<p>ps The problem of finding an Arabic teacher is a thorny one, but it would seem Curious Jane, that you might be try to find an Arabic tutor yourself and then propose the school pay for some or all of the cost. This might be a way to help the school with a task it finds difficult (finding the tutor), but does actually want to provide. A reasonable compromise might be that the family pays any amount that their tutor charges that exceeds the cost of the school-provided one (who is not fully available).</p>
<p>I would emphasize that we felt legal help would tell us what was reasonable to expect. Some families ask for too much. I would say we tended to ask for too little. How would Curious Jane know what is reasonable to ask for? Is it reasonable to ask the school to pay for a tutor she finds, who might be costly? I have no idea. The solution I suggested above could be negotiated with the principal, but it might happen less painfully if Jane already knows it is a reasonable thing to ask.</p>
<p>Back when I had my first 504 meeting our district had a parent advocate at the meeting whose job was to help the new parent - presumably with suggestions for accomodations and the like. It might be that something like this exists in the OPs district. I don’t think a consult with a lawyer is a bad idea, assuming you can find one with good experience with these issues. My main problem with 504 plans is that schools have a set list of accomodations they grant (extra time, keyboards) that may or may not help with the actual issues a child has. My younger son’s best experiences were before he even had been labeled when he had a teacher who figured very small things that helped him - like assigning homework at a time of day when he was less distracted.</p>
<p>CuriousMom: can you compromise with CuriousKid? Because I can tell you with absolute certainty that at this point CuriousKid will not be able to catch up on Arabic. S/he missed more than half the semester when the “roots”/“foundations” are established - it’s like trying to build a house with more than half the foundations missing. If s/he really likes the language, can you negotiate that s/he can attend the Concordia language village for Arabic this summer and try with Arabic2 next year, but should either take Arabic online from home or another language this year? CuriousKid can’t see that s/he’s setting himself/herself up for failure, which will be all the more devastating as it can be a form of denial about the effects of the illness.
(CuriousKid probably can’t understand that sometimes, even if you really, really want to, you just can’t. Whoever said “where there’s a will there’sa way” and all the “can do spirit” slogans wasn’t affected with an illness, clearly. A sick child’s body will betray his will and his brain every time, which is devastating.)</p>
<p>The flexiblity of online studies is a huge help in this kind of situation and was an avenue we used as well. MYOS I think your advice is very wise!</p>
<p>I’m just going to echo MYOS, if I wasn’t clear enough in my first post. I agree 100% - there is no hope of catching up in Arabic now. It’s just that difficult. If he can find a way to do Arabic in the spring starting from the beginning and then catch up in the summer, that’s his best bet. He could try sitting in on the class, but he should not be taking it for a grade. I know the first time my son took Arabic (a fast paced summer course before his college freshman year) he got lost about two weeks in and never caught up. The second time he took it, freshman year, coming in knowing the alphabet never helped that much. I think he eked out a C+. He’s stuck with it, and after a year in Jordan, has gotten pretty competent, but only by working twice as hard as friends taking other languages.</p>
<p>While I agree 100% that Arabic is a very hard language in which to become fluent, our school district takes that into account, so the expectations for what students are able to do at the end of the course are pretty low. In addition, at our high school, the top students do not take Arabic. Most kids who are above grade level in reading at the beginning of sixth grade, which is the majority, take French, Spanish, or Mandarin 1, a high school course. Given that our district doesn’t start “honors” languages until Level 3, going back to take a Level 1 language results in a hit to their weighted GPA.</p>
<p>So, Arabic class is primarily kids who for whatever reason, didn’t take a language in middle school, or who struggled with their language in middle school and want a fresh start, or who just really like the idea of Arabic and don’t care that much GPA. I think they grade pretty forgivingly, plus it’s a strong teacher. Arabic is also the only language they can start fresh in 9th and still participate in the IB diploma. Given all that, combined with the fact that the two careers my kid talks about are Egyptologist and Federal Law Enforcement, I don’t think it was a bad choice for CuriousKid. </p>
<p>I’m not saying he’ll successfully catch up, but I think it’s worth having him try and deciding after we see his semester grade. If he doesn’t, I think that Concordia is a great option although I have no idea how I’d afford it. We’re spending about $1,000 a month on medical bills with tutoring on top of that right now. But, it’s something to consider.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t worry as much about his weighted GPA as I would his unweighted GPA. Our HS guidance counselors tell the parents that students should take the highest level classes where they can be successful (A/B). He really doesn’t want a D on his transcript for any reason. Let him drop it now (if he can get a WP) and start over when he is healthy.</p>
<p>I wonder if he can withdraw officially, audit, study in the summer, and then rejoin in the fall.</p>
<p>My daughter lost a year of science due to health (only took 3 years of science in high school) in a similar scenario, and the colleges were very understanding when the GC and our family explained the reason.</p>
<p>Colleges are even less likely to hold a kid accountable for a lost year of language, since most schools offer the option of satisfying a language requirement in the first year on campus there.</p>
<p>I think it is cool that he wants to do Arabic so badly. In the midst of all the loss of normalcy, I am sure that holding on to something like this that he is really interested in, is very meaningful for him. But for now, I wonder if he can hold onto Arabic outside of the school grading system.</p>
<p>Alternatively, and I mean this, he could get the D and it could just be explained later. But he doesn’t deserve the D because honestly more should have been done to support him in his studies during his illness.</p>
<p>We don’t know much about his illness, how much it fluctuates, whether it is expected to continue, etc. etc. and I understand that due to privacy. But some of the advice given here is a bit of a shot in the dark because every adolescent with health problems is in a different, even unique, situation. I know it did help my child to continue with one or two things she really loved, so if Arabic is one of those priorities, then I hope he can rejoin the class as a fully competent and confident by fall, however that might happen!</p>