I decided to start teaching John Paul addition the other day, since he's had mastery of numbers for months now. We used his little magnadoodle to help get the basic vocabulary down - plus sign, equal sign, etc. Obviously the short attention span doesn't help, so we talked about "Plus 1" for a while, and what that means. He didn't get it immediately, of course. We used fingers, plastic easter eggs, coasters... And then I thought we were done for the day.
Until I heard, "Addin'! Pwus one EQWUWS! ADdin'!" Finally I realized he wanted to do more addition! He brought me the magnadoodle and basket of eggs and we practiced some more. He's been asking for more "ADdin'" several times a day since, but even with the number line I printed out, it hasn't quite been getting into his head.
Yesterday at Target, though, we found some addition flashcards in the dollar section. Those were his "treat" that he got to play with while we were going through the store. It was a little ridiculous how happy they made him - "PWUS one EQWUWS!!! ADDIN'!!!" And then he started "getting" it... He sat through the entire grocery section talking to us, saying, "One pwus one eqwuuuuuuws... TWO! AND! Two pwus one eqwuuuuuuuws... FWEE!" And so on and so forth up through 22 +1, which was apparently his limit.
Sometimes I'm sad that he's so huge for his age, because it doesn't look as impressive when he does these things and people think he's 3. But I suppose that would be impressive for a 3-year-old, too.
I have a feeling that if we end up not being able to homeschool him, he's going to be a little bit bored once he gets in a real classroom...
Just another Catholic mom blog - crazy, blessed, happy, silly!
He doesn't go beyond 22+1? What a waste. Throw him away.
ReplyDeleteI mean, good heavens. This is completely ridiculous. This kid is not just incredibly smart. He also loves to learn and is hungry for more no matter how much you give him, it seems like. Well, no, not quite, because he does savor what he's learned for a bit and then tries to get more. So cool!
And yes, speaking as a former smart kid -- okay, nowhere near as smart as John Paul, but still -- I was bored. That's why I did relatively badly in high school. I never studied. Why would one ever study? Everything comes naturally. If it doesn't, give up and do something that does. It's always easy to find something that comes easily. I'm not alone. There are lots of bright kids like that, kids who were never (or rarely) challenged.
But if you can keep him challenged, he will never ever be like that. And of course that will be much better for everybody, not to mention lots more fun for him!
I know what you mean about how he looks older. My niece is 2 and 9 months and she looks like she is 4. People ask her questions, but she doesn't even talk yet.
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