Homework Help | ADHD Information

 

God that would make our life so much easier!  We are in a similar situation to you.  ds only sporadically writes in his planner.  Parent Connect at school, but all the teachers only put the assignments after the fact.  I still check it every day to try and catch when ds is falling behind. 

ds does have 2 teachers that have websites where the list the coming up class activities and assignments.  Needless to say, these are the two classes he is doing the best in.  I have tried to use these two classes to monitor if what he puts in his planner is correct and give him feedback and rewards for it, but to tell you the truth I am not getting anywhere with that.  But at least with the web sites I can try.

How we survive is my son has one expandable folder.  Papers for all his classes go in one place.  I dig through there with him often to find unfinished work that he forgets about.  I also go through all his classes every night.  "What did you do in social studies today? Oh, you were working on Chapter 5.  Did she give you  any worksheets?"  etc.  It's time consuming, he hates it, but it's how we keep his grades up.

YME! had an awesome post about ideas for schools going paperless for our kids.  I totally agree.  I need to back up a step ... focus on MY end.

My son's school has an online system that you can check daily for grades and missing assignments.  Well, this system is only good if it's updated often. (Many teachers don't keep up with it.)  I'll admit, I don't check it daily but, it really goes further than that.

I realized that while it's helpful to know that he's missing an assignment, it's after the fact.  That includes a failing grade on a daily assignment or a test.  My DS does not study.  I have no idea when he has a test coming or an assignment due unless he tells me he needs help with it.  Remember, he haphazardly, if at all, uses a planner.  Granted, I'm not consistent myself at checking his planner or backpack.  I remember going through it and questioning assignment sheets and being told "we already did that" or "that's old" ... but how do I know???

What suggestions do you have for approaching this on the front end?  I think having assignments posted online with due dates would really help!  I don't know how open teachers would be to doing that though ... (and that's speaking from someone in education)

 

 

 

 

Wow Diane, that is incredible.  Does the mass email include what was done in class so you can check for unfinished class work?

unfortunately no, which is what prompted me getting the SPED teacher to give me more..............but it is a great tool for families overall..........sometimes I dont get my individual at least I have the big one and make her show me each paper,

Coolmom47,

 I had to deal with the same thing this year.  Then there was the lying, the I don't have homeowrk [when he did] and telling the teacher that he couldn't do it because of an emergency at home[there was none]  Now , with the agreement of his homeroom teacher, he has to sit down last period and e mail me[using teacher's e mail] his homework.  That way both the teacher and I know ,and he knows that we know, when there is work.  I contacted his other teachers and they jumped on board, too.  They send the homeroom teacher  the day's homework and any class work that wasn't completed.  Makes things a whole lot easier here!

my daughters middle school sends out a mass email daily on the homework assigned to each suject by grade (6,7,8). After YEARS of complaining, I've gotten a daily email sent to me (from the SPED tacher) her exact day, homework and how her day went. I'm sure I am getting this through SPED, but the whole school gets the dailymass email, mine just includes her modified work.

Think about all the tree's we would be saving if our kids didn't have so much paper to loose.  All of your kid's sound like my son.  Especially the excuses.  My son's middle school hypes the homework hotline, well if he doesn't bring it home he still can't do it.  He is starting high school next year and he is going to an option school that only has 150 kids total so I am happy about that.  The school doesn't have lockers and he is going to have a rollem backpack.  So he can't hide his work in his locker any more, and  I have to remember to go through it next year early enough so he can do school work at home. 

The only way you can know ahead of time is if you can get the teacher to let you know.  It would save so much stress and aggravation if we could stay one step ahead of them.  If you have an iep you can possibly have the teacher send you home the list of things to be done as part of your iep.  You can ask for anything, it is just getting them to ok it and do it. 

My son's school's website is actually updated with every single teacher with the week's plans in advance.  Also, the grades are shown as well.  HOWEVER, my child will say the following:
1. oh, we aren't supposed to be doing it THAT WAY (even though it is clearly written to do it that way).
2. I left my assignment in class.
3. I left my book in class.
4. I lost my book.
5. We don't have to do that because it was an IN CLASS ASSIGNMENT.
6. I already did that at school and left it in my LRC class so I wouldn't lose it.
(etc...)

The only way for this to work is to be truly paperless.

This means ALL textbooks are available online so that you never "lose" or "leave" a textbook anywhere.....and that all "handouts" are scanned and available online.....and that all assignments are DONE online.  Why?  Consistency and it makes it more tolerable for an ADHD'r to deal with. (Even math should be done online, kind of like a video game or an online test.)  They will pay more attention and learn more as well in my opinion as it will keep their interest.
All writing, vocab, science, you name it should be available online/filled out on the school website (with a backup website in case of a meltdown of some sort). 

This is just one way of helping our kids out--and US PARENTS who are perhaps being lied to by a child that HATES their homework, or loses their assignments.
My child actually will write/draw/doodle all over his papers when he is distracted-his homework he actually worked so hard on and that has to be turned in!!!  Also, he is so "halfassed" about putting things away since he is always in a hurry that his papers that actually do find his binder/backpack get ripped and curled anyway. Accent on THOSE THAT ACTUALLY DO FIND WHERE THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO GO.  Most of them get eaten by the invisible monster that seems to follow him around!
Plus my son is already getting backaches from carrying his heavy backpack and ONLY THE NERDS USE THE ROLLER ONES, MOM. Like duh

In my opinion, after living with this problem, unless your child is motivated to do the work, wants to improve and doesn't want to fail, no system in the world will work.

Paperless would be awesome but you have to have a motivated child.

Coolmom - we seem to have the same problem - unmotivated kids.

My son doesn't do his homework. It's one of the reasons he is failing.

He refuses to fill in his agenda book - He had a detention last week for not bringing it back signed.

He claims to check the school's website for assignments but he still doesn't do them.

As part of his plan, he get's weekly progress reports.  On these reports are listed assignments missing. It boggles my mind that he consistently is missing homework when everyday I ask him if he has any and he either says no or he says he did it.

My son just can't seem to bring himself to do anything unless he wants to do it.  

At one point, we even had the teachers staple to his agenda book sheets with his assignments on it.  That didn't even work.

Now my son's psychiatrist is trying to show my son that his lack of motivation is causing serious consequences - failing. But, even if he ends up trying medication, the medication isn't going to get him to do the work - he still has to be motivated.

It's frustratrting and I wish I had the answer. Maybe I'll have some after I speak with the psychiatrist on my own about future treatment plans.

We just started this, so I don't know whether or not it will work, long term.  But, this might work if you tweak the reward for your child.

I bought each of his teachers a unique stamp, and I know which teacher has which stamp.  I posted his schedule on the fridge, so I know which teachers he should see each day.

I bought a very lightweight backpack (dollar store) to carry his planner, pencil bag and homework from class to class.  He is supposed to move his homework sheets from his normal backpack to his little backpack first thing in the morning (he's in grade 2, so he doesn't have heavy homework).

When he gets to class, and hands in his homework, it is his responsibility to ask for a stamp from the teacher in his planner.  She will only stamp it if he brought everything he was supposed to, handed in necessary homework and has his homework written down for the next night. 

When he gets home, it is his responsibility to show me his planner.  If he has a stamp from every teacher and has brought his homework and lunch bag home, he gets 30 minutes of extra reading in bed (that's his favorite thing to do). 

If he gets his 30 minutes every day of the week (Mon-Fri), then he gets a prize worth -.  We have been doing this for 4 weeks now and he has yet to get the bigger prize, but he is very motivated by it.  He gets his 30 minutes 3-4 times each week.

Since he has to remember to give the planner to each teacher and to me at the end of the day, it is not cumbersome for any of the adults.

His teachers have noticed a big change in him.  Prior to this system, he forgot at least one thing every day, for every class.  There were times when I was still finding his homework in his backpack 2 weeks after it was complete, and I only got his lunch bag 3 days out of 5.

Bebop, I recommend The Myth of Laziness by Dr. Mel Levine, as well as his other books. I really think it might offer you some insight as to what might be causing your son's "lack of motivation." (Sorry I keep recommending Dr. Levine's books repeatedly, but I've found them eye-opening, and I hope that they can help others too.)

Also, my daughter is a little younger (almost 12, in 6th grade), but for her, not doing homework is not an option. I stay on top of her assignments and communicate with teachers as much as is necessary, and I sit with her and make sure she gets through her work, often coaxing her along every step of the way. She is doing well this year and I try to continually reinforce the idea that she is a hard worker who is doing great in school! If I didn't do this, I know she wouldn't get much done and would probably be doing terribly in school, but I don't think I would say she is unmotivated. It's hard for these kids to be organized, stay focused and get work completed. I think it could feel completely overwhelming to them. Especially if they are already viewing themselves as hopeless failures. My daughter has to work so hard to get things done. But we are constantly practicing the skills required to get work completed, and reinforcing the idea that she is a good student.

It is a ton of work for me, and I am lucky that I am currently able to be a stay-at-home mom and devote a great deal of time to this.

I posted in another thread my thoughts about paperless. There are pros and cons. No system is perfect. Anyway, that's my 2 cents.

Inspired by music - Thanks for the book rec. I'm going to look for it today! 

I used to stay on top of my son with his homework, communicating with the teachers all the time - it was a dissaster - not only did he still not do the work, he rebelled against the assistance.

The psychiatrist wants me to "back off" from the advocating because my son has not learned that he is responsible for his work.  If he asks me to help him, that is another story and I can.  But my son won't ask for help because that is another problem.

Bebop, that's a tough situation. I'm lucky that my daughter is very easy going and doesn't rebel at all. If it were my son that needed all the guidance, I have a feeling it would be a different story, but I am lucky again because he is a good student and is able to handle his work independently (at least most of the time, although I wish he would manage his time better, but then nobody's perfect!)
Good luck; I really hope the psychiatrist is able to get through to your son.