Wes' BYU Math Class

Hello. I am going to talk about school stuff. I'm trying to decide if I want to have Sophi and Natalie in a before school orchestra at an elementary school that is close by - it would only be twice a week, but I would have to take them, then pick them up and take them to school. Originally I thought it was going to be held at our elementary school, so I signed Sophi up thinking it would just mean that she goes to school early twice a week. But it's not at our school - it's at a school 5 minutes away, which isn't too bad, but still.... having to go get her and then go back in 50 minutes to get her and take her to school might be more effort than I can do logistically right now with how busy we already are with taking carpools in the morning, plus taking Wes to early morning seminary every day, plus Lily early every day to Jazz Band. So, yeah. I'm thinking about it. But I'm not loving the 3 hours of morning responsibilities. I wish I could be up in the mountains riding along the dirt paths. Sigh. 

So something that is going on today - Wesley missed school yesterday to stay home and try and finish his BYU Independent Study Math, which was due last night - Here are some of his finely printed handwritten notes as he's been working on this -

So this class got me very worked up today, like bawling out of control. I'm slightly calmed down and cried out of tears, but I don't think I've cried this hard since October 2017. So he signed up to take this class in May 2020. Wes stayed home yesterday to finish his BYU Independent Study Math to recover his four F's of Math his 10th grade year. Yesterday his class was scheduled to end, and you have to have everything in or submitted by then. He needed to have everything done to request the final exam. Well, he didn't have two stupid assignments done. And I called the Independent Study hotline around 4 to see if we could take a zero on those two assignments or something, so that he could request the final, and she gave me someone to email, so I sent them this:

Hello - My son Wesley Wride  has been taking a High School Secondary Mathematics class online and his course expires today. This is our first experience with an Independent study class so please forgive us for not being aware of all the how to's. There are two assignments that he was not able to answer or submit online, and without those he is not able to request the final exam today. I just called the Independent Study hotline to find out what he was supposed to do for those. The two assignments are:

  Unit 4 - Exploration Meeting: Systems of Equations and inequalities

  Unit 7 - Exploration Meeting: Parallel Lines

I learned that those were supposed to be done in person on a Monday evening. We are hoping that we can either get an extension to allow him the two Mondays to complete those two assignments (both are available at the same time from 6-7pm) or if he can receive a zero score on those two assignments and thus have all the assignments submitted and scored so that he can request the exam. 

We will also not be able to request the exam today without those two assignments checked off, and thus we would also like to petition for him to be allowed to still take the final after the status of those two assignments are resolved. I will also submit a petition form through the IS website. 

I look forward to your reply, thank you!

...and so today I got a reply from the liaison today at 11AM:

Hello Ms. Wride,

 

Unfortunately, once the course has expired, no further assignments may be submitted or completed.

 

Wesley had 18 months to complete the course, providing ample opportunities to complete the two Exploration Meetings during that time.  We are not able to issue a 0 grade for the assignments nor are we able to exempt Wesley from completing the assignments.

 

Since one extension was already provided for the course, Wesley will need to submit a petition explaining any extenuating circumstances that prevented him from completing the course in the allotted 18 months to see if another extension might be granted.

 

Thank you,

 

Doug Gwilliam

BYU Independent Study

So after I got that, I just felt defeated on Wesley's behalf and I cried and bawled for over an hour. That was around the time that Mel called for her p-day, so my emotional state took the main focus in our visit. Mel is praying for Wes and for us. I think we've put more worry and concern into this emotionally than Wesley has. Corey said, rightly, that Wes needs to own this path forward as much as possible - be fully invested in it, that this is very sad - but it was us pushing, not him driving. After Wes got home from school today, he agreed that he has been doing this for us and he has not been invested or really cared. So that sucks cause now he might have to DO IT ALL OVER again unless he just doesn't want to graduate high school with his peers. I did get an email from his school counselor. I had emailed him today in my stress and said maybe Wes should re-do 10th grade this year, but he let me know "students are placed grade appropriate. Wesley could not be retained at this point of his education. If for any reason Wesley does not pass his courses and graduate, he could go to the adult high school after graduation." So, yeah, it's sad and stupid but I guess this will all be a learning experience for him and hopefully for us, too, that we can stay on top of the rest of our kids and not let this happen again. Wes can write a petition to ask for an extension, but I'm not going to do it for him - he's got to start owning his life, so we'll see what he does. Wes teaching Peter how to long board.