Only books?

I don’t know what state you are in, but in my state, we are required to teach the 3 R’s.  And I think that’s wise.

Reading is wonderful and it sounds like your daughter is doing really well with learning that way. But, in real life, she’ll need other skills, too.

And, as much as I see the great benefit of letting their passions run wild, discipline is an important part of their education, too!.

I’m curious, Noemi, is your daughter half-hearted about all of the subjects, or just doing what needs to be done to *work* on those subjects?  That is, if you do want to give her a reading-based education, could you do so by alternating the subject matter you’re listening to?  There are so many wonderful books about so many topics, perhaps it would be possible to listen to fiction, nature lore, science, history, music and books about music, books about art and artists, dramatic presentations, folk and fairy tales, Bible if you are a Christian….you get the idea.

I am not disagreeing with previous posters who encourage you to give her a variety of skills and exposure. But if she loves to listen, is giving great narrations, and this is what you want to focus on for now, I’m just pondering ways that might be possible. You do want to help with the habit of diligence, so that she’s not avoiding things just because she’s in the habit of avoiding them. There are *definitely* subjects all three of my girls would have avoided if they could have. In those cases, I would ease in VERY SLOWLY, with very short lessons and small expectations. Then you can work up from there. For instance, with my current (and only remaining) daughter, 9yo, the physical act of writing is something she would generally avoid if allowed. In the beginning of her writing anything more than the alphabet, I would literally only require her to write one word. She has steadily worked up from that to being able and willing to write more. She still doesn’t enjoy it, exactly, but she does it and is pleased with her improvement over a couple of years. Perhaps something like this would be effective for your dd.

Just as a little side note, if you haven’t had your daughter’s eyes checked, you might consider it. Sometimes a reluctance to read for herself or write can be related to needing vision correction.

Does your daughter like to do things while she’s listening?  Could you do art/sculpture, handicrafts, color in educational coloring books, practice handwriting strokes, build things, even taking a walk, all *while* listening to different books?

Also, when you say she is half-hearted about “activities,” do you mean things like crafts and all the extra activities that are sometimes included as part of curriculum?  If so, my suggestion is to drop those things that aren’t necessary. I have graduated two students, and my perspective on all the crafty bits is that they are a bunch of busywork and generally not valuable, taking more time to set up and do than they’re worth. I know many parents and students love them, but if your student doesn’t (or you don’t, which is just maybe the perspective I’m coming from here 😛 ), don’t let that bother you.

Well, this is a novel, but reading about your struggles, plus having a 9yo dd myself, got my mind whirling. I hope something of what I’ve rambled about may be useful to you. And I hope lots of other ladies respond, because these SCM forum ladies are so helpful!