How can I help my Step-Son?

[glowfrog]

hello all, hope this is the right place to post!

My 17 year-old step-son is at college - technically his 2nd year but recurring health issues last year means that he's having to start again with a couple of subjects.

However - he is struggling with his course load and I was wondering if there are tricks or methods to help him work more effectively. Basically his biggest issue seems that he finds it really hard to switch from one subject to another, eg he will work intensively on subject A, until he feels it's done, but ends up doing nothing for subject B and falling behind.

We are trying to make him understand he needs to hand things in even if not complete but it is not sinking in all that easily.

What could I suggest to help him organise etc his workload better? He is a very able young man who is badly let down by his working habits! And he is not lazy.

Is this A levels or BTEC?

When he gets work set he needs to plan it. What steps to do it (e.g. research, draft, do properly). How long does he think it will take to do each step? What is the deadline? When will he do the work?

Is he actually working during 'frees' / 'study periods' or dossing and thus running out of time?

A-Level

There is a certain amount of time-wasting involved, yes, and he's given up his Xbox to lessen the distractions.

But yes, I think some step by step planning would help. Just not sure how to get him into the habit (he lives with his mum and unfortunately she's not great with helping on that front).

He needs to do useful work on his own. It is not enough to be in a lesson and think, 'Yes, I get it.'

What subjects?

Not sure I should say, lest it's outing!

Must be a rather rare combination then. There are ~300,000 doing A level each year.

What I always did to manage deadlines was write all my tasks down and their due dates, and then number them- i.e. 1 for the first due date. You can then tackle them in order of urgency.

In regards to focussing his time on all his subjects, could he assign one night to one subject?

Frendo I doubt it's a rare combo but still. And I don't think the subjects are relevant tbh.

Christmas. I think one night per subject would probably be easiest for him, yes.

Fair enough, I think I had translated your question into "what do I need to do to help him pass his A level exams" and was all set to write about exam papers etc.

Ah I understand, Frendo - thank you - but the issue is more with work management than sitting exams per se...

1. Do homework the night it's set.
2. Spend half an hour per subject writing up the notes from that days lesson.
3. Spend half an hour per subject reading around what will be taught in the next lesson.

So if he has French and Spanish on Monday he should be spending an hour writing notes on Monday night, plus an hour on any French homework set (plus an hour on Spanish if set), and if he has Spanish and History on Tuesday he also needs to spend an hour looking at those two subjects.

Good advice, Titchy, thanks

This might sound such a silly and simple idea , but my son , whilst he was at school , used an academic diary ( from Rymans - like a diary but you can get them in different sizes , the difference being they run from Sept to Sept - so academic year not the calendar year.) If he can get into the habit of writing down what is due in when, perhaps he can just then spend 5 mins writing down in the days between what time he spends on each homework - so e.g. Subject X due Friday - Wed evening this time that time work on Subject X - and then stop. Or Subject X & Y due Friday - Wed do subject X Tues do Subject Y . Sorry if this is too simplistic - am sure you have been down this route. Anyway the point is just an aid to organisation.

I would wonder whether just keeping a diary for a week or so tracking how much time he's spending on each subject and on which aspects of each subject might help. If his main difficulty is 'switching' between subjects the problem might be planning and organisation or it might be that he's (even subconsciously) avoiding parts of his subjects he finds hard or boring. I worked hard but quite ineffectively for my A' Levels and remember doing this - devoting loads of time to reading and making notes on the subjects i liked and avoiding what i was struggling with (languages grammar, in my case). But that way i could tell myself i was working. So tracking it and then someone gently calling him out on it might help.