. Now tell me the minimum of what I need to do, then the school will just ignore you and fail your child out of spite.

And if your daughter fails 6th grade you don't necessarily need to have her repeat it at a different school. It is just going to be more of the same useless crap. Instead just contact the school and say things like, what can I do to get my child caught up over the summer so that she can get into 7th grade in the fall? They may just give you a packet of information and tell you to review that. That's what the school did when my brother failed mathematics. He didn't bother to learn any of it, but said he did when the school asked. So the school believed him and moved him up to the next grade.

Likewise, you could always home school your child next year, and in 2011 when the school systems asks just tell them that she is all caught up and ready for 8th grade. Odds are they will believe you and take her back into 8th grade without so much as batting an eye. At the worst there may be some sort of entrance test which you could easily pass with 2 weeks of practice.

I know this sounds cynical, but as i said, prior to your junior year of high school (11th grade, not junior high) there really is no useful information taught in any useful ways worth learning. Your main goal up until 11th grade is simply to have a place for your daughter to go during the day so she doesn't get bored. She certainly won't be learning anything worth learning academically. The school knows this, and they really dont care or else they would actually change something. Just make passing your daughter the easiest and cheapest thing your school can do and your daughter will probably pass regardless of her grades.

No need to apologize for being cynical. The fact is, sometimes the response that is regarded as cynical or negative isn't... It's the truth. Then it isn't the responder who should be sorry... it's everyone.

The stuff I learned in my junior year didn't make any more sense than junior high, so I'll still take your word for it. Well, my husband is meeting with them on Friday (gotta start somewhere) to find out what we can do about it all. But they did say they have no summer programs. I didn't think to ask if they meant no summer school or just no special programs. Maybe they misunderstood. But really... what kind of school district has no summer programs? Then again, what kind of school district has California Distinguished Schools that don't bother to send notes home and have to be nagged to return calls?

Well, we are going to do those things, anyway... we're giving them a chance to work with us. It's probably a good thing I'm not going to this meeting... I need time to cool off. And we don't have anyone to watch the 3-year-old.