LOL at your yardstick comment. If I had responded a couple of weeks ago, I would probably have said that I am likely a little off but I don't think I am that far off. After a recent discussion with DS' math teacher, however, I am not so sure. According to him, DS is far above the 5th graders who are in the Pre-Algebra program. In fact, he made the analogy that DS is as far above the 5th graders in the Pre-Algebra progam as those 5th graders are above the "regular" GT 5th graders who are working on 6th grade math. AS DS is only 9 and the other kids are 10 and 11, the difference is actually more profound. I am stil trying to get my mind around his comments because I had not shared any of DS' test scores and completely did not expect his opinion. I guess I am still somewhat stuck on the DS is actually a verbal kid rather than a mathy kid loop.
Mmm, I saw you say somewhere that he wasn't visual/spatial in the way you think of mathy kids being. IME, professional mathematicians vary wildly, and interestingly, in their fundamental ways of thinking. Many of them, actually, think in what you might call a fundamentally verbal, audio-sequential, way. There is more than one way to be good at maths.
That sounds like a scary piece of feedback from your DS's teacher especially if you weren't really thinking of him that way. It would be interesting to know whether the teacher can articulate more about what s/he meant, and whether s/he thinks your DS needs more/different or is well served in this class.
When I want reassurance that there are kids more extreme in maths than my DS, I go and reread some of the stuff about the early life of Terry Tao. I recommend this strategy to you if you feel you need it ;-)
