Homework

This is week #4 for us and tonight was the first time that Lucas did some great homework.

Week #1 - tried to complete the one math page and the two printing pages after school. Lucas banged his head on the table over and over. "I don't think I can do it," he lamented and I agreed with him. Shifted to floor where he laid sobbing.

Week #2 - Shifted homework time to 6 a.m. and it was a different boy sitting at the table chewing on the eraser at the end of his pencil. Still not thrilled with the idea, but much better.

Week #3 - I realize that Lucas can't possibly stick with homework in a linear, start-to-finish way. Bucking all school tradition, I encourage him to do a couple, run around and fool around, do a couple more and so on. Takes a while but he's actually having fun.

Week #4 - A short week with an extra sheet - oh! oh! I explain to Lucas this morning that he will have to do some in the morning as well as after school or it won't get all done. He goes without being asked to the table after his snack tonight - wow! He fiddles, fidgets, complains, but then I sit down with him and tell him he has 25 seconds to write 3 words. I tap my hand on the table like a metronome as I count and he completes "fit" in 16 counts. Thankfully, there is no fit to go along with it.

We make our way through 12 words 3 times each and I swear we were done in about 10 minutes. His work was way, way, way tidier, better-spaced and legible. He giggled at the end of each word, he beamed that he had beat the clock. I told him over and over what a great job he was doing. I poked him in the ribs and said "You've been fooling me!".

Can't wait to see what developments week #5 bring!