Homework and Schoolwork

Aside from being lazy doing the school work does he has any observable traits like, He forgets all the time? He forgets his school things any other things? Does he has messy handwriting? Does he lose his pencil or pens or erasers in school? Is a super child meaning moving from one point to another? Then he must have Attention Deficiet Disorder. This is not sickness it is conditon.

I don't have kids yet. But the youngest brother was so lazy to do his home work. I do think he is still wanted to make it easy. During my days in school, the parents didn't interfere with our study habits. But the youngest is really different. Thus we keep on giving good advices and the like. I hope he will get the point.

Kids have different ways on how they see the importance of school. And I have seen difference among my 4 kids. My third son is the least interested in schoolwork. We always end up fighting over some undone homeworks, or delayed projects. I do make sure, too that everything he needs is ready for him to use. But he just doesn't have that drive as compared to my other kids. Sometimes, I just give up fighting with him. I just let him be. One time I was really pissed off coz he did not make his project ahead of time. I mean how can a paper mache project be done in a week? It should atleast be 2 weeks under the sun to make it dry and hard. I have to give him a lesson. I did not help him. His father didn't have a choice but to help him instead. Well, he submitted his project but was given a low grade coz the project was not dry enough. So that is when the "I told you so', comes in.

It sounds like my husband, when he was still a teenager. He told me, he didn't have a good study habit, but he would still end up in the upper 10% of the class. He is really one smart guy, though. He would still ace the exams, even if he had absences. But, he isn't very proud of it, and doesn't want our kids to follow the same trend. He wants me to train them to have good study habits, like me, before. How about if you talk to him about his goals and what he is aiming for in life, and make him realize how a good study habit could get him there. It is good that you show him the support instead of reprimanding him. Teenagers need all the encouragement.

What works sometimes is the opposite of what most parents are willing to do. Tell him it is his responsibility to get himself up in the morning. Give him an alarm clock and make sure he knows how to set it. Then, do NOT wake him up in the morning. If he sleeps in - then he will learn the consequences of being late for school. With his homework, let him organize it and figure out how to do it on his own. He needs a quiet place to do his homework, which it seems that you have provided. Now, it is up to him to figure out when and how he gets his homework done. You can tell him that he needs to make the schedule, and then to let you know what his schedule is. Do not nag him, do not remind him. He is responsible. I have two sons who are both intelligent. My husband and I realized that they needed to be challenged. Otherwise, they do think that they can just easily get through school and then, breeze through life. The way we challenged them is that we told them that they were responsible to schedule their own time that they needed to do their homework and then, spend that time studying and completing their assignments. When I was in high school, I had a teacher who told his classes ONE time when there would be a test. Only ONCE. Then he wrote the date and time of the test and what we needed to study for the test, on the top left corner of the black board. He never reminded us. We were responsible to pay attention and to check the black board. We all learned very quickly to listen and to read the blackboard. Make sure your son has a quiet place to study and let him figure out the rest of what it will take for him to be responsible, to complete his assignments and do his homework. This is part of growing up to become a responsible adult. All the best.

Giving him the tools and guiding are two different things. Perhaps you should explain to him the danger if he continues to procrastinate. Sit down with him when he needs to do his homework and show him the ropes. He will soon learn. Take care.

I went through something similar when I was in high school. My first semester of 9th grade was kind of, eh. I had a C, mostly B's and 2 A's. I kind of took a semester off, didn't do a lot of homework studied little you know. The second semester my parents basically forced me to do all my work. They made me stop hanging out with my friends after school and come straight home and do work. Maybe you should try that. I'm not saying take everything away and have him do nothing but work but you do need to encourage them a little.