Son's math teacher and homework notebook

[okeydokey]

Sounds like a great way to teach organizational skills by starting small. Just one subject (math homework). Three hole punch it and file it away daily. It's a great system.

I'm sure the teacher sees a point in it or she wouldn't be asking your son to do it.

 

[okeydokey]

So, do you guys think I should just do it for a week- make sure he "gets it" and then leave it up to him OR do it with him/for him all quarter?

I would never do it FOR him. But I see nothing wrong to checking occasionally to see if he has done it. It may take a few weeks for him to make this a daily habit.

 

[Bethenny]

How old is your son? I see no reason you can't help him come up with a way to organize this and then expect him to do it himself. I would make sure he keeps up with it everyday so that it lessens the chance of him losing a paper

 

[minniebeth]

I agree that it is pretty typical of the older grades to keep their assignments/homework in order until the end of the quarter/semester, whatever. Not only for organizational skills, but for review purposes as well.

However, to give a test on "What was the answer to HW assignment #35, question #6", is a little over the top, even for the most organized of kids.

I do agree that the process of organizing the assignments is part of the learning process needed for essential organizational skills down the road.

Loreli, if your son has a 504 plan, I would not take on the task of this if it is overwhelming to you and your DS on your own. In his case, if it is something the teacher is requiring, and is something your DS is having a hard time with, then the teacher should be able to have a plan and help him with it. A partnership~
I would definately bring it up at the meeting and see how you can work together on it.

 

[Mermaid02]

How old is your son? I see no reason you can't help him come up with a way to organize this and then expect him to do it himself.

He is 13 and he has Asperger's and organization is very difficult, mostly because of his inability to throw away even the smallest of things.

 

[allison443]

* If the teacher loses a grade, your son will have it.
* If the teacher incorrectly calculates the final grade, there is documentation of the completed work.
* If the final exam is comprehensive, your son has an excellent study book.

It sounds like learning when it is appropriate to keep things might be a great lesson. We don't keep old gum wrappers, but we do keep papers for a class neatly organized until the final grade is posted.

We do the same and I don't consider it hoarding, for goodness sake. You only have to keep it till the end of the quarter.
Plus if the homework is in his room, backpack, etc. he hasn't been throwing it out anyway. So wouldn't it be more organized/neater in a binder?

You can get a three hole punch that has holes to fit in the binder loops. If they have daily homework make it part of his daily routine to punch the holes and stick the homework in there.

 

[minniebeth]

How old is your son? I see no reason you can't help him come up with a way to organize this and then expect him to do it himself.

In Op's case, if her son has Asperger's, things like organizing and routines that are more easily followed for some kids, can become a challenge. It's not always as simple as that.

 

[1stluvispooh]

I have a kiddo on the spectrum too and know the panic you are feeling thinking this will set him off on hoarding ( I know in his eyes it's collecting) things. You feel it's a slippery slope. I would make a point to tell him everyday that:
1) We need to keep your math homework in this folder
2) At the end of the quarter (or was it year!) we are going to throw it out

If it were my kid she would start telling me the "rules" (we have one for taking silly banz to school)

You didn't say how old he was, or maybe I missed it. It may be a good chance to teach him origination and responsibility.

Hang in there I know at times it just seems like work for you.

 

[ols386]

You're right about that, he'll keep them- in his backpack, in the bottom of his locker, all over his room. He'll keep them, but have NO IDEA where they are.

I think I have a 3 ring binder upstairs I can use for this.

Maybe you could ask him to bring the papers home everyday (even if he just stuffs them in his backpack each day and brings them home), and then help him in placing them in the binder, in an orderly fashion.

If for whatever reason he doesn't bring all of them home, and some papers don't make it into the binder, then he will not be prepared for the final test. Not sure how much of an impact the final test has on his final grade, but if he fails the class, or his final grade is poor because of this, then maybe he will learn a tough lesson. I'm not saying that to be mean, I just think that sometimes we learn from mistakes.

I think you also said he has Asperger's, so I'm guessing this plays into the whole disorganization thing as well. I'm not sure what to say about that, because I don't know much about Asperger's. Maybe you could ask the school or the teacher for some help and/or advice regarding this part of his personal situation.

 

[allison443]

He is 13 and he has Asperger's and organization is very difficult, mostly because of his inability to throw away even the smallest of things.

Maybe keeping on top of it daily will help? Maybe you could also mention his issues to the teacher?
Will the teacher be collecting the homework and handing it back to the kids, or do they do it at home and correct it themselves in class? If it's the latter, have him stick it in the binder at night when he does the homework.

 

[SeaShelley]

Hugs to you doll.....

Does the stuff have to be in a particular binder? If not, head over to Staples/Office Max, etc. and have Jack pick out his own - then maybe decorate it with fireworks or train stuff.....perhaps I could see if our cop could get him a patch or some special stickers !!!

 

[The Mystery Machine]

My son's math teacher is requiring the kids to keep EVERY homework assignment they do for the quarter (they have homework every night). They are supposed to keep the corrected work in a "math notebook" and at the end of the quarter he will give them a test- "What is the correct answer to #6 on assignment #4?"

This goes against the motto in our home.... when you're done with it, throw it out. My son has hoarding tendencies and we are really trying to nip it. He has Asperger's so this is a real concern. He is also extremely unorganized and every day is a struggle.

I'm going to bring this up at our 504 meeting- but I was just wondering if anyone else had a teacher that had this policy. It seems weird to me.

I save all papers until the quarter is over and the grades are in. You might want to rethink your policy on throwing out homework.

 

[Kae]

Does he have a daily routine? If he does could you make part of that. My DS is in 7th grade & he has a 3inch binder for math & 1 1/2 inch binders for his other classes & he has to keep all worksheets & homework for every class.

kae

 

[ols386]

So, do you guys think I should just do it for a week- make sure he "gets it" and then leave it up to him OR do it with him/for him all quarter?

I don't think YOU should do it, I think you should help HIM do it, at least until he gets the hang of it, and after that, then you could check it occasionally.

If he's not bringing home ALL of the papers, and some are missing from the binder, then I'm not sure you can do anything about that. It has to be up to HIM to make sure HE brings the papers home and gets them in the binder. You can't very well go to school, and rummage through his locker yourself, and get papers that he might leave in there.

 

[Mermaid02]

I save all papers until the quarter is over and the grades are in. You might want to rethink your policy on throwing out homework.

I don't think so, but thanks.

 

[Mermaid02]

Does he have a daily routine? If he does could you make part of that. My DS is in 7th grade & he has a 3inch binder for math & 1 1/2 inch binders for his other classes & he has to keep all worksheets & homework for every class.

kae

He really doesn't have a routine. Routines/schedules freak him out. It makes school the HARDEST thing he does. He's the last kid in the school in the morning and the first kid out in the afternoon.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I don't think so, but thanks.

Guess how many times I pull out my dd's homework to go and show it to the teacher when they are claiming "she never did that" at the end of the quarter. Several.

Heck I had to photocopy sometimes because we had teachers that lost things.

Of course this is middle school, where it gets a little crazy.

 

[scrapquitler]

This goes against the motto in our home.... when you're done with it, throw it out.

I guess if he needs it for later in the semester, then he's not done with it.

I do think there is a lot of merit to keeping everything from the semester/class together until the end of the class. Then if there is ever a question in regards to grading, understanding some material, etc, you've got the stuff to look back at.

Besides that, looking back on the previous work from the class is pretty normal and the finals are usually cumulative later on in middle/high school so getting into the habit of keeping things and reviewing them throughout the class is a very good habit to get into.

 

[Kae]

He really doesn't have a routine. Routines/schedules freak him out. It makes school the HARDEST thing he does. He's the last kid in the school in the morning and the first kid out in the afternoon.

I would help with the binder. just in case you needed one.

Kae

 

[eeyorethegreat]

It seems that this sort of assignment can still teach your son organization. Not only will he have to keep his homework organized on the day he does it, he will have to organize it for several weeks after.

Get one folder where he can put his math homework in order. Perhaps a 3 ring binder would work best so he can flip through the homework like a book. This helps your son to organize a larger chunk of information in a concise way. At the end of the semester, you can throw away the contents of the folder and use that same folder for nest semester.

Perhaps this would be better practice for college days when many times you must eorganize larger assignments and keep track of things for an entire semester. This teaches him to keep organized, but also teaches him a proper timeframe and how long you should keep an item.

This actually seems like a great idea for an unorganized kid.... Keeping things organized and on track for a length of time.

He saves, labels and receipts, flyers and junk mail. He saves empty wrappers! I don't see the point in saving the already graded homework. I fail to see the point.

((((sigh))))) I suppose, but truly...... this will be an assignment for me. He already has a weeks worth of homework that he has no idea where it is.

Let me preface first by saying that I am the mom of three Aspies and it would be fair to say the apples don't fall from the tree.

I just had a meeting this AM at the high School concerning my sons organizational skills (or lack of) and his responsibility in getting pertinent inforamtion tht he may have missed when things are chaotic or he is involved in finishing classwork so on when announcments are being made. I really agree with a PP that this is a great oppurtunity for your son to work on real life organizational skills.

It sounds to me that the reason you have the when you are done with it throw it away rule is due to the issue your son has with saving things. I'll address this just briefly from experience and yours may be different. It may be difficult for your son with the hoarding issues to throw away things that he had filed away because the rule is "when you are done with it throw it away" . In his mind he isn't done with it so therefore he can't throw it away. If you are still struggling with this issue maybe there are different words that you can use in practical terms to help him see that he doesn't need those things and what the definition of being done with something is. Maybe you have already adressed this or you can set checks and limits on the amount that he can keep ie you may keep three receipts for x amount of time and the others need to be thrown away and check in on that in the set amount of time. We have dealt with issues like this and I found it very helpful to be clear on expectations while allowing certain amount of understanding of the internal need to keep things. Just throwing some ideas out there because I know from walking this path with my family sometimes we get ideas and solutions from other parents in the same situation. If that input isnt helpful or wanted that's fine I just thought to throw it out there. Ok that wasn't so breifly.

But back to the original topic. I understand you feelings about your son not wanting to keep graded work becuase of his saving things need. I am going to guess that you feel this may hurt progress that he has made. I think you need to look at this as a totally separate issue. The "rule" for the class is that he keeps this work until the end of the quarter. There fore there is no reason he shouldn't be allowed to keep it. Now when the quarter ends it needs to be made clear that this work WILL be thrown away/recycled. Until then there is a class requirement that he keeps it and this is a good way for him to learn to keep classwork organized.. Try using a binder with a folder or two. One folder with work done arranged in dates and the other for work that needs to be done. The binder is for class notes. He keeps it all together and as I said at the end of the quarter everything can go unless there is something the teacher wants him to keep for the next quarter. I really think if this is looked at as two separate things 1. the things your son wants to keep like the wrappers and 2. the things he needs to keep due to expectations at school with the additional expectation that this is all disposed of when it is clear to do.

I am pretty sure that the teacher wants the kids to keep the work so that they can refer back to it and it will be more than just look back at lesson 4 and give me the caorrect answer on number 2. It also may be a lesson to help the students to stay organized. You are right this is work for you but I have found that is just part of being a parent and being a parent of a kid with AS. It is extra work but I bet you will learn a lot about the classes he is taking and the way his mind works in organizing things - as I have.

Sorry it is so long, I just really do understand the challenges of living in the aspie world and the things that sometimes work and sometimes don't . I wish you and your son a positive school year!