Thanks both of you. And I do know the teacher's do expect some parental involvement and I was required to sign a paper knowing I knew about the project and it's timeline. This does imply that they do expect some help from the parents. The project is broken down into parts, the paragraph that was due this morning, the first draft of the process paper that is due a week from Monday, so that all is left for the last weekend is to make the cover page, table of contents, bibliography, and polish it.
Yesterday I did break down the part that was due today into parts and that did help. I made him write in pencil a rough outline, and talked it over with him while he filled it in. I also turned off his favorite web-sites at the router, I am going to be doing that more often when he has homework that needs the computer.
HK, what you said made me realize that breaking this project into tiny parts may not be the most effective. It may be best to simply plan on dedicating all of two Sundays to the project, and clear the schedule of anything else including other homework on those days. He really does work better when he knows he has to turn something in the next day. And I we won't feel like it taking over our life that way.
One thing I am trying to decide is if we should triage this project a bit. There is one particular small part of the project that will give him more difficulty than others. After doing most of the project, one of the last things is he supposed to write his reflections on the project. This is something that is almost impossible to get him to do. And I don't yet have any good strategies to help. This paragraph is only a small portion of the total grade. So while I don't think it's a good idea to have him blow it off entirely, perhaps limiting the time he spends on writing it. In addition this part is due the morning after his band concert. This whole project is probably only worth the same number of points as his final. He is likely to Ace the final. While I'd like to see him do his best work and I don't want to teach him to blow off part of a project. But I'm not sure it's this small part of the project is worth the stress and agony.
