6 yr old very advanced in maths - what now?

[coffeeaddict]

I should start by saying that I find this whole 'gifted and talented' thing quite hard to deal with as the idea of being a pushy parent is anathema to me. I have two very bright older children, who are in top sets at a v academic London day school. So I do have some perspective.

DC3 who turned 6 in August has blown us all away. He thinks about nothing all day long but maths. He multiplies three digit numbers in his head, he comes up with his own 'times tables' (exponential series), loves negatives, decimals, prime numbers... We don't teach him any of this but he picks it up from his siblings.

I have lost all perspective on what is normal for his age group, but it is obvious he is off the chart. He is getting disillusioned with maths at school and although we have scheduled a meeting, I'm not sure they will be able to do much. They've said they've never seen anything like him before. However, what do we do? I don't want to push him down some 'early GCSE' route. I would love him to be able to explore concepts and ideas rather than learning an advanced curriculum.

He does plenty of outside stuff, plays the piano etc etc so we are encouraging that, but there is a part of him desperate to do maths and I want to let that bloom.

Does anyone have similar experience? Are there websites which will be lateral and creative? Organisations? I find it hard to wade through all the different websites selling different wares, when I'm not even quite sure what I'm looking for.

I am also not wild about him spending hours at the computer, but all the resources seem to be online.

Hope someone here might have had a similar experience. Thanks!

I'd probably get him some good Maths DVDs eg "The Story of Maths". I would also want to get some advice from a top school (I'd think St Paul's, Winchester or Eton). I also wouldn't bother about Maths GCSE yet (it will probably be a trivial hurdle).
I would also contact the NAGC, they even have a helpline.
Also try to encourage him in other areas, so ensuring his English is progressing, and his sport (maybe even encouraging him to think about the Maths in Cricket for example).

Wow! What a mathsy boy :o

I was a very mathsy kid and what I liked best was coming up with my own investigations - but by the sound of it your DS will be doing that anyway. I seem to remember being quite happy with school maths - I had extension group sessions, and worked on higher level stuff. My teachers were good at differentiating work for me, I hope yours will be too in the end!

The main thing IMO is not to just race ahead. I can't stand the idea of gifted youngsters ploughing through massive sums and nothing else... They may enjoy it, but they are missing out on a whole other world of maths - it is about breadth not speed. Seems like you and he are already doing that though :)

He clearly loves maths! My ds was/is very similar (now 10) and was/is years ahead of his peers at school, who have had to have specialist secondary teachers come and work with him since Year 2. It has become a little easier to deal with as he gets older in some ways, mainly because he has become more self directed but also interested in a broader range of subjects, but in others harder, as he has become acutely conscious he is 'different' and often wants to hide his abilities.

At age 6 ds loved Murderous Maths series of books, also the n-rich website for challenges. We tread a fine line between not letting him get too far ahead but keeping him interested and engaged. He has a maths tutor who he sees once a week and they do more 'fun' stuff as well as checking he does in fact understand topics thoroughly... (e.g. taught himsel algebra but missed a couple of crucial rules, because he taught himself age 6 iyswim!)

I am trying to encourage more reading and imaginative stuff at the mometn and playing musical instruments hs helped, particularly as he is now Grade 4 and needing to do quite a bit more practice. Uses up excess brain space!

Good luck.

I am very sure, there are many people had similiar experience here.
I would say:Absoluty make sure he understand every concept inside out, rather than the structured method.You didn't mention his reading ability, if its not matching his interest or ability in maths, that ,in my opinion is a area you need to work on, because it's eventurally reading to learn to make you outstanding. (Murderous Maths set is brilliant for gifted young mathmatian.) If he is so good at abstract concept, go wild! He may as well be fasinating in time, space, music, may crack music theory like a piece of case.

this nrich site is good for problems and discussions. I am not sure about the levels, but there are 5 different levels of games and problems. (as previously mentioned above)

Thank you everyone! I have already been to order some Murderous Maths books which I think he will adore and will look into the other stuff too. His reading is also way ahead but not a passion like maths.

Music theory is a very good idea! (I am a musician, so that's easy :))

Appreciate all the advice. It's nice to know there are others in a similar situation.

Hallo. Writing a chapter of book on g and t maths in primary school so v interested to read what various posters have said. Am director of NRICH www.NRICH.maths.org which is a free online maths resource for parents and teachers, originally set up for children of all ages who were bored at school and who deserve an enriching experience. There's no need to accelerate children into next year groups etc unless they are really off the scale; it's far better to widen and deepen their understanding of the maths they do know so that they will be able to make links, pose their own questions, and realise that maths is a creative subject. There are lots of stories of children who have been accelerated and then give up maths for ever...how sad is that.
Our January site is all about maths and sport, Febs will be about codes and code breaking. All the previous months are there too so there are about 7000 activities in all. Stages 1 and 2 are for primary pupils but some of the stage 3 might be suitable too. V happy to give guidance if anyone would like more specific info.
Happy new year!

Hey. I was/am in a similar position. Later on in school, I was lucky enough to attend a series of maths masterclasses at the RI. Don't know if this still exists, or if younger children can go, but might be worth investigating.

Also, another thought. Finding maths so amazing and intuitive made me much more nervous about other subjects-English mostly. Worth bearing jn mind that finding one thing so easy makes other subjects 'seem' harder...

That is such a good point about other subjects. He already defines himself by maths which I am a little uncomfortable with, so I will emphasise how good he is at stories etc, and encourage all those other subjects.

It is such a hard balancing act. I logged onto the n-rich site which seemed great, so thanks, and will look into masterclasses, that would be amazing.

As far as broadening rather than accelerating, that is exactly what I want to do. But he is SO far ahead. His peers are doing 2, 5 and 10 x tables. However much you broaden that out, it's never going to compete in his head with what's the square root of some 5-figure number that he's been thinking about all morning...

Please be careful with pushing forward too fast. In Yr 8 I was fast-tracked onto GCSE maths and gotover 90% in GCSE and AS, but now I am taking a year out because I hate learning maths from textbooks. If you cannot get a good, enthusiastic teacher to help your DS then I would be wary of letting his own enthusiasm drive him because you might end up sucking his enthusiasm away.

Similar situation here. nrich is great, as is "coolmaths" website (lots of games-enjoyment is most important). Problem solving is brilliant (tests interpretation of the question).

Certainly concentrate on other areas as my son is also starting to define himself through maths which is worrying (you cannot get far in lots of areas in maths alone...communication and explanation are so important).