I don't know if you meant "thinkering" but I like that word

Well I guess there's just no "one size fits all" and you really need to know your own kid/teenager. The math class and favorite thing from parent comment serve as good examples to try with a younger kid, but over time you learn what your kid's like as a person (as the personality itself changes over time). I myself was hella bored with school and would've answered similarly. Of course my mom knew me well enough not to ask me questions I wouldn't answer anyway, or at least not very often.

Parents should be invested in their child’s education. I blame my receding hairline on the fact that many are not.

I’m not saying parents need to go class by class or something, but school is such a big part of a kids life that they need to have at least a vague idea of what’s happening.

Yeah, many schools use some sort of online learning platform. Parents can access their kids grades and the assignments themselves at any time. Very useful for when little Jimmy has not turned in a single thing all year - “all of the assignments are available online, you can print out extra copies at home.”

I’ve just had too many parents expect me to reach out personally any time a kid doesn’t turn something in or starts failing. I’ve got ~100 kids, and two part time jobs on top of this - the live accountability should be sufficient for that.

I only ever ask "what did you have for lunch" and both kids will say "don't remember" or "check on your phone"