It's working so far: a parenting solution

Have been having issues with Smog in school. He was not turning in assignments, claiming they were finished when he hadn't done them at all, or turning them in incredibly late. Of course, his grades were starting to slip, and finally his teacher called me in to discuss this.

Our solution: Smog has a student planner, and every day he writes down each assignment in it as it is assigned. This way, he can't "forget" the assignment. At the end of the day, or through the day as he finishes each assignment, he takes the assignment and the planner to his teacher, and she signs off on each assignment he has finished, drawing a line through them and putting her initials next to them. Then he brings the planner home. Immediately when he walks in the door, I ask to see his planner and all materials necessary to complete the assignments left. If he has "forgotten" any books, papers, etc., we drive immediately to the school, where his teacher usually is working until 5, and he has to go in and retrieve the materials from her. Then straight home to work on the homework. We've had this going for about a week and a half, steady, and it is working. It hasn't been easy, and there have been tears and frustration when he has dawdled over homework so late that he barely has time for dinner and bath before bed, but it is getting better every day. He seems to finally be getting the picture that he can't pull one over on his teacher and me anymore, that we are a united front. Today, he had no homework. Legitimately! For the first time in a while, he finished all of his work in class (I don't expect him to on Tuesday and Thursday, because those are SIGNAL days and he's out of the classroom half of the day.) This is a very good thing, and a nice change.

I have several students on the high school level who are required to do the same thing, either by their parents or by their IEP's. I know this, because I sign off on them frequently. If you have a student whose grades are dropping due to work not being turned in or making it home, this might be something to try. It really is working for us!

Suited up!

I owe berkie and bountifulpots huge thank yous for introducing me to How I Met Your Mother, to the tune of sitting me down and making me watch a few episodes and making sure I had access to the rest of them. I'm now almost done with Season 1, and I have laughed and cried and I'm so into it. A nice side effect is that I can plug in my headphones and watch it while Mom watches the news, so I'm not inundated with depressing news all day long. (My mother is a network news addict, and it can get to be a bit much at times.)

If you are watching it, you know what I mean, and if you aren't, you should be. I won't be catching them on air, 'cause I'm a devoted Chuck fanatic, but I intend on getting caught up as quickly as possible.

Also in the backlog queue are Dr Who, Torchwood, and The Big Bang Theory, not to mention the shows I catch on a regular basis in original broadcast (ER, Grey's Anatomy, House, Bones, American Idol, Chuck, etc.), so I'm a happy camper TV wise right now.