Friday, December 27, 2013

New Year, New Grades

About 6 weeks ago, I explained to each kid what they had left to finish out the grade level the were currently in and what (exactly, specifically) they needed to do to finish the grade level and move up. We are at the deadline time. 1 child has finished. 1 child has made a half-hearted lazy attempt at throwing a pen at it and isn't even close to being finished. Is what I expected the lazy child to do hard? No. Is it time consuming? Not really. In all honesty, it could all be done in a matter of a few hours if they actually tried. 6 weeks. Not done. Not only is it not done. 1 of the 3 items that needed to be completed hadn't been started as of this am. The actual shocker - it's The Girl who has made no attempt to do the assignment! The Boy has completed his.

I made them both a clear, concise sheet of instructions. A clear time frame. A book of instructions for if they instructions *I* gave them were somehow unclear. Time and reminders DAILY of their assignments. Asked them frequently how it was coming along and if they needed help.

They had to finish their math books.
Pick a topic and complete a short research paper on that topic
and
Complete a book report on a new book or one they've already read.

She's in 4th grade for all purposes. These are not unrealistic goals. They were the last remaining items she needed to complete to show the skills needed to move up. *sigh* I brought up the need for her to finish her work this am, she starts stomping her feet saying she's not going to. I can't make her. She doesn't have to. Really??? You're right. I cannot MAKE you write a research paper. But there will be consequences for every behavior either good or bad. You pick.

The Boy's assignment was exactly the same, though I took into consideration he is working to complete 3rd grade. He had some grammatical and spacing issues that needed help - BUT - he finished his work.  His was on level for his grade. I let them both type their work since they have dysgraphia so it's just a matter of him going and making corrections. It's no big deal.  It's clear he's read through it.

I'm clearly doing something wrong. I just don't know what. I guess some would suggest catering to her more to make it *funner*. Honestly, I don't care if she has *fun*.  She needs to learn to get off her lazy bum and do what she needs to do in a timely manner. I know I'll get less resistance if she has *fun*, but last time I tried *fun* she pick and chose the parts she liked then became a mule on the rest. 

I am going to attempt to put her on a more rigid schedule. She does do better with that. The holidays always screw with scheduling and she settles nicely once things are more routine. I want to try to plan out the pacing better, they both took WAY too long on this last set of books. It took them almost a full year on each of their math books and this stuff isn't even hard. It's frustrating because they're just both so smart, but The Girl is so darn lazy! She even admits it's not hard, she just prefers to sit on her rump not doing it. She's got to figure out how to beat the lazy, procrastinator, messy demon living inside her now or she's going to have continuous problems.