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If you DO homeschool, you may be surprised at how much Luke can do on his own, with the help of a good step-by-step guide.

That might work with Luke. It would never have worked with Jr.

And, no, I gave up math class a long time ago and have never looked back.

You want to know a secret?

I was a lazy and unmotivated student when I was, oh, 12. At least, I wanted to be. I decided that I hated school, and all I wanted to do was read novels. I tried doing the lousiest job I could get away with on everything. There were days when I'd get less than half my math lesson right the first time. I decided I couldn't learn anything on my own, without my mother spoonfeeding me.

Fortunately, my parents didn't put up with it. Dad demanded that I do 8 hours a day of schoolwork until I was over the phase - recorded in fifteen minute increments that he would check at the end of the day. Well... I had been used to 3 or 4 hours a day, and the rest of the time to myself. It took me a week to decide to change instead of hating my parents, and a couple weeks more to prove I was serious.

It's a lot easier to motivate a kid when you're the one who's checking the schoolwork. I see parents working so hard wit their public-schooled kids, but because they aren't the teacher, they just can't seem to get through. I think you're doing everything you can with Jr, and one of these days he's gonna thank you.