finding individual strengths

I've been thinking about this all school year. Melissa is NOT a bookish child, but she tries so hard to enjoy schoolwork and find a subject that she's good at. It bothers her so much when Lydia gets a concept that she's struggling with, so I had to split them up even with the lessons they do together. Its more work for me, but I'm fine with that as long as they learn at their pace and are confident. However, I still am on the hunt to find what each individual girl is strong in, and what she enjoys. It is important to me personally to find that one little spot where they truly shine. Here is what I've discovered so far from doing this.

Lydia is a fairly easy to teach kid. She loves history and geography, and does really well in it. Phonics and language arts is a breeze for her, and same with math. She gets a concept very quickly and has incredible retention. However, she is NOT an organized sports kind of girl, she prefers the fine arts for physical education instead (stuff like ballet is right up her alley, however she does well with almost any sport she tries)

Melissa has been a difficult child to figure out. She is not an academic child. She thrives on sports, the outdoors, and anything that gets her really moving. She has trouble with reading, and isn't very coordinated. She also is nearsighted and needs to wear glasses, as well as being left-handed. Figuring her strength out has been more difficult in the academic arena because its just not something that really is her thing. She likes doing worksheets and writing, and has wonderfully creative ideas for stories and songs and such. She's also very interested in music like I am. She is just starting violin lessons with me, and already shows great potential. However, with academics I had to look at her strengths in a different way. She is ok with history, she enjoys it but doesn't really get excited about it. She can take it or leave it. Phonics and language arts, I don't even need to explain that one I think. However, when it comes to math she not only does well, but she enjoys it as well. Right now we are working on subtracting from numbers up to 6, and she's doing great. She did two lessons within 25 minutes today, she is currently doing her test for the second lesson. She has yet to get a NOT perfect score on a math test, and I highly expect her to finish her math book by Christmas at the rate she's going.

My girls may be only 12 months apart in age, but they are so drastically different in strengths and what they enjoy. I am so happy to have this opportunity to teach them myself, and work to their strengths like I can.