Education & Work Smart kid

My nephew starts Kindy next year. This is what he does for fun…. Apparently he worked it all out in his head, and quickly too…. I think he reads at the year 3 or 4 level too….

 

And if you are wondering, his handwriting is still very much at a preschooler level. This is his dad’s writing on the board.

 

Just don't tell him that.

The learning myth: Why I'll never tell my son he's smart (article) | Khan Academy

 

With his shadow on the wall can he do a bunny rabbit?

 

Has he been getting tutoring? Or is he a genius?

 

Does he know when daylight savings starts?

 

No tutoring. He goes to 2 childcare centres (so he doesn't get too used to just one) and I suppose parents help (but don't push). A few months back he surprised his preschool teachers when he started reading a book to the class, the teacher thought it was his book, but it was just a random one he selected in class and hadn't seen before.

No idea! His mum's birthday was yesterday though, and the kids decided it wasn't a day to sleep in. Ps. His recently turned 2yo sister is super adorable!! Loads of food allergies though.

 

I can't even work that out with a calculator!

 

He is now in year 1. (6 years and 5 months old) Entered a chess competition (he'd only played for 5 months) and beat a kid in year 9 in a friendly game, and other players in years 5 and 6.
Anyway, his parents got him evaluated.
He's at the year 6 maths level in year 1. And who needs spelling anyway

 

For fun he has memorised pi to 100 digits.
Anyway, the plan is he’ll skip year 2 and go straight to year 3.
Don’t want to skip more right now due to emotional maturity.

 

I skipped year 7. I did year 6 twice.

 

Wow, straight to Yr 12. A talented crowd.

 

I have taught a bit and I am wary of young kids being very proficient in maths.

Scratch the surface and you have very demanding parents who are pushing them to learn instead of building the emotional connections they need at that age.

Inevitably their school mates catch up and the kids confidence gets smashed. As they spent their childhood learning equations instead of playing they also suffer from lack of emotional intelligence.

 

It's the child who is the one who is driving this, not the parents! The school is good too, it's not "normal" so hopefully they'll keep supporting his learning.

One issue is, he gets on better with older kids than kids his own age, unless there is some sort of common interest.

I spent my whole year 6 bored cause my school was small and I was in a composite 5/6 class, but the teacher pretty much gave us year 6 students nothing to do the whole year.

 

Got another one. (Actually, all my nieces and nephews are amazing in some way).
Niece in year 11. How the heck do you paint glad wrap?

 

Similar....I was in a very small school, and the 5/6 room had a fire. For TWO YEARS we were in the library and we had to work through some kind of program books, often by ourselves. Once you finished one, you went onto the next. I was a good kid, and pretty intellegent, and just sat & did what I was told. Got through most of them. Most of the class just did nothing.

 

That's so bad all around.

Anyway, yes, for mine, we were given nothing simulating or challenging to do by the teacher. The year 5's were the majority of the class and there was only about 6 of us who were year 6 in that class so the teacher left us to fend for ourselves. Every other year 6 student was in another class. One day we had to sit in the other year 6 class. They had a challenge on the blackboard. Maybe it was up there for a week?

Anyway, the teacher asked I anybody knew the answer, and I knew the answer instantly - it was because months are typically ~4.3 weeks long, not 4 weeks. I.e. Each quarter of a year is 13 weeks, not 12. So I answered it in class.

I needed more stuff like this - that is interesting. And actually has large implications for the practicalities in life - fortnightly pays vs monthly (26 vs 12 pays per year), and fortnightly home loan repayments vs monthly.

Anyway, side note, Qantas professional staff are going from fortnightly to monthly pays - and it's going to mess up some money management for some staff. (Conversely, my old workplace went from monthly to fortnightly.... geez, that was really nice for that short time!) Anyway, imo fortnightly is better. Can offset loans with higher frequency and for people living pay cycle to pay cycle.... I don't know how they'll cope if their money comes in only monthly. Might spend it all upfront then have nothing to live on for 3 weeks....
Anyway, not much else happened in my year 6 year.

 

Teaching has changed since I was at school and even more so since my lot were at school. My son commented recently he would love to do high school again and have the choice of subjects that are available now.
As to clever kids - your nephew will need careful handling from parents and school as he grows. I hope he has siblings so he remains 'grounded'.

 

Any ambitions to become a butcher

 

He has a younger sister. And yes, that's a good thing! His sister was diagnosed with loads of allergies, including wheat. So, when discussing what they were going to do for Christmas when he was in preschool...


Same thing I agree re range of subjects. My niece came back and the things they could choose to study years 9 and 10... omg! I'd be a kid in a candy store! Note, going to a school with loads of other students gives that opportunity imo. You won't get that if you have a small student cohort.

This niece, I don't know! She certainly is very creative, and her art has a definite quirkiness to it, very different and imaginative.