As a result, he has an incredible body of knowledge (last night over dinner he told me all about Copernicus and Galileo)-- but, he has no work ethic at all.
He absolutely does have a work ethic; concerning things that engage him. Big difference. If you told me he spends most of the day at Waldorf rolling around on the floor, then maybe, I'd be worried.
Here's a good example. DD9 has WMI=98% and Processing Speed=99% and FSIQ=99.9%
She doesn't like to memorize things unless she deems it worthy and I mean, can connect it to something she uses. She had no interest in memorizing multiplication facts and I just assumed it was too difficult. Then she became interested in prime numbers and playing with factors. To me it seemed that she instantly knew all the facts overnight. In reality she then deemed the process worthy and *opened her mind* to memorizing. I have noticed that when she is not interested in learning something, she can literally close her mind to it and then it *does* become difficult or slow or impossible to learn. KWIM?
The great thing is that kids are still so flexible! Not like crotchety old me! It took a relatively short time into dual enrollment that this *mental stubborness*, I guess I'd call it, began to melt away.
As parenting goes, I think we have to really be on guard here. I had no idea how often she was *closing* her mind until I started working with her at home. Unfortunately, I really think this would have become an automatic pattern after awhile had it gone unchecked. I'm guessing the seed of underachievement had been planted far earlier than I would have imagined.
