<p>Boys do bad in schoolwork because they are busy studying girls, not listening to the teacher. :D</p>
<p>
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assembled sequentially by class
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Assembled? Sequentially?? by class??? mootmom - Are you sure you are on the right thread?</p>
<p>13351 - This is a whole nuther thread. I fail to see how adolescent boys make it through the day with the way hs girls dress these days.</p>
<p>Perhaps I did not explain clearly: if you went through the papers from bottom to top, you'd find things from 1st period Monday on the bottom, and 8th period Friday on the top. (Is that better or worse than you'd hoped/imagined? ;) ) At least there's <em>some</em> faint glimmer of organization, but it didn't take anything more than putting the next paper on the top of the stack all week long, so ...</p>
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didn't take anything more than putting the next paper on the top of the stack
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Stacks with a defined top and bottom are way beyond what is found in my S' backpack. He is definitely in the "wad" method of organization others have described. You have it easy on this one, mootmom. I suppose he slept through the night at age 2 weeks.</p>
<p>My boys' backpacks are dumpsters.</p>
<p>"I suppose he slept through the night at age 2 weeks."</p>
<p>BWA HA HA HA HA! Oh, sorry, had to wipe the tears from my eyes. This child was the colic-bringer from Hades, who did not sleep through the night until roughly age 3.</p>
<p>We can take this offline for further amusement. I do admit that the stack method I am seeing now is a definite improvement on the wad method you are describing, which was a feature of last year's backpack.</p>
<p>Dumpster. Good description.</p>
<p>what was one of the frustrating things about both my girls was when they said they had
"left an assignment at home" and so they couldn't turn it in, but I found it in the bottom of their backpacks.</p>
<p>emerald, that is so true. Then it goes in a day late for half credit.</p>
<p>
A research study that will never happen: What % of boys would actually apply to college if they did not have M/D to serve as "application manager?" What % of girls?</p>
<p>jmmom, so true. D was offended if I touched her app materials, son would never have been able to find his in his room-avalanche if I hadn't gotten a hanging file box, labelled the files, filed the materials and put them back when he made a single step toward completing them. What kills me now is that he doesn't yet want to trash the mountain of materials from schools he didn't apply to! I am afraid we are going to attract termites!</p>
<p>Carolyn,</p>
<p>Both my sons have awful handwriting. They had a terrible time with it in grade school, and it was affecting self esteem, until I showed them their Uncle's, Grandfather's and father's handwriting. The resemblance was remarkable, especially to Uncle's. This helped with self concept, but not so much with note taking. Occassionally the writing affects grades now in the older years, depending on how much fast notetaking is required, since the poor handwriting is accompanied by slow pace.</p>
<p>The younger boy has suffered more - his writing is slower and sloppier, although he still maintains good grades so far. The worst was when he was placed with a fourth grade teacher who was in her first year of "regular" teaching after many years of special ed focused on handwriting. It was a terrible year (big surprise). He got tracked into low math until testing placed him in honors math in 8th grade (first year they used the testing, thank heaven for that). </p>
<p>My husband was never able to take effective notes in college, but graduated from Tufts in Engineering nevertheless. I, on the other hand, took copious notes and managed to memorize and mirror whatever info they threw at me in college. My hubs now remembers/retains a hellofalot more than I do, but had somewhat lower grades.</p>
<p>Both my sons study/do school work to learn the material, not to get A's. Neither will go to Harvard. Both have benefitted from being organized with paperwork and maintaining good homework habits. Both will succeed when school is done, so long as the sun rises and the sky don't fall.</p>
<p>I taught 8th grade science for a while, and repeatedly the boys would come in at the beginning of the year and ruefully tell me, "My handwriting is terrible." I'd smile and tell them my boys' stories. I'd say that as long as it was legible, complete, and formatted correctly (which I'd teach, including plenty of clear margin around text and between each word and problem), the work would be fine. I had to fight against the complaint, "We are wasting too many trees with all this white space." I'd point at the recycling basket and tell 'em good thing we have a good recycling program in place. </p>
<p>It's amazing how much handwriting improves if you get the kids to leave some white space.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, teacher responses to sloppiness varies greatly. My very favorite teacher ever, the one whose feet I wanted to kiss, was the 7th grade Math teacher who, when I confessed my son had sloppy writing and had been in low math and was bumped up a notch to be in her class, said, "Yeah, bad writing is blamed for a lot of things. I'll check on this at the beginning and keep you posted as to how much I think this is impacting him. We'll work on it."</p>
<p>Any wonder he was in honors by 8th grade?</p>
<p>my daughter has awful handwriting
I bought her a laptop in 6th grade which helped a lot, but for inclass notes she has an awful time. Sometimes she will use a recorder, but she doesn't really like anything that makes her seem "different". Her teachers have varying levels of tolerance on tests of handwriting. Sometimes they give her the benefit of the doubt, but in areas like algebra with both numerals and letters it is difficult if not impossible to tell what she means.</p>
<p>I have noticed that male students from Asia have beautiful handwriting, as do female students. Penmanship continues to be stressed in their countries. My two Ss were taught to use print rather than cursive. By the time their teachers began to teach cursive, they found learning this new scrip slowed them down; after introducing cursive, the teachers never really forced the students to use it exclusively. In fact, they did not stress penmanship very much.</p>
<p>Picture the hallway at the all-boys HS: As you gaze down the hall (after school), about half the lockers are not shut completely. Hanging out of them are ties, dirty socks, papers, more papers, and wads of papers, paperback books, candy wrappers, etc. Occasionaly you see a few books or notebooks sitting on the floor outside of a locker (no time, or inclination?, to put them in?). There are even a few lockers that are left wide open. In the hall or stairwell might be an ENTIRE back pack full of books (doesn't the kid wonder where his books are???). The lost and found has plenty of sport coats, text books (doesn't the kid wonder where his AP Calc book??? - is he worried about it???), and shoes (!) that have been there for weeks. Ahhh...and did I mention the male fragrance in the hall? BUT I love this school!</p>
<p>I love the comment about the son practicing to write his name on a piece of rice. That is so funny. The handwriting is such a big problem (especially with my lefty!). How will they ever write essays that can be read on the new SAT?</p>
<p>I agree they don't spend much time on handwriting anymore, then again, they did when I was younger and I have clumsy handwriting anyway.
My older daughters isn't bad, and my husbands is much better than mine, but it just isn't something I spend much time on. I think I have even forgotten how to write a check!</p>
<p>momofthree - S is now receiving housing materials from his acceptances. Glanced sideways at them and told me "that's your job." Fat chance. On the other hand, won't he be thrilled when I find him a roommate who is a neatnik and writes long, detailed letters home to mom on a weekly basis?</p>
<p>jmmom:</p>
<p>S#1 wrote on his housing form that he was "neat" (ha!). So he got a roommate who, on moving day, described himself as a "neatnik" as his mom nodded in agreement. Upshot: an incredibly messy room. "neatnik" roommate was an athlete who showered and changed several times a day and left his clothes and shoes all over the place. "Neat" S#1 did not--and still does not-- seem to know the uses of garbage cans, and had the rest of the room covered in papers and books. S has awful handwriting. I don't know about the roommate.</p>
<p>jmmom, LOL!</p>
<p>Yes, marite - One of the few times S actually listened to what I had to say was a few months ago when I mentioned that, if he told the truth on his housing qxairre, he would get a roommate who throws clothes on floor (clean mixed with dirty), piles plates until the tower starts to lean, etc. etc. The thought had never occurred to him and he was truly taken aback at the thought. His reponse: "I can change."</p>