Since I've gotten into a relationship with SO, I feel that SS8 and SS12 have at times pretended to be sick. However, lately SS* has been really going at it at least on a weekly basis. His complaints range from he has a "tummy ache" to he doesn't feel well.

Because his father is changing his work schedule next week, we discussed setting a routine with the boys so that I am not overwhelmed. Part of the schedule is that as soon as they come home, they will take a bath, do homework, eat dinner, clean their room, and prepare their uniforms for the next day, instead of watching television all day.

Currently SO is the one who usually helps SS8 with homework and I have stayed away from helping because SS8 tests my patience. He will try every excuse in the book not to do homework. He gets hungry, he gets tired, his head hurts, he wants to clean his room, etc, etc.
Yesterday was the first day I attempted to implement the new schedule (after SO discussed it with the boys). SS8 decides he wants to take a bath. When he gets out of bath, he asked where SO went (gym) and I told him. He then began to jump around and went for the remote. I told him to begin his homework. I asked him to see it when he was done. I began to test him on the spelling words and realized it would benefit him to go through the words again as he was having difficulty. We went through the words and I had him write down problem words 3x each.

When he was done, I asked him to begin reading for a half hour then asked him to write a journal about the reading. It was at this point I was done making dinner and I asked SO if he'd like to eat. He stated he preferred to eat together (all of us). I told him SS8 had just went into the room to begin reading. He said he could read afterwards. Wrong move.

After asking for a second helping of food, which I knew SS8 was not going to eat, he begins to "choke" on his food. SO of course, asks me to hurry and assess SS8. SS8 takes this as the cue to really go in on the sick role. I told him he was fine. SS8 continued to (in my opinion) fake cough for the rest of the night until he went to sleep, then no cough. Needless to say, he never did his reading (but of course was able to watch cartoon network until bedtime).

Again, the school calls today and the nurse states in a rather exasperated tone (he does this at least on a every other week basis), that SS8 sounded like he was vomiting. Mind you, SS8 continued to cough so much yesterday that he was literally making himself nauseas and sick. I notice he does this to try to stay home from school. Last night in his fit of coughing, I went with him into the bathroom to see if he'd vomit, but no, nothing. No fever, no diarrhea either.

Has this happened to any of you? How do you deal with a child continuing to pretend to be sick to avoid chores and schoolwork? And are there any other ways to determine if he is truly sick vs pretending? I'm a nurse, but not a bio parent so I'm trying to figure this out. I feel bad suggesting that he's not really sick, but you should see him the days we have taken him out of school early. He suddenly gets better once he's home! I'm not sure if he's doing this to get attention or what and I'm not sure how to handle this. SO knows how I feel, he says we should see how he acts today.

Please help!