My child does not listen or pay attention

[Stepmom-1]

My step son (aged 10) is having a hard time in school. He is a level below everyone else in language arts and literature. I am doing everything possible to help but it's like he doesn't care. Ive tried taking away everything, giving him chores, tests, books, offering rewards, the list goes on. For example, he's having problems with homophones. I made these tests for him to do to teach him and kept making them until he aced them, no problem. Now, only hours later, he's forgotten everything. We're having him read "The Magician's Nephew". After each chapter, he must write down what he read so we can see that hes paying attention. He puts down the book (each chapter is only about 10 pages long), picks up his pencil, and has forgotten everything he read. It takes me hours upon hours to do one chapter. We start first thing in the morning and by 7 pm he's read 2 chapters. I am losing my patience and i don't know what to do. He's only with us for a couple more weeks and I'm worried he'll revert back to the way it was before as soon as he steps foot in his mom's house. We dont want him failing school, but he doesnt care, he doesnt even try. He told me one time hed rather be a Walmart greeter than go to college. He told me he doesnt get to play XBox after reading so he doesnt care about it. What do i do?? How do you get a person to care? Help me please!

[Claire-RO]

Hi @Stepmom-1 

Firstly welcome to ReachOut. 

Thank you for being so open and sharing your experiences here. I can hear that you are really supportive of your step son. It can be really challenging motivating young people when it comes to school work. You also spoke about only having him stay with you a few more weeks, which I can imagine makes things even more difficult. There will be other members here that have had a similar experience.

You have said that your step son is 10,  here on the parent forum we are focused on supporting parents and their young people aged 12-18, however you may find this resource helpful as a way to open up a discussion with your step son about school and what motivates him.

You are not alone