Making the honour roll

I am sure that in the past I have blogged about how disappointed I have been in Taylor's efforts at school and the report cards she has brought home. She's a smart, smart kid but lazy, lazy, lazy. And her marks in Grade 5 and 6 sometimes reflected that. But the effort comments always refelected her laziness. Effort inconsistent, effort inconsistent. Doesn't do homework. Disorganized (well, she is her mother's daughter!)

Now she is junior high and the school she is at has awards for each of the 3 terms. The first term is honours, the second is most improved and the third is for community spirit. I think. Something like that.

I really wanted Taylor to make the honour roll this term. Well, for the whole year ideally. So I made her a deal. For every core subject (Language Arts, Science, Math, Social Studies and French) mark in the 80s she would get $25. For marks in the 90s she would get $50. She is saving for a lap top so there was definitely a goal in mind. Her effort had to be conisdered consistent or applies extra effot.

Her report card came home yesterday and I was pretty happy with it. 3 of her core subject marks had dropped (from the 90s into the 80s) from the interim report last month, and one had gone up. She was told to expect the marks might drop a little bit as the first month had been review.

I now owe her $150, as all of her cores were in the 80s and French, her lone $50 grade, was 90%.

I've never paid for good grades before, and it's not something I would agree to do normally, but I really do think that she needed that push. And while I would like to see all her mark in the 90s, because that is where she should be, I can't complain about marks in the 80s. Not once in my junior/ senior high days did I come anywhere close to making the honour roll. I really don't know where that girl got her intelligence from.