Homework perseverance with a smile!

It finally happened last night!  My own 8th grader had a challenging math problem that he refused to stop attacking!  At 9:00 p.m., I asked him if he was almost done with his homework.  He told me he was on the last problem.  He said he had been working on that one problem for 20 minutes.

But when he said it this time...I didn't hear frustration.  I heard anticipation!  I heard excitement!  He worked on it for another 30 minutes.  He tested and tried several solutions!  This kid will work for hours and hours to perfect a soccer move, but not a math problem.  I don't know what little intrinsic motivator caused him to persevere this time, but it was fantastic to see it!

After almost an hour, I really wanted to tell him to go to bed!  Instead, I said, "I love that you aren't giving up, but you are allowed to put that problem on hold so you can get a good night sleep!"  He just smiled and kept at it!

I am looking forward to hearing about his results tonight!