Worst Saturday ever

[Brilliant]

My 14yo ds is a freshman this year. We told him when the school year started that high school is the real deal - no more mr. nice mom. To emphasize the importance in his mind, he doesn't get any computer time during the week, until all of his assignments are done by Friday night.

 

Well, all of his assignments were NOT done. He got up this morning and did his yardwork...and after that, other than a lunch break, he has been doing schoolwork ALL DAY.

 

It's gonna be a long year.

[stephanier.1765]

Hopefully the hard work you are doing now as Mrs. Mean Mom will pay off over the next 4 years. That's what I keep telling myself anyway. You can keep me company in the Mean Mom clubhouse. :D

[8filltheheart]

Hopefully the hard work you are doing now as Mrs. Mean Mom will pay off over the next 4 years. That's what I keep telling myself anyway. You can keep me company in the Mean Mom clubhouse. :D

 

My oldest used to tell me I had unrealistic expectations for what he needed to accomplish. Every frustrating minute was worth it when I received a phone call his freshman yr that went something like: "Mom, there is something I want to tell you..........thank you. Bye."

[bugs]

:seeya: Oh me, me! I wanna belong to the Mean Mom Club too!

 

Oh yeah, good job sticking to your plans!

[djkapp]

I sympathize completely!!! My 14 yo DS also did not get assignments done this week. He too did yardwork this morning and spent the remainder of the day working on the two essays he did not complete. Tomorrow those rough drafts need to be revised and completed. Guess what he'll be doing as soon as we get home from church!

 

Do I qualify for the "mean mom club" as well?

 

Hang in there!!

Yvonne

[mktkcb]

oh yeah...here too. DS (almost 14, 8th) did NOT have his work done this week, and has been generally nasty for the last 3 days, precipitating unpleasant consequences for which he has alternated between feeling sorry for himself, blaming ME for it all, and being repentant. So, in spite of his insistence that "Saturdays are SACRED!!!" (uh huh), he's been doing schoolwork all*day*long, in between practicing piano, or doing chores, or selling popcorn for boyscouts (boy am I gracious.....this was one of Dad's only opportunities to do it with him :o/). I told him that if he wanted Saturdays to be sacred for playing, then he better make weekdays sacred for school. Phooey. He'll be doing schoolwork and practicing piano all afternoon tomorrow after church as well. He is banned from any screens/electronics *period* until I hear about 30 more happy "yes mom"s (which he hasn't been working off very quickly....he's been earning more than he's been working off). Grrrrrrr. ventventventvent. Sigh.

[Jane in NC]

Mean Mom checking in.

 

When I was a high school student (back in the early '70's), I spent many a Saturday at my town's public library reading and writing. My husband also did homework on the weekends. I do not know why any high school student (home or traditionally schooled) would have the notion that weekends do not include school related work.

 

My son is now a first year college student. How is he spending this weekend? Writing a paper for one class, an abstract for another.

 

Admittedly, my son found math work to be drudgery in 9th grade, while reading would be pleasant any day of the week. There is a balancing act that needs to be found, particularly in the more volatile years of a boy's life when hormones get in the way of book work. At fourteen, my son needed a lot of physical activity to stay on task with desk work. He needed lots of sleep during growth spurts. If schoolwork did not spill over onto weekends during these periods, it would never have been done.

 

Jane

[memphispeg]

Mean Mean Mommy - Yeah!

My dd has had a hard time realizing that hs (our 1st year) does not mean that your work is done at 2PM. There is still "after class" work that needs doing in the evening and on the weekends. AAAnnnndddd if you are busy with dance it means that on Fri. and Sat. nights you need to be working for a while!!!! She is v. inconsistent about this so I am continually having to circle back to doing problem sets and such with her during the day and having her read at night. I have been the "Queen of Mean" b4 with my first dd ,who did the same as the child above. She got to college and said "thank you for pushing me". What I think they don't understand is that you are showing them how the adult world operates and that you want the v. best for them...Rock ON Mean MOMS.

[distancia]

School is a JOB. That is what I continue to tell my daughter (17.5)--she can either drag out her work to 7 days a week, and never have a "day off", or she can treat her schoolwork like a job and work solidly thorugh the week and have some weekend time free.

 

I went to a (public) Ivy League school and the workload was tough. What kept me sane was how I handled it.

 

Early on I decided I wanted my weekends free, so I was determined to compress my schoolwork into a solid Monday through Friday schedule. I made myself rise at 7, study by 8:30, hour lunch, and study until 4:30 or 5 routine. I also went to bed fairly early--10:30 or 11. I kept the same hours as "regular people" who had "real jobs". I did not goof off or waste time. If I had any leftover work to be done, I coordinated it with laundry-times on Saturday mornings. Whle the clothes washed and dried, I wrapped did any remaining schoolwork. Sunday evenings I got back into gear, preparing my backpack for the week, re-filling supplies, looking over my schedule, checking for loose-ends.

 

I am trying to impress this upon my daughter, but she just doesn't get it. She moans about the constant stream of work, but what she isn't seeing is that when she takes a break to practice her dance routine in the middle of the day, or goes to Starbucks for an afternoon latte, or spends an hour on the 'phone gossiping with her friends, this is all eating into her valuable allotment of free time.

 

And I won't even get into the use (abuse?) of the internet! Unfortunately, my D has 2 online classes and she constantly flips screens between Facebook and Online Classes. That is the biggest time-waster of all.

Edited September 19, 2010 by distancia

[SkateLeft]

I told him that if he wanted Saturdays to be sacred for playing, then he better make weekdays sacred for school.

 

I love this!! :lol:

 

This next week will be our third week of school, and my daughter and I just had the yearly "time management" chat. I give her weekly assignments, not daily ones, so she needs to manage her time over the week in order to get everything done by Friday. She's usually pretty good about managing her time, but it always seems to take a couple of weeks for her to get into that mode and change gears from the summer. Admittedly, it was a little rough for her since the first two weeks of school were short weeks for us due to our last big sailing trip of the season.

 

She vastly prefers to get her work done during the week so she can have the weekends off. She sees that as one of the big benefits of homeschooling, but she's stuck working this weekend because she got a little behind over the last two weeks. I'm really hoping that she kicks back into gear this next week!

[TravelingChris]

I had to have my ninth grade working yesterday too. You are not alone. In fact, she will be finishing her math assignment this afternoon. I think for some kids, the change to high school is difficult. That just makes it difficult for us parents.

[regentrude]

I replied to one of your posts in the other thread, but it occurred to me you might be more likely to see it if I write it here - so I copy:

Quote:

Originally Posted by OC Mom

Geometry - approx. 15 problems/day. This takes HOURS. I think it should take no more than 1.25 hours.

 

The biggest problem is he stretches geometry out to 2-3 hours. Then after I grade it - he spends another hour re-doing the missed problems. Argh.

 

What kinds of problems is he doing? I am asking because DD is taking geometry too, and many geometry problems can be extremely time consuming, depending on how challenging they are and how much careful construction work is required. It is not uncommon for my DD (who loves math and is good at it) to spend half and hour working on a particularly challenging geometry problem.

The level problems she does - no way she would get even close to finishing 15 problems in a day.

Have you tried doing your son's assignment to see whether it is actually doable in the amount of time you think it is?

(Just a suggestion - because I know that from looking at problems it is hard to judge how time consuming they are)

[BlsdMama]

-

Edited September 20, 2010 by BlsdMama

[gingersmom]

Don't feel bad.

 

My daughter spent last Sunday doing about 8 hours worth of work. It should have taken 2-3 but she was in procrastination mode. I really didn't care as long as it got done.

 

Today she has spent another 2-3 hours on work. Much more diligent today! What a surprise!

 

I think maturity has a lot to do with it. My daughter is more mature this year, its her 2nd year of homeschooling so she is more in the groove of what is expected and what the consequences are when you miss deadlines, etc.

[stephanier.1765]

.

Edited September 20, 2010 by slr1765