My 7Yr Old Son a 1St Grader End of the Year project...Need Help Please!!!!

Since it is almost 8pm guess he will be going to school without it. Hopefully, he will learn about doing projects when you get them. A hard lesson, but in the end it will be best for him.

It's not too much for a first grader.

No, I don't have suggestions or ideas other than don't want until the last second to get started on projects.

Why are you doing your child's homework?

And why did you wait 6 days to have him start this?

I don't think this is a bit much at all - have him think of something - 1st graders are the world champions of imagination - draw it, name and price it. Really, he has to put three things on a poster. And then be prepared to say what it is and how it will make life easier or better.

If I asked my 1st grader to do this, he would say something like "a jet pack that you can charge with batteries" and the benefits would be "we can fly to each other's houses and you would win in a bike race" and the price would be something ridiculous like 69 cents or a million trillion dollars.

It's a first grade project that shouldn't take more than an hour. Get to it and don't put these things off next time!

Why are you shouting?

Most of the time assignments like this are tied to their current studies so should be easy for the *child* to complete.
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Oh, you want a pity party?

Hum, lets see, divorced, four kids, one with autism, went to school (21 hours a semester) worked full time, and never once did I yell at a message board that I needed help with my kids homework that I didn't notice till the last minute.

Oh and if you are for real, you have two teenage boys, make them step up to the plate! God knows I couldn't have done it if I had not raised responsible children.

No, not too much for a first grader. He had a week to address this and talk this through with you or the teacher.

My neighbor's kid's school (the child is in second grade) had an "Invention Convention" and the entire school, even kindergarteners, brought in an invention to display. Even the youngest ones were able to do this.

If it were my kid, I'd be hard-pressed to find reasons for him to not deal with the consequences. It's hard to let your kid walk into an F, but it sounds like he didn't even attempt to get help or try. In my opinion, letting him get the grade he truly deserves is a better long-term lesson than bailing him out-- or trust me, you'll be doing this with him again next year. And the year after that..... Work with your child on developing time-management and task management skills. This is important in the years to come. He needs your help to plan his projects (breaking up the parts, spending X amount of time each day on a specific part of it or dedicating certain days to certain aspects of the task). I do this with my son and he's in kindergarten. I don't expect him to do it alone, but each day he IS on the hook to get some chunk of work completed.

As an educator part time over 10 yrs, primarily in 1st grade... This is no biggie.,

First you should not be doing the project for him, you should guide.

Secondly, why on earth did you wait this long to address it?

Get used to a lot of projects throughout the years. Children need to learn now how to prepare and plan because the projects get bigger as the go up levels in school.

Parents should not do the work ( yes, we can tell when they do) . The parents act as a source for helping the children get info, ideas, etc.

Good luck with this project and next time address it from day 1. If you address it from the beginning, your child won't become the procrastinator. Ignoring it won't make it go away.

Is this too much for a 1st grader??? No

My senior just didn't 5 weeks building a solar cooker with a group so they could do the assignment which was today... Use the cooker to cook and prepare 30 servings of whatever they chose to cook. Her group did pasta.

It's gets harder as they progress. Embrace it now and help instill the value if properly accomplishing a project.

Good luck

ETA: you posted your SWH while I was responding. I am kit coming down on you or judging you. I know it's hard and we are swamped with projects with 1 child... Running our company and I teach. Bottom line is this is the time to teach your children to address projects from day 1 like there is no tomorrow to get it done.,

No not too much for a 1st grader, especially a 7 year old.
Especially in a good school.

If he had started last week,,
First night go over the instructions, talk about different ideas.

Second night decide on the item or project and make list of supplies..

Third night sit down and work on project and help him do an outline for the paper.

Fourth night write out the paper, or record it or video it.. Or maybe some of these steps would have taken more nights.

Each day MAY have taken an hour at the MOST.. Second grade is going to be full of these projects..let him know " it is up to you".. so mom either have him start the project tonight and turn it in late. or have him get a zero for this project..

It will be interesting to find out if everyone else was able to complete this project.. .. and only your son has nothing to show.

I always reminded our daughter.. Mom does not have home work, you are the one with homework. If you need help you just ask and we will try to help you.

If you do feel this is too much for YOUR son. you may need to consider what the problem is.. If you find out 90% of the other students got it done on time..Then I think the teacher may need to speak with you.

This is not too much for a first grade student at all. I think it sounds like a great project and what a fun thing to do at the end of the school year.

I don't have a specific idea, but think of ways to help elderly use technology, or things that help take care of pets, or help make house cleaning less painful.

Or maybe a new type of calendar that helps moms keep track of their kid's projects and due dates... :)

Good luck!

Glad your son is wrapping up this project. I know that it caused a lot of stress for your family. And I am sure that next year he will be more on top of his assignments. Have that discussion at the beginning of the year. I am glad he came up with an idea for an invention. I was going to suggest taking something and making it better or combining two things to make something new. Those are both things in the range of a first grader. Good luck!

My heart goes out to you.. a single mom.. 3 children.. no help from the father. You have your hands full and I'm sure you're doing the best that you can. Hang in there...

I suggest that you think it's too much for a first grader because you're looking at it with adult eyes. It's supposed to be fun. The invention doesn't have to be realistic/doable. It can be way off the wall. The price doesn't have to be accurate or anywhere close to what the item would actually cost. it's a lesson in creativity.

Caps mean yelling. Did you mean to "yell?" Because of the caps it sounds like you're feeling angry or desperate. Are you? If so, this is so not worth the amount of negative energy you're putting into it. I'm glad your son got it done. Good for both you?

I suggest that the negative responses are based on all those capitol letters. No one likes to be yelled at. I suggest an explanation or an apology is in order.

Thank you C. for the apology and the explanation. I also wish that there were a way to underline or put words in italics for emphasis.

What I do is make a space between the body of the post and the sentence I want to be noticed. You can put two bland lines between the first paragraph and "the students have been ........." and then more lines beween the end and your add on, as you've done for example.

My only concern is that maybe a week is a little short, I would have expected two weeks to acomplish this task - but I am not a teacher. It seems age appropriate for what the "Common Core" standards are asking. I think we have had equally hard family projects in Kinder to be honest.

I can't tell you how many last-minute projects we did when my sons were still in school (we homeschool now - well, one has graduated).

You are not alone! We burned down to the wire even with me working part-time with an involved husband. Mine have turned out fine so far.

Good luck and GET 'ER DONE (your son of course! :P).

As I was reading it, I was thinking it sounds like a project my daughters need to do, and they're in high school. Yes, I would agree that this is too much for a 1st grader, as it would require the assistance from someone older. It's been quite awhile since my kids were in 1st grade, but do most 7 yo know the prices of items?

Good luck.

I'm sorry, didn't respond last night. I suspect many moms had the same knee-jerk reaction to your post as I did: "WHAT??? you waited to the lady minute??!!"
(Which is really just what any mom would tell her kid. Your post was guilty by assocoation.)
I always find it incredulous that those who have no actual helpful advice (to answer a question) will still pile on and chime in anyway.
You're a good mom for being so patient with your son.

It's too late to try to do this now. I would email the teacher and tell them your son didn't do this assignment. He'll get an F and likely a lower grade. Next year have a better idea of how you will handle these assignments so they don't get unfinished in the future. And yes, I think its a bit much for a 7 yo but you should have addressed that with the teacher on day 1 when you first heard about it. Good luck.

We all procrastinate sometimes but try really hard not to wait until the last second for projects in the future. The beginning of any project is easy and in general the whole process should be fun.

I had my girls do it in steps when they were little:

1. Brainstorm for ideas
2. Settle on one idea
3. Sketch out what he wants the finished product to look like
4. Gather what he needs to complete
5. start putting each part together
6. Put all the parts together

Help him to learn to read and follow the instructions or expectations thoroughly. Don't put your own expectations on what you think he should end up with. Let him drive the process, you are there to help organize HIS ideas. If he turns in a project that clearly had a lot of thought and energy put into it he will do well. I doubt the teacher expects perfection, she likely wants to see him THINK.

PS I think it's great that you care so much and want to support him. I've seen a lot of kids present projects over the years who were clearly not supported or encouraged by their parents. Just being interested in his education and success is half the battle!

sorry not the answer your looking for lol but this is a very involved project for a 1st grader and I would call the teacher and say not happening.

My son did this in Pre-K two weeks ago. They had the same time frame, and got to create the product out of cardboard or some other material. he thought it was awesome, as did my 3 year old who created a "remote that can only zip through the boring parts of shows".

Updated

My son did this in Pre-K two weeks ago. They had the same time frame, and got to create the product out of cardboard or some other material. he thought it was awesome, as did my 3 year old who created a "remote that can only zip through the boring parts of shows".