DH and I are currently schooling OPKs. We have this ten year old boy this year who absolutely takes 9 forevers to finish anything. I have him working in CLE Reading 4th, Bible 4th, R&S Engish 4th, ACE word building 5th, Abeka science 5th, and CLE history 5th. He's a cute kid, fun, sweet, always respectful... but SLOW-moving! I have him and one other student working on a timer, at 45 minutes per subject, and I still can't get him to GET DONE! Two days ago we were going over his history. I'd told him to read certain pages and answer the questions at the end of that section. The first question had three parts; he had only copied one part, and didn't answer that. He put down some answer to other questions that didn't even address the question, never mind come close to being correct. So as we went over the Q&A, I'd have to tell hin the right answers because he'd take ALL DAY if I waited on him to look up the correct answers. "This is the right answer -- write it down," I'd tell him. He never wrote them down!!! I made an outline map for him, on which he was to label the natural regions of North America (Atlantic Coastal Plain, Appalachian Highlands, etc.). He turned it in with everything labeled EXCEPT the natural regions!!! He labeled Florida, Texas, Houston, everything BUT the right answers. I erased it and told him to bring it back this morning done correctly -- he turned it in again with ONE label on it, and that was wrong. I made him do it while on his knees next to his chair. In about ten minutes it was all done with only one or two understandable errors. Then it was time for his test, which covered three chapters. He made a 57. I told him to correct it, and he would not be leaving the building until it was all done. We're supposed to end at 245. At 315, I asked him if it was done, and he handed it to me -- not one question was corrected. I asked if his mother was waiting outside for him, and sure enough she was. I asked him to have her come in please I want her to see this. She came in. I told him to sit down and get correcting -- without even cracking the book, he promptly sat down and corrected every single answer in about five minutes. His mother and I discussed it, and she signed the corrected paper. Neither of us was especially happy with him. SO! What do you make of this???
My first thought? This is approach not the best approach for this particular child. It may be too textbook traditional. It seems to me that boy knew the answers but did not work well with the method of how he must present his answers, so he does not engage well. If he can point to the map and give the answers orally then that would be fine with me as his educator. However, this may not work well in a classroom setting for the other children.
There's got to be some kind of award system set up at home. He's not performing for you for whatever reason. BUT HE CAN, as demonstrated by what he did with his mom present. So let him know that he IS CAPABLE, and you expect THIS BEHAVIOR IN THIS SETTING. Talk with Mom, and have her set up awards/punishments at home. I mean, you can't sit with him until 9:00 at night waiting for him to finish, but if she's willing to follow through, you can send the work home and let him finish it there. Ideally, he wouldn't be allowed to do ANYTHING ELSE until it's done, and then she can sign it and send it back to you. Also, there needs to be some reward at home for him completing all his work for you in the given time.
This kid just came out of public school, where he scored last year at the Approaching Basic level on the state test -- you have to score at least Basic on either LA or Math, but he scored Approaching Basic in both, even after doing summer school and taking the test again. :-( He's with us primarily because the public school wanted (would have required him) to repeat fourth grade this year, but we put him in our fifth grade. His mom just wants him to do fiftn grade this year with us, then go back to public next year and be able to enter sixth. I don't think she actually cares if he comes away with any more knowledge than it takes to pass public's placement test next fall and go to sixth. What I'm confused about is, how would he be able to just sit down and put all the right answers in like five minutes without even opening the book?? If he knew them, why didn't he put them down in the first place?
Because he's bored? Sounds like something my little brother, who tested extremely high on IQ tests, would do. He knew it already, so why bother doing it? What is OPK? I'm not sure this mom is being very realistic. If he's not functioning with you right now, how can she expect him to function back in a "real" school next year?
OPK = other people's kids My daughter will take two hours, if I let her, to write down twenty minutes worth of math, but she has the answers readily in her head and fires them off in record time. Some children do not do well with writing things down. If he is expected to go back into public school, then he does need to write things. You have placed yourself in a classroom teacher position and you can only do so much with each child. The parents need to be supportive of their child's education. I guess what I would do in your situation (I would not put myself in this situation just because of things like this) is make sure that your parents are supportive, perhaps even sign an agreement to that effect. It is not like you are running a pubic school where you have to take everyone whether the parents work with the child or not.
What is his emotional state when he is not doing the work for you? Is he argumentative? Is he having a meltdown? Does he remain calm and just doesn't do the work? Is being on the floor or in the presence of mom a comfort factor for him? Has the mom talked to you about any evaluations done at the ps to determine why he isn't functioning at grade level? There can be so many reasons for this...anything from a learning disability to autistic spectrum disorders to giftedness. I'd be finding out all you can about the boy and then figuring out a game plan. Sorry so many questions, but I'm just picturing this boy who is possibly in his own world all day until you get just the right mix of environmental stimuli for him to "perform".
My first thought was does he have a physical issues that makes excess writing hard? My DD9 has gross/fine motor issues that made me think she had dysgraphia. She doesn't but she does have these motor delays and a processing deficit that causes excessive writing to be slow and laborious. She has a high IQ and scores well on tests. It's not a "smarts" issue at all. She's been in occupational therapy for a year and it's getting easier for her write for longer. Just a thought.
My son was like this in PS. He knew the work, so he refused to do it. He said it was "an utter waste of his time" So I am thinking that he may be bored. He could also need a more hands on approach. Do you know his learning style? OR.... He could just be trying to push your buttons. He's at that age. GRR!
Bored or not, he needs to learn to do his work. When he has a job, he can't tell his boss he's not going to do it because of being bored.
OK...but he is an elementary student and has a few years before he will be applying for a job. :wink:
True. But the idea of "I don't have to work if I don't want to" at this age can very easily become a habit.
One of the things that appealed to me about homeschooling is that in the younger years, at least, that I could modify my approach so as to instill the love to learn. Self-discipline is something that can develop out of that love for learning.
That is very true, Seeking. And I'm all for modifying an approach. But there are also times when a child just has to "do it", whether they like it or not. It's like I don't mind letting a kid make a number line in chalk on the sidewalk, and jump from number to number to do addition/subtraction, if they prefer that over using a number liine on paper. That's modifying. But even so, there comes a time when they are going to have to sit down and solve x-number of problems on paper. And they can't say, "Sorry! I won't do them unless you let me jump around outside!"
OPK means Other People's Kids. Nope, this one is no genius. I can almost guarantee that he will score well enough on the ps placement test, though, to get into ps 6th grade next year. Don't know whether he'll do 6th grade once or twice, but I'm pretty sure he can get in. Public school, despite their "sterling record" and good scores and all that other malarkey, just doesn't have very high standards.
Got his records, no evaluations or even suspicions of LD or any kind of exceptionality whatsoever. He's a perfectly normal ten year old boy, who daydreams and plays. I know, I know, ADD/ADHD is an exceptionality, but he's not really. He'd just rather be somewhere else, doing something else, and I strongly suspect that that's why he only scored at the Approaching Basic level (like a D), because that's what he was doing in public school all along. "I'd rather be playing" sort of thing. So far, I've had to prioritize -- didn't get to do English today? We'll start with that tomorrow. Didn't get to some other subject today? We'll do that right after English.... I've put on a timer with 45 minutes per subject, but it makes him no never-mind. He's just a classic foot-dragger, I think, who I hope will wake up one day and decide his education is important. But I don't think he will -- he's a stocky, athletic sort of boy, who will probably be a football player when he gets back to public, which means he won't have to do all that well in order to pass and graduate.
Comfort? I'm thinking more on the order of "noxious stimuli" -- He actually seems to be afraid of what he's going to get when he gets home -- you should have seen him squirm the day he didn't do his homework, and he had told me one thing and his mom something different, and she came to pick him up that day, so we were Scylla and Charibdis with him in the middle..... I'm beginning to think that this is the way it's always been at home (not what you get for doing a thing but what you get if you don't). She obviously loves her son, and I'm sure in some ways he's spoiled, but she also obviously believes in tough love, so to speak. Not abusive at all, just very firm. And stepdad too.
Nope, can't be that either -- he writes just fine, legible cursive when I insist, and I'm sure his hand doesn't get any more tired than ours did at that age. If left to himself, he will almost always do spelling, which for him is ACE word building, and math, and science. History is sort of left til later if possible, and Bible, with reading and English left until absolutely last if he can get away with it. He doesn't actually seem to mind the writing so much, because he'll do the spelling willingly, which has plenty of writing, including sentences. and he also does science willingly, although most of his answers are wrong. If his homework is history, most of the time he comes in with it done, but wrong answers. One day we were going over his history answers, which had been homework, and while he was erasing yet another one, he frowned, "Gollee, my mom got all these answers wrong!" I don't think she actually wrote them for him, but "helped" him find the answers to write down, but apparently she's not passing fifth grade either this year.....
What motivates him? I have a big daydreamer and he can take a hour to do something that can take 5 minutes. Giving him a time limit to finish really helps. Something negative can happen if he is not done within the time limit. My daydreamer needs structured work activities to be limited. He learns well through hand-on activities and theme-based activities.
What motivates him? So far, apparently, fear of his mother, and being on his knees to do homework he didn't do. That's about it. I've put on the timer, but still he just sort of... ignores it, or doesn't think it applies to him, or something.
