Working at home is different to working at school. For a start, you don't have a teacher talking at you. You don't have other kids whispering and distracting you. You don't have to stop when the teacher says to.
But it is harder because getting started is sometimes tricky. You are in your home space, where you normally play rather than work. You may need to put him somewhere unusual to work - a local park, perhaps; your room maybe.
You need to sell it and also make it easier for him to get focussed.
Here are some tricks that worked for us - adapt or use what you want.
1) School work during school hours.
This means no gaming during school hours (not even at lunchtime) because it distracts the mind from the task.
2) No homework needed - it all gets done during the school hours. THIS IS THE BONUS.
But to claim the bonus, the work does need to be done.
3) Whatever is needed to help him concentrate, as long as it is not a distraction, let him have it. If he wants to listen to music while he works on his notes - let him. If he feels he has to have it deafeningly loud, use headphones. BUT - make HIM monitor his output and if it drops lower than his performance without music, then discuss this with him.
4) Shove food at him as long as he can keep working while eating. I do this because difficult child 3 doesn't eat enough. It's amazing how fast a big bowl of popcorn can disappear when he's concentrating on his work.
5) If he's having trouble getting started, use educational resources other than paperwork to get him started. Try to make it relevant to his current topics. For example, this morning difficult child 3 watched the first episode of "The Human Body" from the BBC (Robert Winston). It fits in with his current science work but he also ate his (late) breakfast while watching. He usually does some maths online in the half hour before schoolwork starts, although he's often late getting to it. I use that as the 'front door' into starting the day.
All this is negotiated with him.
The aim is to get educated. We will try and do this the best way we know how, everybody learns a different way.
The other "magic" thing you can point out to him - doing schoolwork at home seems to us to be more efficient and faster. This means that sometimes, all work is complete before the end of school hours. We try to fill this up with educational stuff but look for fun and interesting stuff - good documentaries (which you can borrow from libraries or friends). Private projects that HE wants to do (let his suggest something). Cooking, sewing, washing - these are educational also. Again, let HIM choose what to cook, what to sew.
Then when school is out and his friends are coming home )often with homework to do - and he has none!) he is free to walk to a friend's house, or go ride his bike.
Or take him grocery shopping with you. That is an education in itself.
This can work, but do try to not lecture him too much. You do not have to be his teacher. Just his supervisor and assistant. Be there to help him find answers. If he's not making progress, ask him if you can work with him to find the answer. Encourage him to ask for help. The aim is for him to LEARN, not to already know.
Good luck.
This DOES work, it just takes a different mind-set.
Marg