thoroughness....

[Woodhaven]

How can I teach thoroughness?  My son knows the material, but isn't thorough, so he makes stupid mistakes.  I have hammered the idea that you always double check, and he claims he does, but he still makes too many mistakes.  This is something he does across the board with his school work. 

 

He is always in a hurry, which I know is part of the problem.  Is he just lazy?  I keep wondering if he is just lazy because he doesn't double check his work.  If so, how do I help remedy this?

[Arcadia]

Sit with him when he double check. I had to do that for my DS10 until he gets the hang of it. Even my DS11 miss his careless mistakes sometimes when double checking if he is distracted.

 

Is he in a hurry to play, or work is too boring or he has other activities he wants to go to.

[MerryAtHope]

You may have to show him HOW to check his work. I know it seems like he should "just know," but some kids really do need to be directly shown. 

 

For example: in math, my kids thought "checking their work" meant doing the problem again in the exact same way--so if they took a short-cut the first time (and that's often where an error occurred), they did the same exact thing again and got the same wrong answer. Show him how to use alternate methods for solving a problem, and also how to use estimating to see if his answer makes logical sense. 

 

With writing, he may need a separate editing time when his eyes are fresh. He may need a checklist of commonly misspelled words to look for in his papers. He may need a short list of common errors to look for, such as comma splices, fragments and run-ons, common punctuation errors, common capitalization errors, etc... I find that it's important to help kids learn how to edit their work, and that they need lots of coaching and training and help in this area--sometimes even in high school, but definitely in the younger grades. It's hard to think about all of the different mechanics and also how to say things all at one time. I used to use the COPS acronym with my kids: capitalization, organization and neatness, punctuation, spelling. That helped them remember the things to check for. 

 

I had my kids edit on a separate day, and praised for any errors they could find and correct. I put a light pencil X in the margin for each error they missed that I thought they knew how to correct, to see if they could find the error. We did this together, so if they didn't find them, I helped with that. Then I walked through any errors that I thought were things they hadn't been taught yet (more advanced sentence structures, difficult spelling words etc...). If there's a lot to go over, make that the LA assignment for the day--don't try to add it on top of other assignments. 

HTH some!

[Woodhaven]

Sit with him when he double check. I had to do that for my DS10 until he gets the hang of it. Even my DS11 miss his careless mistakes sometimes when double checking if he is distracted.

 

Is he in a hurry to play, or work is too boring or he has other activities he wants to go to.

 

Yes, he is in a hurry to get to something more "fun" - free time. I have stopped him and made him re-do the work, mostly to show him that he can't get away from doing a good job.  But I am wearing down and am frustrated that he hasn't picked up the desire to do things carefully and review his work before he declares he is done.  It is across the board - with everything he does. 

 

You may have to show him HOW to check his work. I know it seems like he should "just know," but some kids really do need to be directly shown. 

 

For example: in math, my kids thought "checking their work" meant doing the problem again in the exact same way--so if they took a short-cut the first time (and that's often where an error occurred), they did the same exact thing again and got the same wrong answer. Show him how to use alternate methods for solving a problem, and also how to use estimating to see if his answer makes logical sense. 

 

With writing, he may need a separate editing time when his eyes are fresh. He may need a checklist of commonly misspelled words to look for in his papers. He may need a short list of common errors to look for, such as comma splices, fragments and run-ons, common punctuation errors, common capitalization errors, etc... I find that it's important to help kids learn how to edit their work, and that they need lots of coaching and training and help in this area--sometimes even in high school, but definitely in the younger grades. It's hard to think about all of the different mechanics and also how to say things all at one time. I used to use the COPS acronym with my kids: capitalization, organization and neatness, punctuation, spelling. That helped them remember the things to check for. 

 

I had my kids edit on a separate day, and praised for any errors they could find and correct. I put a light pencil X in the margin for each error they missed that I thought they knew how to correct, to see if they could find the error. We did this together, so if they didn't find them, I helped with that. Then I walked through any errors that I thought were things they hadn't been taught yet (more advanced sentence structures, difficult spelling words etc...). If there's a lot to go over, make that the LA assignment for the day--don't try to add it on top of other assignments. 

HTH some!

 

Thanks!  I think I just have to keep reinforcing the idea of checking work BEFORE turning it in to me.  We have only just started back to school (last week).  Perhaps if I am really tough about this my message will get through.

[Kiara.I]

Also, it's best to keep in mind that different personalities have an easier or harder time with this.  Some people are meticulous workers who can do repetitive tasks quite happily and find it easy to pay attention to detail.  For others, this is TORTURE.

 

Now, you can still require checking over work, but I get really nervous when words like "lazy" get thrown around.  For me, that sounds like maybe you're a personality type who pays attention to detail, and your son isn't--but that doesn't make his personality type "less-than."

 

For arithmetic, you could start requiring check numbers.  They're brilliant, really.

[hedwigtheowl]

Please let me know when you solve this. I had a conversation with a veteran home-schooler today about this same problem.

 

For math, she recommended a math game. I am using Math Ninja but there are many options for math drill.

 

I also use a star-chart. So there is a reward for being accurate.

 

From your child's point-of-view he probably can't see the reason why he needs to be accurate. In the meantime I would work on an incentive-based system. 

[fdrinca]

My DS rushes and makes careless mistakes. At first I tried joking about it ("you've just blown up another satellite, NASA scientist.") but it wasn't enough.

 

So, DS now has to do two problems for each math problem. 

 

First, the actual problem as written.

 

Second, an **estimated** answer to the problem, to check his work. 

 

So, for example, if he's figuring 43% of 80, he would arrive at the real answer (34.4), then a reasonable estimate (50%-10% = 32). 

 

I personally find that the estimation technique has been very helpful in growing number sense.

 

Alternatively, I'll let him check his work with a calculator, as he still finds those fascinating.

[MotherGoose]

For some math I tell her if she completes a certain # of problems correctly, then she doesn't have to do the rest of the ones of that type. We are using horizons, which is spiral.

[vaquitita]

Thanks! I think I just have to keep reinforcing the idea of checking work BEFORE turning it in to me. We have only just started back to school (last week). Perhaps if I am really tough about this my message will get through.

Does he have a checklist of work for the day? I'd add 'double check work' to the end of the list :) That way somebody else is reminding him instead of you