Bright or Exceptional?

[Browntile]

Would like others views on this if possible please.

Boy aged 4 and one month. Obviously not starting school until Sept next year.

Able to recognise numbers up to 1000.
Secure in number bonds to 20

Can name square numbers to 100 and understands concept of what a square number is
Knows 2, 3, 5 and 10 times tables and understands concept as well as some other times tables and can invert (divide) the same
sums.
Can answer questions such as 42+3 or 68-2
Recognises shapes such as pentagon, hexagon etc

Is this just relatively bright or quite exceptional? Thank you.

Exceptional. My DD is 3yr 7mo and is doing quite well when it comes to maths. She can count to 30, recognises 2 digit numbers e.g. 67, can add/subtract one and sometimes 2 e.g. 8+1. The thought of her getting square numbers in 6 months is crazy!

I swear my kids and I are of bovine intelligence compared to MN parents

Sorry to derail. Still CRYING over this.

I don't think I knew what a square number was (or able to recognise them on sight, at least) until I was at least 10.

I swear my kids and I are of bovine intelligence compared to MN parents

Lol yes, me too! My 7yo can't do all that's described above.

My kids are bright - that sounds exceptional to me.

If he has the conceptual understanding behind it then that would be exceptional then.

I'm wary of saying that in threads like these because there's quite a few threads where parents seem to think reciting facts (usually maths) makes their child a genius who should be educated out of year.

You seem really grounded OP and that probably increases the likelihood of him excelling as a well rounded child.

My ds is exactly the same (even same age). He seemed to learn it all from numberblocks as well. His nursery seem to think it's exceptional. We have no idea what to do with it, bar encourage him. Lots of parents have accused us of hot housing him and it couldn't be further from the truth

Thanks all. I too am pmsl at bovine!! 🤣 I am def more bovine than exceptional! Particularly with numbers!
I did think he seemed quite exceptional so I’m relieved you mainly agree. He is most likely going to go to the school my elder two attend/attended but I will certainly speak to them about how they stretch/accommodate able children. I do worry boredom would be a factor too. I also worry there’ll be a whole generation of mini geniuses just because they watched too much Numberblocks! 🤣

The cult of Numberblocks

Numberblocks is really good though, got to be said.
I wouldn't mind if school had all children up to maybe Y1 or even Y2 watch an episode of Numberblocks every day.

Not to replace their usual quality maths teaching of course! In addition.

I think it's great, it looks fantastic as well.

It is also almost certainly the reason I have been trying to work out how to explain the concept of infinity to a 4 year old

Sounds exceptional to me!!

I do agree that Numberblocks is amazing. We love the magazine too. I always thought they were quite pricey but actually if you sit down and go through it and do all the activities they’re pretty good value. I think some schools do watch it in reception which I think is great. Alphablocks! Is great too. Sadly it seems by the time DS starts reception he’ll be needing QuantumPhysicsBlocks 🤣

Could have written this about my 4yo. Down to the bit about probably getting most of it from Numberblocks!

Definitely sounds exceptional to me.
I'm not altogether confident my ds1 could manage everything on your list, and he's 22

My DS was four in August and is bright (definitely top third of his class, despite being one of the youngest.)

He can count to twenty, and has been able to since he was nearly three, he struggles to get to one hundred but will do it with quite a lot of help (he understands the concept but can never remember if sixty comes after fifty etc). He can do simple sums like 3+2 by counting on his fingers. He can recognise all the simple shapes and some of the three dimensional ones and can get pentagon and hexagon on a good day.

I'd say that's what a normal bright child looks like - what you're describing sounds exceptional to me.

The reason people are being cautious is that children's brains are very elastic up to about seven, so what looks like exceptional now may be overtaken by a harder worker at eight. Also that level of mathematical knowledge may be linked to something else - eg one very mathematically gifted child turned out to be synaesthetic around numbers, which was great in primary but fell apart in secondary as his synaesthesia didn't extend to algebra. Similarly a child with an autistic obsession might choose to learn numbers instead of words.

But yes, I've never met a four year old with anything like that level of number knowledge - it's definitely not normal!

Clearly I've been failing him by putting on Hey Duggee instead of Numberblocks ... I think they do watch it in his Reception, though.

Most children just aren’t exposed to that sort of maths at that age. Where has it come from?

That's surely exceptional? I'm not exactly a genius but I am reasonably bright- I was straight A student, first class law degree etc but my 3 yr old daughter shows no signs of being bright at all!! In fact, compared to the posts on here, I'd say she's below average 😬

Do they really explain square numbers on numberblocks?

I’m so glad my comment about bovine intelligence amused you all 😁

Bovine is one of my very favourite words; guaranteed to lighten any situation

IRL - exceptional

On MN - distinctly average. Have you thought of a tutor to fill in the gaps?

Except when linked with “spongiform encephalopathy”.

They do explain square numbers on Numberblocks, and yes I do think there’ll be a few Numberblocks fans who rock up at school in each year group and confuse the teachers for a while. The explanations are really good and if children are paying attention to it, they’ll pick up a lot.
@Dinosforall There’s an Open University 60 Second Adventures in Thought video about infinity (Hilbert’s Hotel), that your 4 year old might enjoy. It’s on YouTube.

He sounds similar to DS1, who I would class as bright rather than exceptional. I would make the distinction between grasping concepts easily and intuitively when taught, and discovering concepts spontaneously.

DS1 was summer born, and his school didn't really know what to do with him. Yours will be a year further ahead, so that will make the gap even bigger. We never really worked out a good solution for school - tried a mixture of acceleration and additional stretch in his own class, but each has its drawbacks. He's at secondary now and finally has others on his level.

Nrich is brilliant for material for problem solving and enrichment without just motoring through the curriculum.