So, now he dragged out this Quarter long project, he did a little here and there but only at my prodding & hand-holding. He finished it this morning (the day it's due!), got up an hour early and knocked it out. Did he put any real effort into it? No, not really. Will he get an A on it? Probably, maybe a B if she's a really tough grader. Is this going to reinforce his slacker approach? Probably. Did he learn anything from the project other than following directions? No.
This is why he resists these things. If this was a project that he knew he could do in a few hours without any real thought or effort and still get an "A", and he knew that he wasn't going to learn anything new from doing it, honestly, why would he want to do more than get up early and knock it out the day it was due? If he had projects that really made him think or learn, and that would really take some *mental* effort (not just take up time), he might work harder - and then he might also learn *how* to work hard, and how to approach challenging problems, organize himself, and persist through difficulties. This project was supposed to take all quarter, and he did it in a day or two. The challenge level is a huge mismatch. Is there any chance that your DS could have some assignments in an area of interest where he was called on to do something that would really stretch his brain? He might be more willing to invest time and effort in assignments that actually required them.
