School Bell: Absentee tricks

Does your child sometimes miss part of a school day because of dental or doctor appointments?  How about colds or strep throat? With younger children there is little The best plan is to plan ahead. [Isn't that often the case?]


The Set-Up
Have your child pick a "buddy." 
Good candidates? 
... someone who is pretty dependable. 
... someone who lives nearby and could drop off books or papers.
For upper grades legible handwriting is a bonus as is having a similar class schedule.

The Deal
The bargain is that if either of you is out of school or misses a class the other one will gather the papers handed out, assignments made, and notes given for the absent one.  If you know the night before that you are going to be absent, call your buddy and give them a heads up to remind them.  If you see your buddy out of a class, do the same for your buddy.  When school is over, stop by or phone to pass along the information. 

Note-Taking Trick:
The simplest way to take notes for someone else is using a sheet of good old-fashioned carbon paper. One sheet can be used several times and makes the copy as your write with no need for a copy machine etc.  Just slide the carbon and a plain sheet under your notebook page and the extra copy will be made as you write your own notes. Another possibility if the absence is going to be longer [like out for a hospitalization, chicken pox etc.] talk to the teacher and see if the teacher could photocopy the teaching notes for the one who is absent. 


Special Needs Kiddos: 
If writing is a problem, or a challenge for learning or physical disabilities, talk to the teacher and see if they would be willing to support either of the above strategies. They may even suggest someone in the class who takes good notes that would be allowed to share them with you.  


Image credits and thanks to: mooreland.org, myuniversitymoney.com, amazon.com