Thursday, November 4, 2010

Porter's new focus

One of the things I have accomplished was a regrouping with Porter.  I knew he wasn't working as hard in homeschool and in Chinese as he could.  The one thing Porter is known for is his work ethic.  The coaches always adore Porter for that.  He may not have the most natural talent, but he works circles around most of the other kids.  He always get the award for hardest worker or most improved.

Porter and I went to lunch on Saturday.  I took a notepad and these are some of the things we discussed.

- we wrote down all his activities, subjects in school and responsibilities
- I asked him what his three favorite were (one was swimming of course, but then shocked to find out that math and science came before any other things I'd consider fun.  What an amazing kid)
- I asked him which things he'd like to have the most improvement in
- I asked him which ones he's needing the most help with
- we discussed if there were any he would rather not be doing
- we discussed what he liked about each one
- we make a weekly calendar fit in the things he wanted to do
- we came up with an incentive plan to stay on task (an i-pad, he'll have to work diligently for 6 months to earn it, but he's excited)
- I asked him how things were with friends
- I asked him if there was anything he was concerned about with our family
- I asked him if there was anything he wanted to talk to me about

I'm proud to say it never got confrontational and we came to some great solutions and l learned more about Porter than I knew before.  We came up with a point system to help him earn his i-pad.  He truly has important things to do in this life.  I'm so blessed to have him as my son!!

Last night he asked me if I had his chart made up for him.  He's been getting up earlier and seems to be acting more like the Porter I knew was in him.  He also told me he was going to ask the swim coach if he can practice longer sets.  He has added 2 longer sets a week and wants to bump it to 4.  He also had his homework for Thursday done by Tuesday without being reminded.  Things are on the up swing with him!!  Woo hoo!!  Now time for me to do my job and follow up.  He will also spend some time this weekend on the computer looking at the i-pad and all the things it does to keep his motivation up. 

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