jrichstad Posted June 20, 2021 Share Posted June 20, 2021 lose their academic motivation for a while around puberty?? My DD is super bright (tested sort of low gifted a couple of years ago) and has always loved history and science. Over the past year, her academic output has just CRATERED. I know we've had a pandemic, but it honestly didn't affect our daily routine all that much and so I hesitate to knee-jerk blame that. It's like pulling teeth to get her to do anything, and what she does is usually half-hearted. As far as I can tell, she's not depressed, and she's happy to practice piano and oboe and she gets plenty of exercise, etc etc. She just doesn't want to do anything academic, even though she has big academic goals (dual enrollment as soon as she can, APs, etc). She's turning 11 soon, but she had a diagnosis of precocious puberty for a few years and started her period about 8 months ago. I guess my question is: how much do I push her right now, and how much should I just accept that this is normal and trust that a year or two will re-engage her? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shoeless Posted June 20, 2021 Share Posted June 20, 2021 Yes, very normal. It happens with boys, too, in case she has a younger brother! My son put forth really half-hearted effort for awhile. It's been almost 18 months, and it seems like he's coming out of it a bit at nearly 13. He went from choosing to read non-fiction for several hours daily, to reading nothing more complicated than Archie comics. 😕 It has been a time of "Do the next thing in the book", and not much beyond that. I honestly don't think I would have gotten more out of him if I had pushed. I kept offering opportunities for more art projects or non-fiction reading, and tried not to take it personally when he'd decline the offers. Basically, we kept to my minimum daily standards and I didn't push beyond that: math, history, grammar, science. He read one lesson a day, no more, no less, and that was it for the day. 😕 His voice has started changing and he's getting broader shoulders, and suddenly is interested in reading history and math for fun again. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HomeAgain Posted June 20, 2021 Share Posted June 20, 2021 Normal here, too. What works for us is a constantly shifting balance of independence and oversight, and heavy activity. Oldest ds went on hikes and biked everywhere, and had minimal school work for a year or so. I never wavered on the standards for the school stuff, though, and there were times he did repeat exercises. Youngest ds is a slightly different, but same approach. He does heavy skating, biking, and hiking, and functions only when on a good routine. Changes to the routine, any part of it, require 6-8 weeks of oversight to get the standards back on track for everything, because if one thing changes he is at the age where he's willing to see if any of the rest of it changes, too. Case in point: we're in week 6 of our summer routine. This was the first day ds got up, completed everything except what he needed me to do, and only needed to be reminded about the standards twice. Every other day has been an "I forgot" (no, you didn't. There's a checklist right in front of you every time you go to the bathroom) or a "do I have to!!?? (why, yes, you do. That's why it says EVERY day on it) Tell you what, though. I took that child on a 3 mile hike through the woods yesterday, and made him go bike another two miles, and it definitely influenced today! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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