Ren Allen

" Should I say that stuff
sucks and is worthless or do I shut up and just do like I did
yesterday a.m.? My concern is that she may believe that I just don't
care, but I do care."

I wouldn't say a bunch of negative stuff about it, because it still
matters to her. That's ok right now. As you keep pursuing interests,
seeing the learning in EVERYTHING, she'll care less and less about it.

I might point out that she's learning really cool stuff without it,
but that's about as far as I'd go. Some kids just like that stuff and
I think you're far enough into trust that she's not getting the
message from you that it's more important than other kinds of learning.

I took Sierra and Jalen to the store with me last night because he
NEEDED a notebook and pen (nothing around here was "right") and she
picked out a math workbook. We looked at several K-1 math workbooks
(she said "I want an easy one") that had money/fraction or story
problem type stuff. She didn't like that. I kept thinking how stupid
it was to give kids story problems and fake money on paper when you
could just let them figure it out in real life much better!!
She chose a basic addition/subtraction book. Bought it with her own
money too (probably got more math out of the transaction than she will
out of the book, but ok).

I have no idea when or if she will pull it out. It might sit and
gather dust like other workbooks we have. But it meant something to
her last night, so we have another K-1 workbook. It's all good if the
parent is trusting the learning process and not making schooly stuff
the end-all-be-all in lieu of real life experiences.

Ren
learninginfreedom.com