Getting a child to slow down when doing schoolwork

[fatimashortbread]

My son's report card (which I agree with) has highlighted that he needs to slow down when doing schoolwork. By that I mean that he thinks that finishing first is more important than producing quality work; he also likes to do the barest minimum that he can get away with. What tactics can I emply employ at home to make him understand that it is quality not quantitiy that counts?

[girlscout]

Use a timer, set to 15,30 or whatever time period you want, and tell him he has that much time to do one pieceof work. he doesnt get to go anywhere until the timer pings.
Is he just nor botheredwith the work,or is it that he doesnt really understand and is trying to get through it as fast as poss?Is there peer pressure or football or tv thats holding his attention?
maybe thinking abouthis reasons/approach might help you.good luck

[fatimashortbread]

Good idea. He is just really impatient to get on to the next thing so is slap dash! He won 'most enthusiastic learner' so the desire is there if misguided at the moment.

[girlscout]

Maybe if hes impatient ,and you try to limit him he might get a bit antsy, just thinking, as well as the timer, build in a little chat about the work (last 4 minutes) and then both of you sit down with a milk and biccie

[roadkillbunny]

Have had a bit of this with Y1 dd lately, she very excitedly told me that she had done the most maths in class that day, that she had started on her second page while others did the one. I asked her if she was getting all the answers right or if she was just rushing on to the next thing. She said she didn't know about that days work yet but last time she only got two right. She is quite good with numbers so I know she is capable of more then that and also her teacher is very good at making sure work is differentiated so it seems she is just wanting to be the fastest/do the most at the cost of getting things right.
I have told her that the most important thing is not finishing first or doing the most but doing her best on each question to make sure she gets the most right that she is capable of. I have told her that it is better to do 5 questions and get 4 of them right then to do 10 and get two of them right.
I don't know if this has sunk in at all and I don't really know what I can do about it but keep talking about quality over quantity and when we are doing something at home ensure she slows down and thinks carefully about everything. I will watch this thread with interest I think!

Just one thing on the suggestions already, a time limit would just bring out the racer in dd more and the quality I feel may go down further...