Senior Son Serious Academic Issues

compmom
Fri, 25 Jan 2019 12:42:05 +0000

I know several young people personally who had these difficulties in senior year, but went on to thrive at college. Well, one took a gap year. Some schools are very aware of the stresses of senior year- including apprehension about the transition of leaving home, friends, and everything familiar. I remember the school nurse telling me that seniors were universally “a mess.”

With early admissions, your son is already dealing with the transition’s reality. It sounds like he is having a kind of head in the sand reaction. If he is depressed, which is likely, this is the age when such things may truly emerge.

If he is not 18 yet, he must be close, and after 18 you lose the legal ability to do anything. Personally, I feel that he has to be on board even at 17. But if you get really concerned, you do have the right to hospitalize if he is a danger to himself. That is getting way ahead of the current situation but school refusal can be serious.

I would offer to him that he can leave school if he wants. I did that with one of mine and she did, indeed, leave. We homeschooled for the rest of the year and she got a diploma from a school that does that sort of thing for homeschoolers. She still had the transcript and still attended the colleges that she had gotten into.

If nothing else, making that offer may help him feel less trapped and cope better.

Counseling is a must but he has to agree. The only thing you can do is recognize the reality that he does not want to go to school and offer to accommodate his desire to be home. He might surprise you and then be better able to attend.

Also, see if he will go to an MD for a physical check up just in case thyroid, Lyme, or a variety of other possibilities are not a factor.