Hi, I'm brand new. I found this forum by google searching.
I have a question about my oldest dd who will be 8 next month. She was in public school until the end of 1st grade and we started homeschooling this fall. She's very bright, advanced reading level and vocabulary, can hold a conversation with anyone about anything. Her spatial skills are not as well-developed, so math is hard for her. I took her out of school because she prefers to master a subject before moving on to another and because something that happened in class would upset her (mention of a spelling test, class in trouble for talking) and she would burst into tears when I picked her up, begging not to go back. Her separation anxiety was very high when she was gone all day.
She's never been a pretend play sort of person. She never saw the point of make-believe.
Finding her books to read is a chore. She can read a grade level above, but all those books are 200 or so pages, with chapters 20 pages each, and no pictures. She looks at them and thinks 'it will take me forever to get through that' and so doesn't try. We will spend an hour poring through the kids' books at the library, pick out two or three that look promising, and they sit on the shelf for three weeks.
She is very, very social. I am very, very much an introvert.
She could talk all day. I'm through by lunch. I know she needs/wants other kids, but I don't know how to find any more in this small town. Everyone's too bossy, too gregarious, wants to play instead of talk about big kid things.
She is always bored. A day at home is pure torture. Two days drives us up the walls. She has nothing to fall back on to entertain herself when I can't. If an activity is not super exciting she's not interested. If she goes outside she lasts no more than five minutes. She will pace the hallway, she reads over my shoulder when I'm on the computer. She has several e-mail pen pals and she checks for new messages five times a day, replying the moment one arrives. She is the first family member awake in the morning, greeting me literally bouncing with energy.
I do not know how to teach her something new in homeschooling. She's used to learning being easy? If she doesn't know how to do it from the start she is convinced it's too hard to try. Topics get met with 'this is boring!' even if she's requested to learn about it. She *does* love to learn, but when I hit the jackpot with an interesting subject the interest is gone in minutes. I've stopped buying her toys because she will beg and beg for something only to never touch it again once it's in the house.
This is purely my point of view. I know I should change it. But it's very frustrating to feel that you can never make your own child happy.
So, who's read this novel, been here, and can tell me how to keep my sanity??
My other two kids will play together for hours without a peep. How do you parent a 20-year-old 8-year-old?? Thank you, and I'm sorry my question jumps all over the place.
