Does Your Child Forget His Homework

[thriftybargainmom]

another good article!!

Does Your Child Forget His Homework
By: Audrey Okaneko

I used to get at least one phone call per week from my daughter. She was just frantic. She had left her homework at home and needed me to rush it over to her at school.

On the weeks she remembered her homework each day, I would get a phone call that she had forgotten her lunch and could I please bring her lunch to her as she had no money to buy lunch.

I did bail her out for a while. Then I decided it was time for her to take full responsibility and live with the consequences if she did forget something.

I worked with her to develop systems that I hoped would help eliminate these frantic phone calls and would aid her in remembering all of her materials for school.

In the evening we would develop a check list of everything she needed the next day. This list would include all homework items, along with any books needed. Often a free reading book was needed in class. We would add this to our list. Our list also included lunch, jacket and anything else that was needed the next day.

We then put this note on the front door. We had to leave through the front door in the morning so we put the note where I knew we’d see it. A quick glance at the list would tell my daughter if she had everything she needed.

We then began a day planner. As she went through her day she would write down not only homework assignments but also what items she needed to bring home from school. If she wrote down her math homework, but left the book at school, she could not complete the homework. It was her responsibility to check her day planner to make sure she had everything she needed to bring home. With this day planner, she also knew exactly what her assignments were. No more calling friends to find out what the homework was.

We also put money in her backpack that would cover the cost of one lunch. So, should she forget her lunch at home, she always had the money to buy lunch at school.

We also developed a packing list for spending the night at a friend’s house. Again, it never failed that something was left at home, either a gift, if it was a party, or a pillow or maybe a toothbrush. This packing list made it a snap to throw everything into a duffle bag and not leave something behind.

Checklists and a day planner took us from several calls in a month for forgotten items to almost never forgetting anything at home, or at school.

Article by:
Audrey Okaneko is mom to two girls. She can be reached at audreyoka@cox.net or visited at www.scrapping-made-simple.com

[miss_thrifty]

Use too years ago. Or he takes his own consequences. I dont go back and get anything for either of them.
They have bulletin boards, agendas through school that I sign every night, and monthly print outs of whats coming up and needs to be done.

[Jskell911]

Ah a constant battle here. Forgetting every and anything! DS has Aspergers and it seems that at this time it's greatest effect is on his executive function area, which includes orgainization and short term memory. But we keep working on new methods, charts, etc. Eventually it'll kick in. We did this kind of thing for years with his sensory issues before improvement was noticeable.

What we don't do, is bail him out. Unless it's lunch. I will bring $$ for that. Kid's gotta eat. He's in school from 7"15 until 2:15.

[Buckeye5]

DS never forgets homework, but how about this??? He forgets to study for his tests!!! Makes me nuts!!! My 2 older girls were great about schoolwork and grades, but him, he just does enough to get by. It absolutely makes me nuts, and with school starting in a week and he will be at the high school, I hate the thought of homework and tests!!