Oct 8, 2023Liked by Catherine Lynch& Glenn Collins
When my son was struggling with math last year I negotiated with him to go to math homework help every Wednesday after school. They were able to explain concepts to him there that he had missed. He caught up and started feeling better about math. He also liked it because he has trouble switching contexts between home and school. He would rather do school work at school and relax at home.
At the beginning of this year, I borrowed a phrase from the book “What Do You Say?” and told him that I love him too much to fight with him about homework. He has started off with great habits. He tells me what homework he has as soon as he gets home, and I ask him what his plan is. He almost always says he should get it out of the way before watching youtube/playing video games. And he has been open to my suggestion to do the work at the kitchen table, rather than in the same place in his room that he uses to relax. But I feel something slipping... more and more often, he thinks he has no homework or doesn’t remember having any. When I ask him to check his portal, suddenly the iPad is involved and it’s a slippery slope to lying about being done. I’m sticking with not arguing, but monitoring the situation and keeping the after school homework help option in my back pocket.
I too had a math tutor and it worked wonders for me! And you raised another important point: in general, people prefer (and it's better for us, I think) to keep work stuff at work, and home stuff at home. That's one reason why Work From Home was so hard so all of us, adults and kids alike.
I downloaded the book "What do you Say?"..... That's the crux of most of our issues, isn't it? Trying to figure out what to say in the heat of the moment. Looking forward to digging into it.
I hear what you're saying about the slippery slope...trust your gut, check the portal, but also give grace b/c our kids deal with stressors we know nothing about.
When my son was struggling with math last year I negotiated with him to go to math homework help every Wednesday after school. They were able to explain concepts to him there that he had missed. He caught up and started feeling better about math. He also liked it because he has trouble switching contexts between home and school. He would rather do school work at school and relax at home.
At the beginning of this year, I borrowed a phrase from the book “What Do You Say?” and told him that I love him too much to fight with him about homework. He has started off with great habits. He tells me what homework he has as soon as he gets home, and I ask him what his plan is. He almost always says he should get it out of the way before watching youtube/playing video games. And he has been open to my suggestion to do the work at the kitchen table, rather than in the same place in his room that he uses to relax. But I feel something slipping... more and more often, he thinks he has no homework or doesn’t remember having any. When I ask him to check his portal, suddenly the iPad is involved and it’s a slippery slope to lying about being done. I’m sticking with not arguing, but monitoring the situation and keeping the after school homework help option in my back pocket.
Dear Kate,
I too had a math tutor and it worked wonders for me! And you raised another important point: in general, people prefer (and it's better for us, I think) to keep work stuff at work, and home stuff at home. That's one reason why Work From Home was so hard so all of us, adults and kids alike.
I downloaded the book "What do you Say?"..... That's the crux of most of our issues, isn't it? Trying to figure out what to say in the heat of the moment. Looking forward to digging into it.
I hear what you're saying about the slippery slope...trust your gut, check the portal, but also give grace b/c our kids deal with stressors we know nothing about.
Thanks for reading, and thanks for writing!