organization, assignment tracking/finishing, and writing

[redriver55]

Ds (4th grade) was hs last year, and started ps last fall. He has made leaps and bounds adjusting to the pace of school. He still has struggles, but I feel he's learned a lot about their schedule and getting things done. However, he has been getting assignments lately, that are given with a due date of 10 days, or over a week. He has a hard time remembering these. He came home today, and said his teacher sternly addressed him personally, in front of the class for not having the work done (due today). He said 4 other students also did not have it complete, but he was the only one called out verbally. (I'll set my issue with that aside.)

 

My initial thought, is that he should either write these stray projects into the assignment notebook every day, until he turns it in, maybe with a countdown of how many days left. The second idea is that he writes any special project, not due the next day, onto a post it note, and it gets moved to the current day in the assignment notebook, until it's done, and turned in.

My husband suggested I find out from the teacher what his special assignments are, so I can keep up and remind him at home. I think his teacher's goal is to get him to be independent/mindful, so I'm not sure how this idea would go over.

 

He is a slow worker. His teacher is displeased with that. I feel she thinks more effort would solve that, but he is just a slow worker. It's hard for him to maintain constant focus, all the time. I feel more proficient reading skills would improve his overall performance, so we'll be working on that over the summer. I haven't found a way to do it after school, because some nights homework takes forever, and I don't want to add more. I want to read some library books regarding executive function as well. I tried once before, but it felt like dry reading. I have to persist.

 

And lastly, he has had writing about books most of the school year. Now, for the last 6 weeks or so, it appears we'll be focusing on grammar writing. His current assignment, that was due today, was to write a request letter to the principal. He has filled out a graphic organizer sheet with "parts" of the letter. His job is to turn the parts of the letter/phrases, into worded sentences, with a total of 3 paragraphs. He thinks he needs my help. I think he has a hard time grasping writing concepts, or maybe he overthinks it.

He did one paragraph at school, his teacher didn't like it and told him to start over. I assume this was over a week ago, since it's late. So he started over today, and seems to have gotten 2/3's done.

I had an old book called the write source. I really liked the format when I was a kid. I think it would fit his learning style, so intend to get a grade level appropriate one for summer.

 

Our summer will likely be spent doing grammar, reading checks, learning to write better paragraphs, etc, and keeping math skills.

In the meantime, I need to find an isolated place for him to work, because everything distracts him. Usually he works at the table, but his sister is a wandering distraction who doesn't get homework. I don't send him to his room, because he frequently asks for help.

 

Anyways, if you made it this far. I could use suggestions for helping him organize his work, so he gets it done on time, and not at the last minute.

[Arcadia]

Can you get a whiteboard, mount it by the door or kitchen area? My friend would copy out the deadlines for her son's homework so he can have an easy way of checking what are due soon.

 

Can you send your daughter to a designated play area in your home and tell her to stay there until your son's homework is done?

[redriver55]

We do have a large whiteboard. We usually use it for working out homework problems. I can start there.

I usually have my daughter go elsewhere, her room, the other living room, etc. and she ends up back in there. Right now ds, is learning the 50 state capitals. So, she wants to be in there, to use the wall map while he does homework. It's always something. Sometimes she is more understanding though, and will go to her room.

We have other spots in the house, they are just not cleared out for homework, and maybe they should be. A work in progress for me.

[kiwik]

Probably easier to send your daughter to her room to read rather than your son.

[SciMom]

My sons' school gives each child an agenda which has space for them to write each day's homework, each space has the date on it so it is easy to see what needs to be done each day. If your school won't provide him with one, perhaps you can buy one from Amazon for him. At this age most kids will not remember homework if it is not written down unless it is pretty much the same work every week.