<p>tom, if I could tell your daughter one thing from a parent (and I’ve told my own D the same) please communicate with parents. In a perfect world, kids would bring everything home and pass along messages in a timely and accurate fashion, but since most kids aren’t perfect, at least before high school, communication is often garbled or delayed.</p>
<p>This past year, my kid’s teachers used engrade.com, which had a message feature, a calendar feature, and some other stuff. Being able to know what was going on saved my family immeasurable stress. I was also able to communicate with his teachers when there was a problem earlier in the year and they got back to me with advice right away. I didn’t have to delay resolution and I didn’t have to take off from work.</p>
<p>I absolutely hate the POV from some educators that kids should always be resonsible for handling everything and parents shouldn’t be involved. When kids are younger, parents should be partners and should be considered. If parents are fighting with kids and flyng blind because teachers won’t communicate directly with parents, then the kid isn’t getting the best education and the teacher is actually causing harm in the home. </p>
<p>I’m very glad that my son’s teachers were all about understanding the midde school aged kid and helping him mature in the right way.</p>