For the most part, my son is a quiet kid who is rather well behaved and generally liked by most adults.
The problem comes in at school. He is currently in 6th grade (U.S.) but the problems began last year. We thought we had the problem in hand until school started again this year.
Last year he started lying to my wife and I as well has his teachers. He would come home and tell us that he had no homework. Then he would go into school the next day and tell his teachers that he left his work at home. At the end of the week we would get a paper in his “Friday Folder” that told us of any assignments missing that week, so it didn’t take us long to figure out what was going on.
So we made him start using his assignment notebook to record all assigned work from each class. Then he started “forgetting” to write it down in the notebook. And when he did write assignments in the book, he would do them at home but “forget” to turn them in. That’s right, he would complete the assignment but not turn it in for credit.
Barely 2 weeks into the new school year, he’s at it again. Refusing to write down his assignments in his assignment notebook. Lying to us and the teachers. He’s started skipping classes this year.
We’ve grounded him from everything, yet he still tries to get out of doing the work. He is in every advanced or accelerated class the district offers and when he does the work, he gets good grades without much help from me or my wife. In fact, his test grades are very good. So, I don’t think the classes are too hard for him.
We’ve gotten most of his teachers on board to check over and initial his assignment notebook everyday after each class. But he’s gone back to telling them he left his assignment notebook at home.
I have a feeling that there is something going on here that is only manifesting itself as this behavior. I’ve talked with him many times, but it usually comes down to “I forgot.”
I’m at a complete loss. I don’t know what else to do.
Anyone have any suggestions? I’ve considered therapy or family counseling, but I’m not sure we could afford it.