DS is not enthusiastic about schoolwork

[Meid]

He is happy to go to school and settled but he does the bare minimum when it comes to working, often bringing it home to finish (especially writing). The teacher says he is bright and does well in all tests but when doing everyday work he chats, plays with his ruler, gazes around etc.

She originally thought he had a concentration issue but she now says she doesn't think anything is 'wrong' with him, he just needs some work ethic.

He is in grade 2, age 8.

Does anyone have experience and advice on a problem like this?

Hmm - yes we've got a 'chatter' - aged 10 and does really well at school - loves going but has the concentration span of a gnat...

No real advice as he's been the same pretty much since he was born - hasn't stopped talking and is very dreamy at the same time. We keep an eye on his homework - at home he needs firmer rules about getting work done than ds1 who is the total opposite, so I'm already imagining it being harder when ds2 starts secondary school and the homework really kicks in...

I'm hoping that ultimately, ds2 will know he needs to knuckle down and concentrate because he wants to be a teacher (at the moment!) so we've told him he'll need to do well at school and get good grades etc. to do this. We've also told him that although he can chat and still do well, his friends might need to concentrate without him talking - he's very empathic so has started to understand that it's not fair on his friends if he's mucking about, so that's a good tactic to try!

Could he be bored? Too easy for him therefore he can't be fagged doing it?

It's hard to justify to a child that doesn't enjoy it why you should do more than the bare minimum (actually hard to justify to an adult).

My DS is 10 and the same. We have had some flickers this year that he might be starting to see the merit of putting more than the absolute minimum of effort in, but certainly he is not there yet. We are hoping he will mature into it.