Homework trouble, lost email to teacher

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Registered: 03-31-2003
Homework trouble, lost email to teacher
2
Wed, 12-14-2005 - 10:15pm

Oh, man! David's been experiencing homework paralysis. This is when he gets it in his head that home is for home things and school is for school things, and when he's expected to sit at the dining table and think of a paragraph about "My Favorite Holiday Celebration" his brain stops working and life suddenly becomes unmanagably frustrating. He gets so upset, and his 4 year old brother is taking it all in, learning that homework is something to freak out about. Ugh!

I decided to write an e-mail to the teacher to express my concern and my desire to talk with her about this. I HATE e-mail, but apparently this is how it's done now, so I just spent my little bit of "relax while I ignore my dinner-making responsibilies" time composing an email to the teacher. Then I had to go find her email address, so I hit "back" and LOST the text of my message. I don't have it in me to re-compose that letter. I worked so hard on wording it just right, and it's GONE! So I just wanted to come here and cry! Boo hoo!

Apparently the State of California thinks that second graders should do 35 minutes of homework each day. Between that and the four hours of TV the average American child watches each day, when exactly do children PLAY? (which is how every other mammal learns to be an adult) I shouldn't talk about TV, though; that's a whole other subject. I will say that David has officially watched *more* TV at school this year than he's seen at home.

Anyway, thanks for reading my gripe. I know computers are supposed to simplify life, but mostly they just add a whole new level of complication. Composing that email took about 20 minutes of my life that I'll never get back, not to mention feeling the need to come and moan to all of you! LOL!

Evelyn
David 8, AS; Nathan 4

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-03-2004
Thu, 12-15-2005 - 11:49am

Hi Evelyn,

I've missed you.

Don't know if this will help, have you thought of setting up a "Homework Center", a special table and chair just for homework, make signs, have him help design it? This helped us several years ago when Malcolm (age 8) was having trouble focusing to get homework done and was really just wishing to be doing other fun things now that he was home.

We do let Malcolm do an "unwind" activity before starting homework, but no screen viewing til after it's done, so he can read, draw, play with Dad or trains or fighting men or legos for about a half hour, then homework. Also, Malcolm's "screen" time is contingent on how much time there is between getting homework done and bath time. We had to reinforce that for awhile, but now it is a non-issue.

Sorry about the email, I HATE that, writing something and then losing it.

Good luck to you,

Sara
ilovemalcolm

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-24-2004
Thu, 12-15-2005 - 4:25pm

Evelyn,

Nathan didn't like doing homework either, but it has gotten easier. He will do his homework, but only at a certain time...."homework time". We were doing homework after dinner, this way the boys had time to unwind and get a snack after school. Even on the weekends...he will only do his homework after dinner, no exceptions!!!LOL And he uses the exact same pencil too....I don't know what we're going to do when he uses up the pencil! LOL

He didn't like me giving him homework either, he would only do homework assigned by his teacher. But there are days where he doesn't get anything (other than his usual reading), so I always give him some kind of work to do. At first he wouldn't do it, but now he is!!! It's difficult for him to try something new sometimes....the funny thing is that this is not always the case!

I just keep trying with Nathan. He didn't like to write in kindy, but he's doing ok this year with his writing. He also won't read anything unless it's his reading book from school.....so I've been trying to introduce other books around the house, and also library books, that he can read. He actually read one book to me, but that was it!! lol Work in progress!

michelle