Update on 11 YO organization

I have to say, my sons' school's email was down for 4 or 5 weeks. Two of those were Chrsitmas vacation, but since I "do" email for a living, I have communicated with the 11 YO's teacher a lot.

She emailed yesterday that she has not been getting assignment turned in this week for our 11YO. He did not have a poem he was supposed to write over the long weekend on Tuesday when it was due. She gave him an MA (Missing assignment) slip that had to be signed. He turned in the popem but not the signed MA, so he got anothr MA that he found in his pocket (Good Grief, I need to ensure that he is not wearing the same pair of pants all week...) the following day. Mrs. C worried that we were not aware of the missing assignment.

I emailed back that we were aware and we had in fact signed the orgininal MA. Hubby emailed her that he made the 11 YO put it in his backpack. "The paper eating fuzz ball at the bottom might have gotten a hold of it...."

I wrote that " think B’s issues are procrastination and disorganization, Out of sight, out of mind. And his desire to do other things than school work. He struggles with telling stories with a straight face most of the time. Mumbling and other vocal noises are a sure sign he does not want to answer a question. "

She said she was familiar with the mumbling behavior and she, too regarded it as a sign of trouble.

So the end result right now is that we are going to reward him for bringing home his agenda every night. As I wrote last August, I followed organizing recommendations from a book that suggested utilizing a teacher's planner to track assignments.

I am making both boys earn their XBox playing time. During the winter, it is a prime source of entertainment. We decided that every night he brings home his agenda, he'll earn 15 minutes of XBox time. If he has not earned any time, he'll not play XBox. I sure hope it works. But we do not have a long track record with such reward systems. Mom and Dad get busy and forget to follow through and/or the 11YO decides he can live without his reward.

But we are going to try.