Do you have a child who goes along with whatever you do, home-ed-wise, but who never fully engages?
A child who can't wait to be somewhere else - anywhere else?
A child whose most common phrases are 'Are we finished?' and 'Can I go now?'
Would your child choose to socialise all day, every day? Or perhaps would sit playing computer games endlessly?
Do they appear to retain little, if any, of what you do together, and make no apparent connections between all the different things they see or read or experience?
Do they ask you 'What are we doing tomorrow?'
and then five minutes later say 'So
what was it we were doing tomorrow?'
and then ten minutes later 'So what day is tomorrow?'
and then 'Are we doing anything tomorrow?'
and then 'Can I have a sleepover (if we're not doing anything tomorrow).'
Do you spend 5 weeks on "shapes" only to find they don't even remember how many sides a triangle has, and don't actually care?
Do they tell friends that you are
taking them on a boat holiday on the Nile, because somehow they've confused one of the longest rivers in the world with a local canal?
Do you give them instructions to do - or fetch - something, only to find them fishing tadpoles out the garden pond or decorating a cardboard box with marker pen. Even with several reminders, do they never quite get to the target (unless you actually follow them and prod them)?
Do they appear to have few noticeable observational skills, an absence of self-motivational urges to explore new things, no interest in anything you've organised, even if it involves a subject that you thought they were interested in.
Does self-directed learning not work because although they have the ability to poke holes in soil for an hour or generally noodle around for no apparent educational purpose, on the days when you have something urgent you need to get on with they hang limply to your ankles and declare that they are going to simply
die of boredom.
Do you occasionally sneak a side-glance at them and wonder 'Are the lights on? Is there anyone at home?'
Does it frustrate the heck out of you...?
