Procrastination has been a huge issue with my DS15. It was particularly bad in 6th grade. One thing we figured out was it NEVER worked to try and do homework as soon as he got home, or on Friday to leave the weekend free. If we did this then the entire time until bedtime, or the whole weekend was taken up with HIS homework. And more than half that time was him wasting time. Drove me up the wall and got old really really fast. And he never got anytime to do anything fun that way.

I have been working with him since 6th grade on estimating how long his homework will take, and then unless it's really necessary not starting homework until after dinner or late on Sunday. He works a lot better under a small amount of time pressure and the immediacy that the work is DUE the next day. This does mean breaking down larger projects into smaller chunks because those just can't be left to the last minute. Or when necessary if the work is particularly heavy starting earlier, but then we put a time limit on it.

The other thing we did is keep his homework area & his laptop in different locations. He is ONLY allowed on the laptop if his homework NEEDS the computer. He is much better at not getting distracted if his main form of distraction isn't even in the room. I do let my son listen to music while he works. And as a freshman in H.S. I do check on him every so often to make sure he is working.

I have been there. This isn't easy and it takes a lot of patience. But DS has improved a lot since 6th grade.

Last edited by bluemagic; 03/03/14 04:20 PM.