I know this is a common problem with many kids, especially gt kids, but I just need some support and "I know what you mean" statements.
I am sooooooo tired of DD7 school projects I could scream! Now that we finally got the school to differentiate for her, she has more project type things to do. (Read that as, some are quite well defined assignments, but DD makes them into elaborate projects)
Now, I know that I need to help her trim down her ideas and make them more doable and all of that stuff, but there are times (like this weekend) that I miss that part of the project. This week's project was to create something about James and the Giant Peach. She was given 8 choices of things to do, and she decided to make a puppet show. However her idea for the show was so elaborate that even after working on it most of today, she had only gotten about 1/4 of the way through it! (DH was in charge of helping with this project by the way, and wasn't really paying attention to the details) When he noticed what was happening, he tried to get her to change her idea, scale it down etc. I could see the melt down coming - tears and cries of hating school were on her tongue, and words of frustration and impatience were on his.
I don't know how I did it, but I managed to get them distracted long enough to give them both time to cool off and for me to come up with some possible scale back ideas.
We changed plans at this point and she finished her revised project (a scene from the book using the props she had just been working on for the puppet show) in about 20 minutes.
This project is a week after having to do a nonfiction book report, with a model of something about the topic being due. And that project also took the better part of a day.
She has amazing ideas, but once she gets an idea into her head it is like getting an elephant to change his mind - it isn't going to happen. She has "seen it" in her brain and has to continue along her path even if it kills her.
My point here is really that I just need someone to say - "We hear you" and then pat me on the shoulder and say that the year is actually going to be over soon.
What are we going to do when her projects are actually supposed to be large and take a lot of time? We'll be doing it all month for goodness sakes!!
Thanks for listening.