Last year, he wanted to talk about infinity and a mathematical operation he invented called "zap". He says he invented zap to make an "easier kind of math". Examples: 2 zap 3 = 23, 4 zap 8 = 48. He even invented a symbol for zap--a little lightning bolt. Cathy
I like "zap" - find out what he does with a number like 258?
I was trying something similar with a 6 year old who asked me what did 20 plus 20 equal. I eventually persuaded her that if she knew 2+2=4, then she also knew 20+20, as well as 200+200, and 2 million+2 million. We got there eventually, but if I had had "zap" it might have gone smoother.
You know Cathy, what really cheeses me is the amount of time that the school spent trying to teach my son to act in ways that the other kids could enjoy. Those were valuable lessons, but I guess everyone but me takes it for granted that "of course" the gifted kid should be taught to fit in, because the NT kids can't be expected to figure out ways to have the kind of fun that the Gifted kid wants to have. Actually I think a fair way to do it would be to teach brainstorming so that all the kids could be involved with generating possibilities and then they could look for overlap areas, like scooters. One of my favorite IRL gifted friends says: "No two people enjoy everything equally. You have different friendships with different people and share different things depending on the person."
Best Wishes,
Trinity
