Originally Posted by indigo
You've received some great ideas already! smile A few more thoughts...

Possibly ask him to look at his letters and tell you which ones he is most pleased with, which ones he'd like to redo... then support him and accept the level he sets? This may help him feel in control of his education and level of mastery and provide the benefit of ongoing sense of ownership of his decisions.

Possibly set a timer to ten minutes and then stop, no matter what has been accomplished? This may help him develop trust that when you say 10 minutes, you mean 10 minutes. (On the other hand, if your rule is work until a lesson is completed, then you may wish to remove the reference to "10 minutes" as an estimate... he may decide to move along more quickly to completion.)

Possibly ask what he would like to learn/see/do/experience this summer and help him achieve that? This may help him learn to see you as supportive and also help him understand that a relative weakness in one or more areas does not establish a ceiling or limit as to what he can learn and achieve in other areas.

He may need the above skills and internalized beliefs to stay motivated throughout school (and life) and may also use them as a foundation for his own self-advocacy efforts in higher grades.

Possibly you may find the book A Parent's Guide to Gifted Children to be helpful?


I occasionally ask him which ones he "likes best" or "likes least" but get minimal response from him. ?? I will keep trying this. I also agree he needs to decide for himself which ones need to be corrected. He is starting to redo some letters by himself too.

As for the time limit, I originally had an accomplishment goal, but it is now a timed goal. And it is only for actual work. If I set it for 10 min, he would probably accomplish very little. On bad days maybe nothing. The timer "stops" when he starts complaining. I'm thinking of changing this to make it a break instead when he gets so frustrated. I tend to talk him through the challenge, and we discuss forever daily about this. Maybe I could shorten it to 5 min x 2 per day and that might feel easier for him. At his age his concept of one minute is still a long time away, IYKWIM.

Life is the hardest teacher. It gives the test first and then teaches the lesson.