Ooooooohhh made me so angry! I caught my son using a tiny calculator hidden in his lap while doing his addition and subtraction assignment! GRRRRRR! I honestly was so shocked, I didn't know what to do. He lost the calculator obviously. He'd been messing with it playing with math and numbers... I thought it was a good thing. He lost all computer and video games for the day. He seemed genuinely contrite. Do I need to do anything else? Should I worry this might be a character flaw? It's the first time I've ever seen him do something like this. Edie
How old is he? My dd9 was using the answer key in the back of her workbook when I would have to help some of the littles. I don't know if she realized it was cheating if she was looking up and correcting her answers before turning it in, but...I cut out the answer key and keep it in a 3 ring binder and had a talk about it with her. It was too funny b/c she was writing word for word sentences to comprehension questions and didn't seem to realize that would be a dead give away. BTW, I gave her a 0 on the assignment and made her redo it. So if they don't realize how bad cheating is then no I don't think it is a character flaw. I view it like the kid in the candy store. If your little one doesn't understand about money and swipes a piece of candy, you take them back in and hand it back and explain it to them. Now if it happens again, then....definitely worse punishments.
He's 7. I think he understood it was a no-no because of the way he was hiding it in his lap. Maybe he didn't realize exactly HOW much of a no-no it was.
BUSTED! Maybe show him (use real life experiences) how sometimes he won't have the calculator and will need to know how to do the math?
Hey - your son is proficient with a calculator. This in itself is a useful skill at his age. In real life, we don't do calculations in our head, but we use a calculator, right? Of course, I'm not saying that dishonesty is right, but look on the bright side of this. Now the event and the punishment are in the past, can you build on his skill in some way? For example, we used to use a calculator-like device called the Little Professor, which helped our children with their math skills. Or maybe you can walk through the meaning of other math functions, such as percent.
Well, we all make mistakes and try to take shortcuts. He is 7 and most likely does not understand the full extent of his dishonesty. You punished him. Next test, just double check he is clean..lol. Don't worry about it. Kids try things and do the craziest things. I know if it were my child I would be upset and worry also abut their level of ethics and honesty. However, he was punished and now you need to allow him the time to let that sink in and repent. Sometimes our anger does not allow for growth in these areas but more frustration and over punishment that is pointless. We are not to provoke our children to wrath. Now, I am a strict. I would have punished. In fact, I most likely would have spanked him, if he were my kid. My kids are spanked for dishonesty in any form. But after that, you let it go and see if they learned to do better. You did good and allow him to learn the lesson.
Randomly...I moved and started at a new school a few weeks into the year. The teacher put me in a group with some kids and told me they would tell me what to do. They told me to copy this section of the encyclopedia, which I did, which we then handed in (either as a report or a talk, I don't remember which). It wasn't until about four years later I realized I was cheating. LOL I just thought that's what we were supposed to be doing! I think I was in about 3rd grade or so. Honestly, unless the question has come up as to "can I use a calculator?", he probably didn't realize he wasn't supposed to. He probably hid it because he wasn't sure. I'm not sure I'd take away the calculator - I'm a "play with tools to learn" kinda person, and frankly, I could easily see my 8 yo plugging in numbers to memorize the solutions, or at the very least getting a feel for what happens when you do operations (multiply: get bigger, divide: get smaller, fractionalize: turn to a decimal, etc).
Geee , slow down and dont make such a big deal about it. He probably didnt think of it as Cheating but helping him. I actually allow calculators for easy stuff to keep the time down, but they have to do so many with brain alone to prove it first. Explain to him that he needs permission to use the calculator because some math tells you to use it and some does not for a purpose and leave it like that. if you make a big deal at 7 , it could make it a problem. but if you just explain the rules as they are clear and all then you will help him know it was not a good choice.
I understand your anger, but in time you will chuckle over it! One time, I caught 1st grader Jeannie looking at answers in my TE!! I had gone to the bathroom, leaving my book open. It never occured to me that she'd cheat, lol. I was disappointed at her, but learned to close my book next time!
My oldest last yr. wrote all her spelling words on another sheet of paper , slipped it under a blank one , then when I gave her the test she got them all rigght! She never make 100's on spelling I knew somehting was up. Looked and guessed what I found, still there! They all try it at some time, discipline, explain and then go one,
Being a homeschooler who WAS homeschooled, I've learned a few things. One, to keep TE's under lock and key All kids try it, just deal with it and move on. Next time, he'll know the difference and if he does it again, the punish him a bit more. No flaw here, just being a kid
I think you did the right thing. How big is the calculator? If you give him an even bigger one, it will be tougher to hide.
Funny - it kids put as much effort into their actual school work as they did into CHEATING on that school work, they would all be brilliant!
I certainly wouldn't make to big a deal of it as far as punishment goes. You already took care of that. I would talk to him about what the Bible says about honesty, etc. When my son was very young (under 4), he stool a package of hot chocolate. I realize he probably had no idea what he was doing. But, I did make him had it to an employee and then we talked about the fact that you have to pay for things first. Also, children are going to lie, throw fits, act selfishly, and just plain do wrong. I don't think that means your child is "flawed" anymore than anyone living on Earth. It is hard as moms to see bad behavior from our children, but it is a teachable moment, and a moment to show forgiveness.
If I caught him again, it would be spanky spanky time, but your punishment seems enough for a 1st offense. I am always telling my daughter that she MUST learn her math because it is something that she will use constantly for the rest of her life. I cannot stand it when we go somewhere and people cannot figure out sales tax or totals using pencil and paper. Example: we were in a store and the power went out. People wanted to buy their stuff and leave, but because the power was out, their registers didn't work, therefore they couldn't sell you anything. When I was in highschool I worked at a hardware store, same thing, power went out, no registers. We were expected to know how to calculate totals and taxes on paper and make that sale. It is unreal how many times this has come up over the years. People are just not taught how to use their brains anymore, instead, they are taught to rely on machines. Sad.
Snipet, this used to be the topic of science fiction stories, how people became so dependent on machines that they couldn't function without them anymore. One was about kids marvelling at grandma's going to school with real books (like the one they'd found in the attic) and other kids when she was young, instead of sitting in front of the "teacher" all day like they did. Another I recall was aboutr some guy who had discovered how to make marks on paper that resembled screen images and printouts, so that people could write things for themselves and do computations by themselves instead of by machine. Reminds me of the discussion here the other day about whether cursive was becoming a thing of the past....
