I'll Take Homework for $100

It's hard to separate when to blog about DuckyBoy on my autism website and when to talk about him here. So much of DuckyBoy's life is centered around school that I sometimes feel I'm shortchanging this blog by having Autism and Public Schools also.

This story is more about me, and about DB as a person, than truly about homework, so it belongs here.

DB has trouble with homework. It's pretty rote, it bores him, and he often has trouble focusing on it long enough to get through a word or problem, let alone the whole page. I can't (yet) figure out the pattern of what makes him more or less distracted, so we struggle along.

Tonight he wanted to go to the park next door, so I told him the standard line: After your homework.

He did his "words of the week" sentences, but then ... up and down, here and there, play, bounce, talk, imagine ... finally I went looking for my kitchen timer. DB suggested his Tribot, which we set for 10 minutes.

He sat at his desk, pencil in hand, and started to ask questions:

What if he [Tribot] goes off and I'm not done? (Answer: As long as you're almost done, meaning more than halfway through the last page, we'll go to the park when you're done.)

And then: What if we get done and go to the park before he goes off?

The thought of this was So.Laughable.To.Me: that in 8 or so minutes he'd complete both math pages, one of which we'd already struggled to begin and set aside to come back to: that I burst out, "If you're done before that timer goes off, I'll give you $100."

He sat straight up and turned into a Math Wiz. I spent the next 8 minutes wondering if I was going to be able to pay him over time or if he'd demand the entire wad upfront...

Fortunately, Tribot alarmed on the 2nd-to-last problem. Whew!

DB tried to negogiate for a $98 payment, since he was so close. Fortunately, earlier we'd watched an episode of Fetch! with Ruff Ruffman where Fetch had stuck to the rule about some matter of points. So I had an ally in sticking to my guns.

I don't know if it was the surprise factor or the sheer audacity of the number or both, but it sure got him going! I'll have to think of something else for next time ... or else be prepared to cough up some dough when I miscalculate how fast he can work!