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Original poster

When your child can't do their homework - what are the options?

32 replies

Pipistrella · 24/01/2016 11:20

I have a 12yo in Y8. He is dyslexic, uses a laptop but still obviously struggles with certain things.

He has a large project to complete this weekend. He's only had a week, and it involves writing at least 7 newspaper articles about a topic and putting them into a document that looks like a newspaper.

He's got to read all the background info and then write the articles.

He can't absorb the information.

He's asked me to read it out loud to him, which I have, and I'm trying to talk through it with him. Then I've suggested some bullet points to break it down. He's still really struggling.

What should I do? Should I sit with him for several hours, prompting and suggesting what to write? Should I do nothing and let him tell his teacher he just can't do it?

It's not reading itself which is the problem, its processing and organising the information. It feels like they are testing him on something he simply can't do. And I don't want to do it for him as that proves and achieves nothing. Yet he is compliant and wants to do it. Giving in nothing would seem like a bad move as his attitude is good.

WWYD?

OP posts:
TeenAndTween · 24/01/2016 13:03

DD1 found these types of homework very difficult too.

What subject is it for? Does he know the expected time to spend on it?

I used to look at the homework and decide what I thought the main 'learning' element was mean to be. Then I simplified/facilitated so she still met the learning even if the rest of it was not done.

e.g. 'make a Hindu Shrine plus leaflet (RE)'. Decided that the learning was understanding what was in a shrine and what it was for. So DD made a list of what was needed and why and typed it up. I facilitated formatting. Then we worked together to make the shrine.

With hindsight I would have been even stronger with the teachers about her difficulties (although I always indicated on the project feedback sheet what help I had given). She eventually was assessed as having dyspraxia in y11.

kjwh · 24/01/2016 12:39

Use the "how to eat an elephant" method that can be used for any task or project that is so huge you're put off from even trying and can't start it.

Break it down into management chunks. In this case, that's to do it article by article, i.e. 7 small articles rather than a newspaper. So, concentrate on the first article and forget everything else.

He had a week to do it, but is now down to the last day, so realistically, the whole newspaper just isn't going to happen now. So accept that and move on.

Spend as much time as you/he needs to do the first article. Make it a masterpiece. That will give him confidence, which sounds to be a major issue, and then you may be able to move on and do another 1 or 2 articles, but realistically, anything more than 1 is an achievement.

Write a note or email the teacher to explain the problems and that the article (or 2 or 3) that he has produced is all he could achieve in the time available.

Don't just give up and let him hand nothing in at all. That's defeatist and will do nothing to give him confidence. Hopefully the teacher will appreciate his dyslexia is contributing to the problems, may be able to provide more support, and hopefully will be impressed at what has been achieved.

Original poster
Pipistrella · 24/01/2016 11:51

Thanks,

Yes I agree looking at what he's got to do is always a good idea - I made him do that on Thursday I think, we had a look together.

Friday he was just exhausted; he had a friend's birthday yesterday which invoved some travel, so that was out though he had a try at it in the evening.

I think he could have done it over the course of the week but he would have had to spend every evening on it to do a good job, and I don't think he's got the mental capacity to manage that.

I may write a note, thank you for the suggestion.

OP posts:
MooPointCowsOpinion · 24/01/2016 11:47

Ideally he should have attempted to start the project the day it was set, then talked to the teacher the next day about his difficulties with the work. They could then have adapted the task for him.

I think your only option now is to help him with the facts, then have him do most of the work, while adding in a note to explain why it's difficult for him.

Original poster
Pipistrella · 24/01/2016 11:29

I met his teacher the other day, he was very nice so I may be able to write something but I'm afraid he'll get a detention - yes, I think it's correct that he has just a week to do it. There are optional extras (writing adverts and cartoons etc to fill the pages)

It's something I'd have got into at his age from an art and design persective, but I have similar issues with absorbing written material - I can stare at a paragraph and read it several times, taking in nothing.

It's a processing thing.
I think it is a big project for that amount of time, too.

I think I'll sit with him and try and help a bit but let him do most of it, if he can stand to - but it will take us all the rest of today and we have other things to do, too, like buying new football boots as his have just dissolved and going food shopping. And we have a toddler climbing over us wanting attention every time we sit down together.

Surely they should be able to do the work alone.

OP posts:
freshcleanair · 24/01/2016 11:25

Just write a letter saying he couldn't do it?

MsMermaid · 24/01/2016 11:23

That sounds like a massive project if he's only had a week to do it, are you absolutely certain he has only had a week and has understood the instructions.
Personally, I'd get him to do one article then write a note explaining why the full project was too much for him. As a teacher, I'd accept that.

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