My 8 year old step son lied to me, again. Yesterday I was not feeling well and he did his homework on his own (easy stuff, copy spelling words) I asked several times if his homework was finished neatly and he was adamant that it was. This morning, I go to sign his folder and he informs me that he didn't do his work because he couldn't find it!!!! 😤 I am the one to communicate with his teacher, and am embarrassed about this kind of stuff happening!!! He has gotten 3 bad notes home recently. He is in the middle of being grounded for 2 weeks for lying and being bad at school, and now does this!!! My husband said he's too busy to deal with it right now!! Out of ideas to punish him, I made him chew on BAD flavored bean boozled jelly beans (and then spit them out) He was gagging and I felt bad. Already has no tv, no tablet, no video games, what else can I do? Biological mother is on meth, hasn't seen the kids in a month but promises she is coming to visit "tomorrow" every damn day, which I feel is drastically negatively impacting the kids.

I know stepping up and checking his work every night can help solve 1 problem, but I'm so so frustrated all together! Any advice or comments appreciated.