turning in homework

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am shocked at the vitriol.

I have a gifted kid who is not high achieving because of executive functioning deficits and and he also just does not care sometimes. Or rather, he cares about other things a lot more.

It is really hard to know how to support him because he is in 5th and is already falling through the cracks in some areas. Perfect scores on tests but in a low reading group because he gives short answers on the reading tests.

I am so worried about middle school.

I would pay for an organizational tutor. Letting my kid crash and burn when he simply hasn't learned organizational skills is ridiculous.

PP: my son sounds a lot like yours and he is in HS now. I highly recommend a coach that can take you through senior year. If nothing else, the tutor says the obvious instead of you saying it and most likely your child will hear it better from the outsider, anyway. Peace in the home with a teen is worth the expense. As organization has become less of an acute issue, the tutor is doing more test prep and general writing teaching. I love it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ADHD 8th grade kid (140 IQ, w/100 PS) and here is what his organizational coach has him do (yes, we reached the point where he needed an organizational coach. Best $$ ever spent). He has a two sided folder. One side, homework in (to be done) the other homework out (completed) arranged by class, 1st period on top. It seems to be working, because homework is (finally!!) being turned in this year. Not sure if this is because it is in one central place and not getting lost/crumpled in the bottom of his backpack, or because if his 3rd period math teacher has them take the homework out to look at a problem as a class, he can see that 1st and 2nd period were not turned in and, you know, turn them in. But it does work.

PP, where did you find an organizational coach? Would you mind sharing the name? My DS in 6th seems to need a lot of day to day coaching. His teachers and advisor are fabulous about it but I want him to be more independent.

pp on this. We hired one through Educational Connections, which our psychologist recommended. We had a different one last year than this year, and both have been excellent. $80/hour, at our house, and they are able to get him into strong A territory in one hour a week. Good luck!

$80 an hour?? You parents with your coaches, tutors, test prep classes, coddling, etc...

I would love to see how middle/high schoolers performed without Mommy and Daddy's $$$. Oh wait, I know. Whitman would preform just like Wheaton.

Why wouldn't you get help for your child if you could afford it and they need it? My goal is to teach my son skills so he is independent. It's the exact opposite of coddling. Coddling would be making excuses for his behavior, asking for special exceptions, etc.

New poster here.

+1 to this reply in bold.

The "coddling" comments above are so typical of DCUM. So many parents posting on this site (not just this thread, but overall) seem to think that children are born knowing how to organize themselves and their schoolwork and that no one should ever have to teach a child organizational skills - doing so is "coddling."

And those same parents often seem to post how kids should be left to "Figure it out for themselves," "Take the natural consequences," "Sink or swim" and many other variations of "You're on your own when it comes to learning HOW to learn." Maybe their kids were born with some special gene that gave them miraculous abilities to set priorities and keep up with things, with zero need to be taught those skills. Most real kids aren't wired that way and have to learn organization. If the parents aren't up for teaching a kid those things, then there's nothing wrong (or snobby) about spending money to get that help from a professional. These kids are not going to have the organizational expert at their sides forever, just for a short period while they learn some skills.

And if the family can't afford the expert, then it's time to work with the school. Our middle school had a counselor who specialized, in part, in teaching kids how to organize themselves and their work. And it was free, if the parents were involved enough to realize the help was right there at school.