I can not write that much, learning to do a rewrite, Barron's Painless Reading Comprehension

I am working with a child that has failed miserably at public school. He does not believe he can succeed.  He desperately wants to attend public school like a normal child. He neither wants to nor knows how  to put forth the effort to succeed. We are slowly, persistently working to change this belief.  It is like pushing a rope that does not want pushed.  He comes to my house everyday to homeschool. Without his parent's support and help, we could not succeed.  

We are in the process of working in the book, Barron's Painless Reading Comprehension.  He often tells me it is not Painless.  We are on page 99 with a selection by Charles A. Ohiyesa Eastman.  It is called An Indian Boy's Training.  We followed the directions and he wrote a page long letter to a friend about this selection.  It took a week to get a corrected rewrite done.  He came across as not wanting to rewrite the letter.  I am sure he thought it was unnecessary as this was more than he was accustomed to doing in the first place.  It took me a week to get him to rewrite the letter.  He was really pleased when it was finished.  I am not sure how much was a refusal to cooperate or how much was his belief that he could not succeed.  He can find many ways to avoid school and his delaying tactics are persistent.  I am determined he will succeed so I just keep being more persistent than he is.  He does much better than he did three years ago, but still has a long way to go.