"I did it at school..."

Does your child ever answer your inquiry about tonight's homework by saying "I did it at school"?  It sounds reasonable that a teacher may have given students time to work on that night's homework at the end of the class and that being the smarty-pants he is, your kid actually finished it.  So let's say that actually is the case, he did finish it at school.  What happens to that assignment between today's class period and tomorrow's class period is often a mystery to many parents.  Your child tells you he did the work.  You want to believe him.  But then it shows up as missing in the online gradebook.  What can a parent do to prevent this from happening?  We suggest the "show me rule."  If he did it at school, it should be in the folder designated for homework to be turned in. (If your child does not have a folder designated for this, that is a whole other issue and will be dealt with in another post.)  If he can't show you the work, chances are he either didn't really do it or he has already lost it and won't be able to find it tomorrow when it's time to turn it in either.  We suggest making him redo the assignment.  If he really did do it, he will be more careful about where he stores it, thus improving his organizational skills.  If he didn't do it, he won't tell you that he did because he knows you'll make him do it anyway if he can't show it to you.  The "show me rule" is a tried and tested winner, we promise.  Try it and let us know how your child reacted!