What do you know about ADD?

[TanksHill]

Last year we had an assignment book. It was awful. My son never remembered to write his assignments down. And when he did I could not make heads or tails out of them. I usually ended up calling a classmates mother for what actually had to be done.

This year my sons home work comes home on Friday. A packet with several pages of stuff. Two per day and he has reading and study time. Same every day. Makes things so much easier. He knows what to expect and is not overwhelmed. This also give us the weekend for added study time on spelling words.

Like BB says maybe if your teacher has her lesson plan for the week done on Monday she could send home a complete list the first day of the week. Then you will know more in advance what needs to be done and when. Then if you have one of those really good days you may be able to get ahead.

My son has 2 colored folders. Something new this year as well. Yellow is incomplete work, Green is work to come home. this helps simplify things.

Have you had a sit down with your sons teacher? You would think if she could just take two extra minutes with him at the end of the day it would make his life so much easier. Perhaps a post-it for you stuck in the assignment book?

Didn't you say your son was in fourth grade? Mine too. I started thinking about their age and hormones. I wonder if it has anything to do with their attention spans?

so many factors to consider.

 

[Farmfresh]

What do you all know about Goosebumps movies? They showed one 1-2 weeks ago during a rainy recess. Since then, my son has not been able to sleep very well. We play soft music in his room at night to help calm his fears. He would not, would NOT go work alone in his room last night when it became obvious that he was not focusing in the public parts of our home. In fact, he was terrified to be alone in any part of the house--which is why homework took more than 3 hours last night.

I made my first school complaint this morning via e-mail. I was not impressed at all at this choice for a movie during a rainy day. Why not go play in the gym? Or read books? Especially in the context of a child who needs alone, quiet places to be able to focus.

The Goosebumps series of books are chiller thrillers designed to make modern kids who grew up on R rated slasher movies want to read.

Mostly they are incredibly stupid.

The problem is definitely with YOUR child.

You see you have not properly conditioned him to witness the un-dead, ghouls, murder and mayhem with nothing more than a board yawn. You child is probably one of those mamby pamby kids that loves the outdoors, respects life and is kind to little animals! Unbelievable! It is so hard to understand what is wrong with people like you.

.... Oh by the way congratulations. Your kid still posses a SOUL!

My kids were the same way. Transformer cartoons even gave THEM nightmares! And believe it or not ... they actually turned out to be pretty nice people as adults.

Good job! Keep up the good work!

 

[me&thegals]

Blackbird--That's a great idea on the website! I've heard of this before and wish my school would do it. Maybe something I can suggest.

Tankshill--My son is in 4th grade also. Yikes--hormones?!? I know it's coming, but how can it be that my baby is already this grown up?

I think knowing in advance what is coming would be incredibly helpful. That way, good, open nights could be put more towards homework, saving time for those nights when things aren't going well or the family has other plans.

I asked his teacher for a meeting with her, the school therapist and/or psychiatrist and us. I am asking for questionnaires that we his parents can fill out but no interviews. I want help understanding normal development for 9 year olds. Seems like I should know this, but even with all these conversations I still don't have a sense of what is very typical behavior or actually problematic.

With the teacher, I would like to brainstorm ways we can support each other in order to support and motivate him. I know Love and Logic parenting would say let the kid deal with the consequences (fail, I guess), but I'm definitely not there yet.

 

[Big Daddy]

In a very uninformed way, it seems the sperm would be as likely to be affected as the eggs...

When Lori found out she was pregnant, we went to a doctor. I did a lot of experimenting with drugs in my early twenties. He explained about the eggs and the sperm. Seems us guys are lucky. The sperm is constantly being produced and dying off. So it's just you women that have to worry about screwing up your genetic material. unfortunately I did waste a lot of brain cells though. If it wasn't for the drugs I would be a genius.. Instead I'm just a moron.

 

[farmerlor]

In a very uninformed way, it seems the sperm would be as likely to be affected as the eggs...

When Lori found out she was pregnant, we went to a doctor. I did a lot of experimenting with drugs in my early twenties. He explained about the eggs and the sperm. Seems us guys are lucky. The sperm is constantly being produced and dying off. So it's just you women that have to worry about screwing up your genetic material. unfortunately I did waste a lot of brain cells though. If it wasn't for the drugs I would be a genius.. Instead I'm just a moron.

 

[TanksHill]

 

[Farmfresh]

If it wasn't for the drugs I would be a genius.. Instead I'm just a moron.

At least you are an honest moron.

 

[me&thegals]

Farmerlor and Big Daddy: You guys are sweet!

Farmfresh--I just noticed your post on Goosebumps for the first time. Your tongue-in-cheek post has me smiling I guess my kids are a bit tender, but that doesn't mean they can't beat up on each other from time to time.

He's still afraid, which is making finding a quiet workspot difficult. I wish I could SEE the Goosebumps movie so I know how to address this. He really can't describe WHAT was in it to be able to put a name to his fears.

The kids are now on omega-3 fish oil, vitamin D and multivitamin. My son is also able to swallow the large calcium and magnesium pill, but not his sister. This is something I have been meaning to do for a long while anyway...

 

[Farmfresh]

Why not contact the school - let them know the problem and request they loan the movie to you. Since they basically caused this problem they should be willing to help you solve the problem.

I would watch the movie at home - just the adults and then make some notes.

You might even want to watch the movie with your kid again. THIS time at home where he is safe and you have control over the PAUSE button. It might help to confront the fear - when put into the proper prospective by you. After all the Goosebumps books - that I have read anyway - are all pretty darned lame. I imagine the movies, which are fairly low budget, will be easy to shoot holes into. He could see things in a different light.

This might also give you a time to discuss why you have made a conscious decision to avoid garbage like that at your house.

 

[me&thegals]

That's a good idea, but we don't have any way of watching it. Not even a DVD player on this 10-yo computer. I could bring it to work or the library, though, and try it out there. He has never been a fearful child or afraid of the dark, but there's something about visual that just GIVES you the picture of what you could be afraid of. I remember seeing the Hulk at my grandparents and being terrifed for a while