MunRoLy Posted September 27, 2012 Share Posted September 27, 2012 dd14 is is a very responsible, hard working student. She wants to do her best. ds12, not so much. He has many interests outside of school that he puts his best effort into (learning computer programming right now), but when it comes to school he just doesn't try. I'm thinking especially of math. He knows if he gets the problem wrong he will have to redo it, but this is not enough motivation. He just doesn't care to put any effort at all into getting the answer right the first time and I don't know how to convince him to. Ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walkermamaof4 Posted September 27, 2012 Share Posted September 27, 2012 We started using todayschores.com to track chores. But I added in things as extra chores like this: "Get 100 on math and you'll get 100 bonus points." Holy smokes! They try so hard now!!! They double check their work for the first time ever (or that is how it feels!) They aren't getting 100's often still, but getting significantly more correct. They use points in todayschores to "buy" privileges in a "store" like a smoothie or a movie or screen time or anything else our family considers a privilege. And I assigned the store items' point values to sway them towards certain items or away from certain items. For example, a soda is really high point value, and a fruit smoothie is lower and iced tea is in between. All are treats but the soda is the one I'd prefer them choosing least. This system is working for us to encourage them to make wiser choices in doing chores and school work well. We are continually altering it to help us all in all areas we struggle with. I even added some items for zero points that are just reminders. Anyway, maybe too much info but this has helped in our home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jennynd Posted September 27, 2012 Share Posted September 27, 2012 dd14 is is a very responsible, hard working student. She wants to do her best. ds12, not so much. He has many interests outside of school that he puts his best effort into (learning computer programming right now), but when it comes to school he just doesn't try. I'm thinking especially of math. He knows if he gets the problem wrong he will have to redo it, but this is not enough motivation. He just doesn't care to put any effort at all into getting the answer right the first time and I don't know how to convince him to. Ideas? how about if he get the question wrong, he will have to do similar type questions 5 times Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinRTX Posted September 27, 2012 Share Posted September 27, 2012 To cure my children, I just gave the lesson back if they had less than an 85-90 (if I was sure they understood and it was careless rushing). I would not tell them what was wrong; they had to redo the entire lesson. Then it was rinse and repeat if necessary. And the math lesson had to be done in a single day or they lost any fun activities. Linda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ocelotmom Posted September 27, 2012 Share Posted September 27, 2012 To cure my children, I just gave the lesson back if they had less than an 85-90 (if I was sure they understood and it was careless rushing). I would not tell them what was wrong; they had to redo the entire lesson. Then it was rinse and repeat if necessary. And the math lesson had to be done in a single day or they lost any fun activities. This is pretty much exactly what I've been thinking of doing with DS, because he's taken to rushing through his math and making really stupid mistakes, because I guess it's "easier" just to rush through without thinking and then correct his mistakes (which honestly aren't that many) afterwards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosmos Posted September 27, 2012 Share Posted September 27, 2012 To cure my children, I just gave the lesson back if they had less than an 85-90 (if I was sure they understood and it was careless rushing). I would not tell them what was wrong; they had to redo the entire lesson. Then it was rinse and repeat if necessary. And the math lesson had to be done in a single day or they lost any fun activities. Linda I've seen this suggestion before, and it makes me curious about the logistics. If you know that they scored less than 85-90, then you must have checked the answers. And if you checked the answers, didn't you mark somehow the right/wrong ones? I don't quite understand how you can both know a paper has a particular score AND hand an unmarked paper back to the student. What am I missing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MunRoLy Posted September 27, 2012 Author Share Posted September 27, 2012 I've seen this suggestion before, and it makes me curious about the logistics. If you know that they scored less than 85-90, then you must have checked the answers. And if you checked the answers, didn't you mark somehow the right/wrong ones? I don't quite understand how you can both know a paper has a particular score AND hand an unmarked paper back to the student. What am I missing? I'm assuming the problem is marked wrong, but not specifically where the problem went wrong? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ocelotmom Posted September 27, 2012 Share Posted September 27, 2012 I've seen this suggestion before, and it makes me curious about the logistics. If you know that they scored less than 85-90, then you must have checked the answers. And if you checked the answers, didn't you mark somehow the right/wrong ones? I don't quite understand how you can both know a paper has a particular score AND hand an unmarked paper back to the student. What am I missing? Record incorrect answers on a separate piece of paper. Keep track mentally, or on your fingers, especially if there aren't many problems on the page. Keep a tally at the top of the sheet, which will let them know how many are wrong, but not which ones. Stick a page protector over the top and mark on that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosmos Posted September 27, 2012 Share Posted September 27, 2012 Record incorrect answers on a separate piece of paper. Keep track mentally, or on your fingers, especially if there aren't many problems on the page. Keep a tally at the top of the sheet, which will let them know how many are wrong, but not which ones. Stick a page protector over the top and mark on that. So you do that (just one of those methods, I presume?) every time, just in case the score falls below the 85-90 threshold? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MunRoLy Posted September 27, 2012 Author Share Posted September 27, 2012 Record incorrect answers on a separate piece of paper. Keep track mentally, or on your fingers, especially if there aren't many problems on the page. Keep a tally at the top of the sheet, which will let them know how many are wrong, but not which ones. Stick a page protector over the top and mark on that. I like this idea! ds12 would hate it, which I guess is the point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ocelotmom Posted September 27, 2012 Share Posted September 27, 2012 (edited) So you do that (just one of those methods, I presume?) every time, just in case the score falls below the 85-90 threshold? I'm not the one who originally posted the idea, just someone who has also been considering it. Personally, I require 100% correct. I really can't see why any one of these solutions would be significantly more troublesome to use every single time than just writing directly on the paper. I like this idea! ds12 would hate it, which I guess is the point. Yeah, it's not something I'd do if I felt he were putting in reasonable effort the first time through and making honest mistakes. It's the obvious rush mistakes (4+5=10, doing addition instead of subtraction) that make me want him motivated to take a closer look the first time. Edited September 27, 2012 by ocelotmom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosmos Posted September 27, 2012 Share Posted September 27, 2012 I'm not the one who originally posted the idea, just someone who has also been considering it. Personally, I require 100% correct. I really can't see why any one of these solutions would be significantly more troublesome to use every single time than just writing directly on the paper. Have I annoyed you somehow? I'm just trying to understand better how this system works. Feel free to ignore my questions if they irritate you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinRTX Posted September 27, 2012 Share Posted September 27, 2012 Well I don't hand the paper back. I just say that the work was unacceptable and to re-do it. And this time please check your work. Linda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosmos Posted September 27, 2012 Share Posted September 27, 2012 Well I don't hand the paper back. I just say that the work was unacceptable and to re-do it. And this time please check your work. Linda That makes sense. A few times I have wanted to do this but by that point I had already marked up half the paper before realizing it really needed to be a total do-over. Just saying "do again" would work unless it was a worksheet. Thanks for explaining! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goldberry Posted September 27, 2012 Share Posted September 27, 2012 On the positive reinforcement side, what worked for DD is that if she got 100% of a certain number of problems correct, she didn't have to do the rest of the problems. If she got any wrong, she had to do all of them. We did that for awhile and now she doesn't need it anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ocelotmom Posted September 28, 2012 Share Posted September 28, 2012 Have I annoyed you somehow? I'm just trying to understand better how this system works. Feel free to ignore my questions if they irritate you. Not annoyed, just confused that the logistics seem to be a sticking point because for me it's simple and not really any more difficult than marking on the paper. And I just wanted to be clear that I wasn't the original person who posted the idea, so 85-90% thing wasn't relevant to my thinking. For me, if it's wrong, it needs to be corrected. On the positive reinforcement side, what worked for DD is that if she got 100% of a certain number of problems correct, she didn't have to do the rest of the problems. If she got any wrong, she had to do all of them. We did that for awhile and now she doesn't need it anymore. You remind me we used to do this with MM, and I bet DS would react slightly better to this, especially with the review we're currently doing :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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