Thought spring break was going ok...

[Kjs]

This is vacation week here. Thought the first few days went good. Although I worked til noon all three of those days. difficult child has such trouble with friends. He has been home everyday, with nobody to play with. Finally yesterday he had a boy over, played games and went to a movie. Woke up on a bad note today. Went directly in to play the online game I dispise. Spends sooo many hours doing that. Then I told him, 30 minutes and I want you to do some homework. OK..he says. Well, it was a nightmare. Two hours of fighting. He just pushes my buttons and I lost it. Read a pamphlet, fill in the blanks. Can't do it. I started reading it..he didn't even have the right answers. Looked like he just guessed. So, I made him read it. What a disaster. Then when he did fill in the blanks the penmanship and spelling was so bad I couldn't make out the words. Made him cross it off and spell correctly. That was a fight. I just lost it. Told him he MUST spell correctly AND write where someone can read it. He says, the teacher doesn't care. He was crying, didn't get anything done. a 30 minute assignment turned into three hours of fighting. Just awful. Now, I am afraid to ask him to do his other subject assignment.

 

[jannie]

So sorry :nonono: This happens with us as well....It is usually not worth the battle....maybe next time you can have him dictate the answers to you rather than having him write it himself. Does he battle with you with homework on a regular basis? Does he usually complete classwork without complaint? I've decided not to always fight the homework battle. Lately, I've been taking something away (gameboy usually) and just say you can have this back when the work is done..

 

[Wiped Out]

in my opinion, homework battles are just not worth it and that is coming from a teacher who gives a fair amount of homework. If it is that much of a battle let him suffer the natural consequences. With my easy child I will fight the homework battle to an extent-but no way with my difficult child.

 

[Kjs]

It isn't the homework that is assigned. There really isn't a lot of that. It is the classwork that he refuses to do. It then gets sent home. I asked prior to the beginning of school if it would be possible to do work on the computers. He just struggles so much writing. They said Sure, we have computers in the classroom. That has never happened. Everytime Iasked about it they told me they were never connected. Don't believe them. I wonder if he has some problem writing. Never mentioned it to him, but his penmanship is so horrible it is hard to read. He has english..but that teacher took his book away in the beginning of the year because he was "messing" with it. So, he cannot do that. (this is the teacher who makes him sit in the corner away from all other students. She also called for an escort to have him removed when he put his head down during silent reading.) Is this discrimmination? Seperates him (his desk) from the rest of the class. Won't allow him to have a book. Half the kids don't read during silent reading, but he gets removed.
He isn't awake yet today. Hope things go better today.

 

[LittleDudesMom]

You may want to have him tested for disgraphia (which is a writing Learning Disability (LD) my son has as well). If he does suffer from disgraphia, the written word is very difficult. It is the inablity to cleary express his thoughts on paper. My difficult child has a "dictation to scribe" accom/mod written into his IEP. I can scribe his homework and lengthy essay answers, etc., can also be scribed in the classroom. It is amazing what comes out of my son when he is not bogged down in the mechanics of writing.

His creativity and ability to recall facts is amazing when he feels less pressure. While not formally diagnosis'd with the Learning Disability (LD), it is clear that he suffers mildly and the school has been great about modifying assignments. Also written into his IEP are visual projects accepted for lengthly research projects. He has to do the research, but can give an oral presentation with a visual project instead of a written paper.

Another option, and this is why testing is important, is having the school provide him with an alphasmart - like handheld computer. He can put his spelling words in it, type his classwork, and type his homework in it as well. The teacher would just connect the alphasmart to a classroom computer to retrieve his work. A couple kids in difficult child's la Learning Disability (LD) class use them very effectively. They are available and you do have to insist and get this "technology support" written to his IEP.

My difficult child does have the same consequence, work not finished in school is added to his homework load. They are not to take his recess away (which is the consequence at difficult child's school for morning journal work or classwork not finished - stay inside and complete it).

Sharon