southernm Posted November 21, 2011 Share Posted November 21, 2011 (edited) DS 6 will do anything to NOT finish work. If I sit next to him, he will talk and talk and talk. He has a very difficult time if I stop him mid-thought. It kills him to not be able to finish out a conversation before moving on to the next task. Today, I decided to leave him to his own devices since he was doing a math review. He acted like he had never seen an addition sign. I'm even letting him use the egg cartons and counters to solve the problems. He is playing with them, talking to himself etc but NOT working. There is no tv there are no outside distractions yet he can't stay on task. I feel like everyday there is so much I don't get to because by the time I actually do get through the core subjects I'm mentally exhausted. I'm tired of fighting with him. Help please!! ETA:Setting a timer makes him completely shut down. And with math, he knows math facts but still computes because apparently he doesn't trust himself! Edited November 21, 2011 by southernm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbkaren Posted November 21, 2011 Share Posted November 21, 2011 Just wanted to say I'm feeling your pain. My son dawdles, dawdles, daydreams, drums his pencils on the table for a while, then dawdles some more. Anything but focusing on the work in front of him! My fingertips ache from tapping them on the page to bring his attention back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myfunnybunch Posted November 21, 2011 Share Posted November 21, 2011 Since he likes to talk, can he tell you the answers instead of writing them down? Cat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ester Maria Posted November 21, 2011 Share Posted November 21, 2011 I recommend an empty desk, an exercise sheet with NO distractions whatsoever (black ink on a white paper, exercises only), a pencil and NOTHING else for the best concentration when you want him to do a simple short review by himself while you are busy with something else. That way he will have nothing to play with, and if he gets up without finishing, send him back until he does it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southernm Posted November 21, 2011 Author Share Posted November 21, 2011 Just wanted to say I'm feeling your pain. My son dawdles, dawdles, daydreams, drums his pencils on the table for a while, then dawdles some more. Anything but focusing on the work in front of him! My fingertips ache from tapping them on the page to bring his attention back. At least I'm not the only one lol! I keep trying to explain to him that if he were at public school his teacher would not be so patient! He thinks that if he goes to PS he won't have to work as much! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southernm Posted November 21, 2011 Author Share Posted November 21, 2011 Since he likes to talk, can he tell you the answers instead of writing them down? Cat Maybe, but he likes to talk about anything not related to what we are doing. On the flip side, he's great at narrations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acurtis75 Posted November 21, 2011 Share Posted November 21, 2011 My husband asked me the other day if dd needed to be in a less distracting environment to finish an assignment. I just laughed and told him moving her doesn't work because the distractions are in her mind so the environment can't help with that. I tell her to focus and she says okay but 10 seconds later says, "remember when we were watching Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and Flint said..." It's frustrating and the things she's thinking about are never-ending but so far generally don't include the actual math worksheet she's supposed to finish. I realized recently that for us the biggest problem was with math. I don't know if this is true for you but for my dd she could finish a page in about 5 minutes or it could take 2 hours if she was unfocused. After reading some threads here I realized I was moving too slowly with the curriculum and she was bored. When she made up her mind to do the problems she did them quickly and acurately. What I started doing was accelerating her math. There have been a few threads about that lately. Here's one where I included the way we are accelerating. Several others answered as well so it might be helpful. For my dd, changing up the way we do math has made a tremendous difference. http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=325904&highlight=how+accelerate+math Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5 Hikers Posted November 21, 2011 Share Posted November 21, 2011 DS 6 will do anything to NOT finish work. If I sit next to him, he will talk and talk and talk. He has a very difficult time if I stop him mid-thought. It kills him to not be able to finish out a conversation before moving on to the next task. Today, I decided to leave him to his own devices since he was doing a math review. He acted like he had never seen an addition sign. I'm even letting him use the egg cartons and counters to solve the problems. He is playing with them, talking to himself etc but NOT working. There is no tv there are no outside distractions yet he can't stay on task. I feel like everyday there is so much I don't get to because by the time I actually do get through the core subjects I'm mentally exhausted. I'm tired of fighting with him. Help please!! ETA:Setting a timer makes him completely shut down. And with math, he knows math facts but still computes because apparently he doesn't trust himself! My oldest, ds11, was this way. He grew out of it. :D Hope that helps. Just stick to making him do the work everyday. I started holding off lunch til he finished Which some moms may say is cruel but he chose to waste that time, and 1 or 2 hours won't kill a kid. I also made plans for around 1pm once a week to go to something fun with friends. If he didn't finish, he brought his work with him and wasn't allowed to play. Practically try to switch around subjects. My ds took the longest to do math, so I moved it to last. He takes much less time to do math now that it only affects his own free time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbkaren Posted November 21, 2011 Share Posted November 21, 2011 I do two things that seem to help: 1. I let him chew gum while he's working. The rhythm, something, seems to help. 2. If he's really in a rut on something dumb that has to be done, I'll bribe him. A jelly bean for each sentence he writes...something like that. If there's 6 sentences, I line up 6 jelly beans in front of him. Each time, I have to approve the sentence before he gets the jelly bean. It breaks the work up into manageable chunks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted November 21, 2011 Share Posted November 21, 2011 Maybe he's just a little guy who isn't ready for the academics yet. In my house, that would probably mean ETC and c-rods, and something like KONOS for everything else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southernm Posted November 21, 2011 Author Share Posted November 21, 2011 These are all great tips! I really hope he grows out of it. I think part of it is that he is a perfectionist. So, when something is a little more difficult he nearly shuts down if he can't find an immediate answer. We just finished the regrouping chapters near the end of SM 1A. I'm going to stop and work on memorizing facts before we move on. He is at his worst during math and ETC. I switched to ETC from OPGTR because OPGTR was causing tears and frustration. ETC is much gentler for him but also gives him opportunity to talk to me instead of working. Everything else seems to flow fine since he mostly listens and responds. Shockingly, on the complete opposite spectrum, he is awesome at WWE/SOTW narrations. It's when he has to work the problems/do copy work on his own that his mind wanders. It doesn't matter if I am sitting next to him or 12 feet away. I am going to try a huge jelly bean jar and bribe him to finish in a timely manner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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