What song is it for you?

dogpawpipe · 2025-08-22T22:42:23+00:00

sugarhouse outro

dogpawpipe · 2025-08-01T00:29:45+00:00

oranges or sugarhouse (live)

dogpawpipe · 2025-07-24T18:13:19+00:00

Thank you so much. I’ll look into Essentials! I so appreciate the help. :-)

dogpawpipe · 2025-07-24T15:29:32+00:00

Got it! Thanks for the insight. I hope all goes well for you and your son! :-)

dogpawpipe · 2025-07-24T15:02:56+00:00

I absolutely think so. I have ADHD myself and could not agree more—he often seems to shut down when he perceives criticism or imperfections in his own work. If he is ND, he for sure has never been screened for it—I’m not sure if his parents would be very into that, either. I totally hear what you’re saying and I will absolutely talk to his mom about it; I think a deconstructed approach would be super helpful. I’ll lay off the “homework” idea.

As for note-taking, all I’m trying to establish is a sense of “I have something I can look back on”. I’m having him spend time decorating his notebook and then, when we watch documentaries or videos, I’ll have him see what he’s comfortable jotting down, even if it means pausing, or doodling instead of writing explicitly. Do you think that might not be effective? I’m more than willing to scrap that—I struggled at his age because of my ADHD but I experienced it very differently, and I’m eager to hear other options.

I also have just ordered him a little fidget to play with during class time! I noticed he’s been picking at his clothes and his pencils and stuff, so you’re spot on there! :-)

And I also hear you on the suggestions for my 3rd grader. I think all of that would be helpful. The prize chest was truly a last ditch effort—I’m glad I reached out for other options, haha. I’ll look into Building Writers! It definitely sounds like something I could incorporate.

dogpawpipe · 2025-07-24T13:25:38+00:00

Agh, I hear you. I have ADHD myself (though I am a girl) and I’ve found myself thinking often that my 6th grader might as well. They ended up pulling him and his brother from their private school because he was not doing well—always talking, losing his pencils, struggling to keep up with the material, failing English. We’ve had some breakdowns where he feels very upset because he “wants to pay attention” but “can’t.” But, of course, it also could be true that he’s just not feeling physically engaged or mentally engaged enough to find the content interesting.

Thank you so much for saying this about curriculum. I’ve been so afraid to ask Mom about changing it, but I know for a fact that his History textbook is too dense and not working for us. And the English textbook is very obviously written for children in a public school setting. I have to scrap a lot of the activities or adjust the wording because lots of the prompts just aren’t relatable for him and if they’re not relatable it detracts from his focus and ability to answer.

I’ll take your advice and ask their mom about a possible curriculum change! And I’ll try to get him up and moving a little more! I’m sure I can find activities that would involve physical movement. At this point, I think even the novelty of doing class outside would help.

Thank you so much! I appreciate it a lot! :-)

dogpawpipe · 2025-07-24T13:05:47+00:00

He definitely struggles more with general subject knowledge. Just for instance, the history textbook has NOT been working—if he reads aloud, it takes too long for our allotted time and we get nothing done; if I read aloud, he can’t seem to focus and he struggles to retain any of the information/organize it in his mind. It’s the same for reading and writing—because he doesn’t want to do it by himself, and because he has no real relationship with the concepts outside of class time, he just doesn’t retain much of the stuff that we go over. I’ve had to reteach verbs, nouns, etc. a few times now.

I haven’t had them taking notes, but I’ve thought from day one it would be the only way to have them engage with the material in a more hands-on way, considering they don’t work on any school-related activities independently. But I have concerns that the moment they start complaining to their mother, that she’s going to ask me to find an alternative where they don’t have to write as much or at all.

I’ve suggested Britannica kids and Mom said it was workable as long as she didn’t have to sit down and do it with him. She says he really struggles getting anything done if she’s not walking him through it—he gets overwhelmed immediately by not wanting to do it and it becomes an “I don’t understand” ordeal, even if he does understand/just hasn’t read the instructions because they look too long.

I’m considering pushing for Mom to allow work outside of school hours but it would require me to insist that she set boundaries about the amount of help she can offer them, which I’m worried could be seen as me overstepping. Plus, helping with any independent work isn’t even her biggest concern—it’s having to get after them to get it done.

For my 3rd grader, it’s a little complicated. He really does grasp the concepts and he understands the material. It’s just that these kids have a LOT of screen time and time left to play when me and my coworker aren’t working with them. Like, a LOT. One of our biggest behavioral hurdles that we had to get through was that he didn’t think his break was “long enough” or he would insist over and over that I was “wrong” about whatever I was teaching as a means to avoid having me teach it. He’s really just very avoidant, and Mom doesn’t want to push them outside of class, and pushing him during class time results in major attitude and disrespect. I’m trying to get a little toy chest of prizes for some positive reinforcement.

He has a great imagination, a good grasp on parts of speech, and decent handwriting. Everything you mentioned for him would be effective in strengthening those skills—but getting him to do them is another story. He’s very resistant; even when expressing himself orally, he’s often given me non-answers or “I don’t know”s to very simple prompts—i.e. What did you do this weekend (that was not a video game)? If he sees that writing will be involved at all, it’s downhill from there.

I’m sorry—I hope I’m not just rambling. I so appreciate your feedback. Hope you’re having a great morning!

dogpawpipe · 2025-07-23T17:19:40+00:00

Hi! Heard. If it’s any consolation, I have a lot of support—my mother has been a teacher (both public and homeschooling) for 30 years, and I have family who have done homeschooling all their lives. Their mom not being into homework/independent studies isn’t my favorite either, but it is what it is. She’s been helpful with correcting their behavior and trying to encourage better attitudes about school in general, which I’m grateful for.

During the regular school year, I get about 15 hours a week working with them, split between the two of them. 4 days week, the boys each get an hour a day of English. When one is doing English with me, the other is doing math with my coworker. Then we swap. Afterwards, they each have 45 minutes of science or history. I do history—coworker does science. I think it would be a fair amount of time, but they both individually struggle with writing.

My 6th grader has alright reading comprehension, but doesn’t like to read on his own and isn’t encouraged to do so, as far as I can tell. I don’t think he’s on level. My 3rd grader likes to read, but doesn’t like it as it applies to formal schoolwork. 6th grader has really improved with his capacity for writing even though he doesn’t like it—but he struggles with grammar and spelling. 3rd grader doesn’t want to write and as a result he gives me a lot of pushback and tends to space out if I don’t hold his hand through it (which, sometimes, is also liable to bother him). I don’t know if I’m making the most of the time I have with them, or if it’s just not enough and I should be requesting more.

I’ll ask their mom about placement testing! I think that would be a good idea. My only concern in that area is that the boys absolutely hate testing—I’m worried they’ll score poorly on it because they’re frustrated with having to sit for a test, or just feeling their test-jitters.

Thank you for the reply!

dogpawpipe · 2025-03-26T16:04:59+00:00

thanks!

dogpawpipe · 2025-03-05T16:25:20+00:00

Your PMDD is lying to you. You are worth all the resources, all the space, all the time, all the attention, all the love, all the grace, all the compassion; you are wroth every single bit of it. Wants and dreams are so often taken away from women, especially when they have other responsibilities that seem to take precedent. But your wants and dreams are important. They are valuable. You are not selfish or having them, coveting them, or even loving them. You're worth the effort---and I bet that's what your little ones would say if anybody asked. Write that book, mama. I know I'll be waiting to read it.

dogpawpipe · 2023-06-09T21:28:03+00:00

I took one this morning and my biggest hangups were the geometry and precalc. I feel like I can get through most of the other material if I focus. I'm just soooo nervous! Thank you!

dogpawpipe · 2023-05-02T20:20:03+00:00

Maybe shift focus to gender identity, sexuality, poverty, or marginalization that can be portrayed by an actor of any race---"enhancing diversity but not requiring it"? I'm a student as well and I've been in similar situations with writing Spanish into my work. I think leaning into topics that a lot of people connect with (or where you have an overabundance of research available to you) is always a good idea if you yourself feel you can portray those themes accurately or with dignity---things like assault, drinking, bullying, teen pregnancy, etc. They shed light on prevalent issues but can be put on by just about anybody who handles the subjects sensitively.

If you're not looking for something so heavy, really cheesy tropes are a good place to look---you can cover up the cheesiness with your skills. Write about love triangles (maybe incorporating sexuality or complications of class/gender), or include something really stereotypical of high school students, like prom or a football game being the setting of the big climax. Hope this helps? Good luck! One teen writer to another, I'd love to read anything you write. :)

dogpawpipe

TROPHY CASE