The kids are in the same grade, they are twins, and this has been going on for a while now, more than a year… it wasn’t a sudden plummet or shift in their behavior. They are bright and capable kids, they just really don’t seem to want to be bothered with school. Their teachers seem to feel there is a lack of motivation.
Grounding and taking away privileges hasn’t worked, positive reinforcement for good grades hasn’t worked, moving them to a smaller school, tutoring, working with them on their homework between parents and grandparents… nothing seems to be getting through to them.
Recently they did bring their report card grades up a bit, which is great, but they have been hiding major homework assignments and will lie to cover one another’s stories.
So what next? I know that we can’t force them to want to do well in school, and I don’t want to use school things like extra work or studying as punishment, because I’m afraid that will only reinforce whatever negative feelings they already have toward school. But, I’m not sure what to do anymore. Any creative ideas? Something that worked for you?
I always did well in school, my own disappointment would have been enough to keep my grades up, but that doesn’t seem to be the case for them.