DD#1 has no love for learning and it is breaking my heart. She does exactly what she has to to “get by” in every aspect of her life (school work, chores, etc.) She does not enjoy any part of homeschooling, even when I allow her to pick the topic we are studying. It’s not like we are battling over HS, she just shows no excitement for it. She is passionate about not wanting to go to PS. She just wants to know when she can be done. When it comes to chores she is just constantly asking if what she has done is “good enough.” Frankly I am scared for her academic future as well as her work ethic.
This came to the surface lately because the girls are taking a Spanish class. DD#2 is loving it and putting a lot of effort into interjecting the Spanish words she knows into her daily conversations. For example over the weekend the two girls were playing a Dora computer game and DD#2 said “Mom, I just swung on a rojo rope.” I commented that it was great to hear her use her Spanish words at which point DD#1 said “And I just swung on an azul rope.” Before I could say anything DD#2 said, “That wasn’t blue, it was green.” DD#1 said, “I know, but I don’t know the word for green, just pretend that it was green.” I told DD#1 that green was “verde” and she then said, “Oh, well I swung on a verde rope.”
DD#1 was a late reader. Even though she is doing second grade work for every other subject, she is just starting second grade level reading. Even now that she is reading pretty fluently I never catch her reading. (We have been reading to her, and our other children, from the time we knew could hear in the uterus.) I respect that most of us have a hard time enjoying things that are difficult for us but the lack of interest is concerning to me. She has done all sorts of lessons and activities (soccer, gymnastics, dance, swimming, violin, Brownies, art) and while she was quite good at some of them she really didn’t care if she went or not. I don’t have any reason to think she is depressed; she LOVES social interaction such as playing with the neighbor girls or other HS kids. She is very extroverted and can go anywhere and have a new “friend” in a matter of minutes.
I really don’t want to make this about the differences between DH and me but I am a life long student who cannot get enough information. I am truly passionate about learning. I feel strongly that my life will not be long enough for all the things I would like to try or learn about. DH on the other hand does not necessarily enjoy learning new things, doesn’t know where he would like to see his career going, seldom reads unless it is a cookbook or newspaper. Should I resign myself to the fact that DD#1 is just more like her dad or is there some way that I haven’t thought of to “light the fire?”
This came to the surface lately because the girls are taking a Spanish class. DD#2 is loving it and putting a lot of effort into interjecting the Spanish words she knows into her daily conversations. For example over the weekend the two girls were playing a Dora computer game and DD#2 said “Mom, I just swung on a rojo rope.” I commented that it was great to hear her use her Spanish words at which point DD#1 said “And I just swung on an azul rope.” Before I could say anything DD#2 said, “That wasn’t blue, it was green.” DD#1 said, “I know, but I don’t know the word for green, just pretend that it was green.” I told DD#1 that green was “verde” and she then said, “Oh, well I swung on a verde rope.”
DD#1 was a late reader. Even though she is doing second grade work for every other subject, she is just starting second grade level reading. Even now that she is reading pretty fluently I never catch her reading. (We have been reading to her, and our other children, from the time we knew could hear in the uterus.) I respect that most of us have a hard time enjoying things that are difficult for us but the lack of interest is concerning to me. She has done all sorts of lessons and activities (soccer, gymnastics, dance, swimming, violin, Brownies, art) and while she was quite good at some of them she really didn’t care if she went or not. I don’t have any reason to think she is depressed; she LOVES social interaction such as playing with the neighbor girls or other HS kids. She is very extroverted and can go anywhere and have a new “friend” in a matter of minutes.
I really don’t want to make this about the differences between DH and me but I am a life long student who cannot get enough information. I am truly passionate about learning. I feel strongly that my life will not be long enough for all the things I would like to try or learn about. DH on the other hand does not necessarily enjoy learning new things, doesn’t know where he would like to see his career going, seldom reads unless it is a cookbook or newspaper. Should I resign myself to the fact that DD#1 is just more like her dad or is there some way that I haven’t thought of to “light the fire?”
She also likes the typical 7 y/o girl things, princesses, fairies, Littlest Pet Shop, Polly Pockets, etc. I have brought home books on all of these things and she will read them but is just flippant about them. I often pull out a stack of books at her reading level and have her pick what she wants to read but rather then look at the subject matter she looks at the number of pages, amount of words, etc. We have a HUGE children's library at our house (the book lover in me) but she doesn't actively search out books/information.
I was thinking the same things, but that was a lot more succinctly worded than I could have come up with.
Lilllian
