Kid taking for.ev.er. to do work

[PeacefulChaos]

Astro (10) has always gone through times when he does this. It's not all the time, sometimes are worse than others, though in general he doesn't seem to be a fast worker.

Not being fast is FINE. I'm not bothered by that in the slightest.

But sometimes it just draaaaaaagsssss oooonnnn.

Example: this morning, he took about an hour and a half to do an 11 problem math quiz.

It's not that it's hard for him. He gets everything right, even when he is doing this same kind of problem on days when he moves quicker. He's pretty math-brained, as far as 'getting it', and though he could be faster in general at his math facts, he knows them all and the concepts very well.

It can drive me a bit crazy. Is it a focus thing? If so, why only sometimes? There is nothing going on to distract him externally, nothing loud, just the other 2 doing their work, and that doesn't change day to day.

 

Basically I want to know if there's anything I can do to make this not an issue. There's nothing wrong with the math curriculum or anything like that. It's just all in his head I think.

[Professormom]

I think it is hormones:-) Mine have both gone through phases like this too, so I feel your pain. You don't hear the term day dreaming very much anymore, but it is still a very real part of the adolescent condition, lol. As long as I know they understand what they are doing, I don't worry. I do, however, tend to stick math at the end of the day during these phases. Their free time is then dependent on them finishing. Their activities depend on finishing. It is amazing how motivating that can be. Especially when the neighbor friend is knocking at the door. :lol:

Edited February 18, 2016 by Professormom

[heartlikealion]

I don't know, either. Sometimes it takes forever just to get mine to the table with the book open.

 

Does it help if you let him choose what subject to do when? Or bargaining? lol. I'm not above that. "When you finish X, you can do Y." X gets done amazingly fast sometimes.

[PeacefulChaos]

Well, all the kids get to do their subjects in whatever order they choose, so...

Hadn't thought about bargaining, though. I'll keep that in mind. ;)

[Kristie in Florida]

My daughter is like that. If I try to change it, like tell her that she only has an hour for math and she can just finish tomorrow, she looks at me like I'm insane because she wants to finish it all now. But I say, "you can't do just math all morning!" She loves it, is very math brained, and is sloooooow lots of days.

[SparklyUnicorn]

No clue, but my 10 year old is a lot like that too. 

 

 

[Meriwether]

You have my sympathy. My 11 year old worked slowly, agonizingly slowly, from K through 5th grade. This year he works at an almost normal pace.

[happi duck]

In PS I had good luck with helping kids learn to pace themselves by giving and checking up on little goals (on a single assignment).

 

Some kids spent a lot of time deciding which problem to do next and stuff like that...so no distractions and they were working just not quickly.

[Guest]

At that age, my kid could cram 30 minutes of math into 4 hours. 

 

It drove me insane.

 

I had an interesting set of revelations with this kid.  

 

First, timing him made it worse.  It did not help.  Not in first grade, not in 9th, not ever. 

Second, he had to have a reason for why he was doing what he was doing.  Let me give you an example.  In high school, he took pre-calc.  After he completed a test (100%) he would still get worksheets with numerous problems of the same kind he already proved he knew how to work.  He refused to do them.  He failed the class.  I enrolled him in a, oh, I don't know, Kumon sort of place, where he worked at his own pace.  Brightmont.  That's what it was.  Anyway, he went through the entire pre-calc book in 6 weeks.  At the end of the class, he called me and said he had good news and bad news.  I said, "Good news."  OK.  I got 98% on my final.  WOW.  "What's the bad news?"  "I only got a 97% in the class."  The REASON he did so well is that they didn't ask him to do stupid repetitive work.  Once he knows something, he knows it.  So quit bothering him.  That might be part of the issue with your kid.

 

When he was on timed tests (big in Saxon), he just shut down.  But when you took the timer away and told him that when he was done AND if it was 85% or better, he could go play, he was FAST and he was ACCURATE.  He didn't care about the competition with the timer.  He did care about what he cared about.  I had to find a way to link them.  

 

And for the record, let me just say this:  my son is now 20 years old and doing OK.  He put is through some... carp ... but he's doing OK. His path is different from what I expected given our background, but he is just not someone who is going to do what everyone says he has to do when there is no reason for it.  Fine.  There is a difference between laziness and what my son is.  I don't know how to describe it other than to say that he is his own drummer.  And there wasn't a lot we could do about that.  Find out what motivates HIM and don't criticize him for it.  Just love him.  Find a way to get him through what must be done, and find a way for him to find his path.

 

My son's attributes are a great weakness in 75% of what constitutes Life As I Know It, but it is a great strength in so many ways that I have come to understand.  I wish I had done a better job of understanding a lot sooner.  And of being creative in getting him through That Which Must Be Accomplished.  

 

[Andani]

I sympathize with my kids during math as much as possible. In other words, I get my little white board and work the problems with them. It helps them keep moving, and their misery loves my company. They know if they goof off or give me a bad attitude, I'll leave to make better use of my time.

[Katy]

nm

Edited July 22, 2016 by Katy

[kroe1]

Every 15 minutes, change up the subject irrespective of whether or not he is finished. Come back to it later on another 15 minutes.

 

This easy tip was my saving grace for my DD. She would go at it strong for a very limited time, and then would just drag. Also in 15 minute spurts, we would get up and go clean something, go out for a run, etc. She managed to do 15 subjects a day and get two years ahead in school just by following the 15 minute plan. The alternative was to complete each subject at one time which might take several hours.

Edited February 19, 2016 by Minniewannabe

[Forget-Me-Not]

I have one that will doodle and daydream if I'm not sitting right there with her. I don't even necessarily have to be helping her. A lot of times I'm helping another kid, correcting work, or even just playing candy crush on my phone. If I walk away to do dishes or start a load of laundry, there's a good chance she'll go back to doodling.

[katilac]

I have one that will doodle and daydream if I'm not sitting right there with her. I don't even necessarily have to be helping her. A lot of times I'm helping another kid, correcting work, or even just playing candy crush on my phone. If I walk away to do dishes or start a load of laundry, there's a good chance she'll go back to doodling.

 

Yep. 

 

If you aren't sitting with him, that's where I'd start.