We have been trying to educate my eldest child at home. We passed up a great charter school to educate her at home. However, my wife feels like she cannot go on doing this.

First is the difficulty. If my daughter grows bored, she just pretends like she can't do the work and cries. For example, she didn't want to do math, so she pretended that she couldn't count objects and say the correct number (six objects, and she insisted that there are seven). She cries during her lessons because she doesn't want to do the work.

Second is that my daughter is bored all day. She literally has been begging "to go to a government school" like her friends so she can "see them on the bus and at recess." We're having a hard time finding anyone locally for her to play with during the day. She won't do additional lessons or activities and just whines non-stop about playing with other girls.

My wife is at her wits end and tells me that she hates doing this, even though she was the one who made the final decision to homeschool!

When I've had to take over lessons during the day, my no-nonsense attitude seems to get us through lessons smoothly, but her boredom and constant whining is a real point of contention.

What do we do? She's already in four extra-curricular activities. Local clubs fill up fast, so she can't join those. There should be dozens of nearby families doing homeschool, but apparently not?

I have a bored child and an exasperated wife. Help!