Tech help with 6th grader and homework
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Anonymous
| My DS started 6th grade this year (1st year of middle school) and so far, his grades have been awful in certain classes. It is the first year he has to do his homework mostly online on Google classroom. He gets home at 4:00 and is supposed to get online to do his HW. I get home close to 6:00 and from the amount he has finished, I am sure he isn't working on his homework the entire time. I wish we could go back to paper/pencil HW but that's not going to happen. I've never used parental controls on my Macbook so I don't even know what is available. Here are my questions. 1) I know I can create additional profiles on my laptop but if I create one for him, will he still have access to Steam? I am tempted to get rid of it completely since I suspect that is what he is doing before I get home. 2) Are there parental controls that will prevent him from erasing the browsing history since I also think he has been going on YouTube and then erasing the history. He is a good kid but he is also 11. I've taken away his video game privileges on the weekends when I suspect he is wasting time during afterschool hours online but that doesn't really deter him. Thanks in advance. |
Anonymous
| If he is home alone, there might not be much he can do. What if you let him play video games when he gets home (since he will do that anyway) and he has to do homework when you arrive? I think sometimes it's ok to recognize that he needs a break from school? |
Anonymous
| You can get a chromebook for under $200. its what the kids are used to for school work and you can put the controls on that so its separate from your machine |
Anonymous
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Unless he is medicated for ADHD and needs to complete his work before the mes wear off, then perhaps a break is acceptable, and he finish his homework while you're there? Or do you need the computer when you get home?
If he absolutely needs to finish in the afternoon, then you have to sit him down and explain that he's old enough to be responsible for himself, and that there will be consequences to not finishing work and getting poor grades, such as no video games on the weekends, no treats or whatever else floats his boat. |
Anonymous
| Sorry for the typos! |
Anonymous
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Online homework is a nightmare for this reason. It is just too hard for kids to self-regulate and only do homework. It's like eating a salad while surrounded by cakes.
No answers, just commiseration. |
Anonymous
| I just got a Mac so I can't help, but whenever I have a question I take my Mac to the store and they help me...until I really get it. Do you live near one? |
Anonymous
| OP here. Thanks so much for the responses. Yes, he does have ADHD so I want him to get his homework done before the meds wear off. He also has a sport 2-3 times per week starting at 7pm so I need him to get the bulk of his homework done right after school. I do live near the Apple store so I might just go in and have them show me what to do. Maybe I will go during Spring Break since it's a zoo there on weekends. My son has a Chromebook at school so maybe I will look into getting one at home. I don't know much about them since the students don't bring them home. I've already taken away the video games on the weekends and that has a very temporary effect. By mid week, he is back to his old ways. |
Anonymous
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If you can possibly afford it, get him off of your machine and buy him something inexpensive that does the job.
There will be limits to what you can do to keep him from amusing himself when you are out of the house, but it is good to get started on teaching this now so he gets with the program by ninth. This has been a challenge for us from the beginnign. And just wait until his seven teachers put their on-line stuff in ten different places and your kid just doesn't have the skill to manage that all (he's got ADHD...) |
Anonymous
| You might need to let him try things his way, and then face the academic consequences of not getting his work done. DD was refusing to do homework after school one marking period of 6th grade. Seeing the impact it had on her grades was enough of an incentive for her to go back to doing the work the next quarter. |
Anonymous
OP here. I only have a minute but he really doesn't care much about grades or the consequences of his semi crappy grades. He got one C+ the first trimester and then he got 2 C+s the second trimester. All of the homework assignments are posted online so he can't say that he didn't know what to do for homework. I was totally different as a kid. I cared a lot about my grades and wanted to do everything "right." He takes after his dad- lol. |
Anonymous
I think this is the bigger problem. My son also can waste time with the best of them but he cares about his grades so although he's a procrastinator he gets the work done (eventually). If he doesn't care about his grades he will find distractions whether he's online or not. |
Anonymous
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We use Mobicip for our 11yo sixth grader...
He still gets distracted at times (it is what it is!) but his work gets done and his grades are good. |
Anonymous
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I never cared for online homework. didn't learn much and a lot of it was multiple choice or I could just copy and paste.
I'd have him start at 5 or 5:30, help a little at 6 pm when needed and then soccer practice or what have you. He needs a break between school - from 4-5 or 5:30. School days are very long in this country. |
Anonymous
| Are you more upset about his grades or that maybe he isn't spending enough time on homework? Is his homework handed in and accounted for by the teacher on Edline? In my house, bad grades meant you need more time to study which meant no sports. |