YD (10) Y5.
She has what I would have thought was a lovely assignment: she's had for half a term and it's due in after the holidays.
Imagine a world (real or imaginary, future, past or present). Draw a map of it. Write 2 pages on the geography, inhabitants, how it runs etc. Write a 1 page autobiography of someone from this world. Write a 1 page story about something that happens. Convert your story to a comic strip. Write and design the front page of a newspaper. Design a poster advertising the place. Write a school report for a child. Make a cover. The whole thing needs to be first and second drafted. Each piece should take approx. one hour.
She has done a map of an imaginary future planet. That's it.
Not for lack of trying. Every day or two for the last couple of months she has sat down to do something. She has reams of notes I helped with (she talked about her imaginary word and I wrote. All she needs to do is put pen to paper. She just can't do it. We have had tears/tantrums/screaming every day for weeks now. The holidays are ruined, pretty much. She is completely uninspired/blocked. She gets out the folder and basically cries/screams, sobs, sighs for an hour. I am not forcing her to do it. She knows that it needs to be done. The deadline is in sight and this is hell. I've tried support, talking through, helping her google, offering typing support if she decides to word process. leaving her to it. I cannot do it for her.
I am at a loss. What else can I do to help? I've sent her to her room to calm down (hysterical because it has to be done and she cannot do it) and am sitting here in tears.
This is a child who off her own back enters 500 words every year, loves writing little stories, has an active imagination which she is always ready to share. Please help me to help her.