And he may be a bit of a nerd
The biggest thing is that he LOVES math.
He started showing signs of being ready to learn addition right after Terra was born. So I gave it a try, and he totally got it.
After he got good at that he learned to subtract.
And the crazy thing is that even though he was so young he really got it. Last winter we were learning about rocks, and we did a 'mining activity' that Parker loved (digging jewels out of play-doh) And after he pulled out a bunch he counted them and said he had found 21. I said "Well, I put 26 in there" and without even thinking he said "I need to find 5 more"
Yes, a three year old subtracting on-the-fly.
Then he found out that there is more to this wonderful math than just adding and septracking (how he says subtracting)
After he found that out he begged me to teach him multiplying, but I procrastinated teaching him. I tried to put it off because I thought he was too young to get it. And I honestly didn't want to be 'that mom' that pushes my kids too much and too hard.
He kept bugging me to teach him so I gave it a shot. I started with skip counting and it was pretty easy for him, and from there he pretty much taught himself to multiply.
He still only has a few memorized, but he totally gets the concept.
One day he was putting the days on this movable calendar we have (where you can velcro on the dates, days of the week and month) and we hadn't done it at all since July 1st (this was on the 27th of July) so he went to stick on all the numbers from 2-27. He first picked up the number seven and counted out six days to put it on the right spot on the calendar. Then he picked up the number 20 and put it in the right spot. When I asked him how he knew where it went, he said "Well, the seven is here on a Saturday and 3x7=21 so this Saturday is for the twenty-one and the day before that is for the twenty." I almost died! he didn't just happen to memorize that 3x7=21, but he really understood the application for it too.
Here's a little video I took of him telling me that he used 100 pegs to fill up the board while playing with battleship. Using.... you guessed it: Multiplication!
He then asked to learn to divide, I hesitated again. Then one day he got a new notebook (and he was so excited-even though it was just a regular old 70 page spiral notebook) He just sat around all day writing down math problems-- adding, subtracting and multiplying.
See what I mean when I say he loves math? He chose to spend nearly every minute of free time one day writing out and solving math problems!!
Anyway, toward the end of the day he convinced daddy to teach him to divide. Jason spent about 10 or 15 minutes with him. And now he can divide. Only simple numbers so far- but once again he understands dividing and fractions, at a beginner level.
Here's a little video of one afternoon I found him randomly doing division on the white board in our loft.
Yes, I know his writing in messy, and he writes half of his numbers backwards (and the dividing sign looks like a %) but keep in mind that this kid has MORE THAN A YEAR before he would normally start kindergarten. Which also puts into perspective just how smart this kid is...
Online I have found lists of what a Pre-K kids should know, and it says he should be able to count to 20. Well good thing we have 12 months to figure that out! (that last bit was sarcastic, if you couldn't tell)
I am seriously blown away by this kids and his math. Honestly, even if I hadn't already been planning to homeschool him, this would probably convince me to do it- in public school he would either be totally unable to meet his potential, or sent ahead three or four grades for math (which is not a good option, in my opinion)
Just to journal some of how Parker loves Math...
I got some new math worksheets printed out and when Parker heard that he dropped what he was doing ran over and looked through them all with me- he was practically drooling on them and asked me to let him do them.
Also, in Target last week he found multiplication flash cards for sale and he carried them all around the store begging me to get them for him. I compromised and got him a math BINGO game instead that is way more fun. And he only consented to putting the flashcards down because I told him with the game he could practice multiplying AND dividing. Who would have thought I would bribe a kid with the chance to divide?!?!
All day Parker asks me math problems, if we see a number he uses it to make up a math problem. So if he sees the box of diapers that says it contains 180. And asks me what 180x3 equals, or 180+10+10.
Or he'll just make up his own and try to trick me. (What HE thinks is tricky in any case) He'll say What's 90+10+1 (evil grin) minus 1? He thinks he is so clever coming up with a problem that has plus one and minus one in the same equation. He also does that with multiplying by zero. He'll ask me a whole series of numbers and when we get to the end he'll have me multiply by zero so that no matter what the answer is zero. For example:
Parker: What's 12+12?
Me: 24
Parker: What's 24x3?
Me: 72
Parker: 72+5?
Me:77
Parker: 77-22?
Me: 55
Parker; (trying to suppress a smile or laughter) times ZERO!
He loves that he makes me do all that work and the answer is still just zero.
Anyway, I love my little Parker... nerdy math genius or not!
