Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion The ultimate brag thread

Today DS 5's piano teacher who is new to us this semester accompanied him to the parent's area. She has been teaching for many years and is a woman of few words so I thought her prescence signaled impending doom. Instead she told that me DS was better at sight reading than any student she had ever had that was twice his age. Now, if he would only practice!

In mathematics, DS's grade finally caught up with his age, now both 7!

I'm surprised how little new material there is in these courses. It seems that for middle school math in the U.S., Universal Education has been replaced by Universal Remediation!

I read all of these and like all of these very much, I wish there was a like button to click on! LOL

DS5 started Parkour lessons yesterday. If you don't know, it's kind of like running with style, jumping over things. At very very advanced levels, you see these people jumping from rooftop to rooftop.

The class is technically for 6-12 year olds, but he's pretty advanced physically, so I hoped he'd fit in (especially since he has friends in this class) rather than have to go to the "baby" class.

He rocked it. There were some structures that were just too big for him to get up on by himself (It was almost as tall as he was), but he really stuck to it. When they had a bit of free time, I saw him give this one box that was hard for him a few extra times. He never gave up, even when things were difficult.

Today, I called the instructor and asked how he thought DS did, and he said, "He did great. I even saw him trying out a few moves I haven't taught yet."

This is not a brag as much as it was just a moment of achievement for us: DD9 came up to me this morning with a plan for an invention that she wanted to make. She had a materials list, the instructions, a diagram.

I told her I would take her to the hardware store to purchase the items on her material list that we did not readily have on hand, which were two magnets.

As we were shopping at the store for the magnets, DD looked at me (perfectionist) with anxiety and said: I don't think we should buy these, what if my invention doesn't work.

I calmly told her that inventions are not guaranteed to work, failed test results are legitimate and should be logged in order to make corrections to the plan and retry toward success. Not all inventions are successful, but we never know unless we try.

Her anxiety left and excitement returned. She has to use the drill for her invention so she can't start creating until DH gets home, but I am so happy to see her follow through of her own accord in the face of impending uncertainty. Normally she would have quit.

DS5 genuinely freaked us out by saying "Can I show you this chess opening I invented?" and proceeding to show us not just an opening, but what must be 20+ moves, at lightning speed. He can repeat this feat easily. It is a good opening, though obviously he cannot rely on his opponent to do what he wants him/her to. I have to wonder if the opening is based on/derived from any real openings. This was one of probably 3-5 times in my parenting life when I was literally struck dumb because otherwise I was going to spout obscenities of amazement.

Oh, thanks (blushing). The invention (really more of an experiment) worked! So this entire event was a huge payday for her. Feeling blessed.

DD4 made her very first knock-knock joke. Here it is
Knock Knock.
Who's there?
Gray
Gray Who?
Great to see you!

That's great - my DD went through a knock-knock phase followed by a fascination with puns and homonyms/double entendres.

It was kind of painful and cute at the same time to watch her experimenting with what works and what doesn't. The glee followed by the crestfallen look when she realised that she hadn't quite nailed it yet and the 'joke' had fallen flat was wierdly priceless.

My DS6 made it into the USCF Top 100 players age 7 and under! He is currently #82, but this ranking is based on his USCF rating from last month. His rating has since gone up significantly (like 100 points), so he will probably remain on the list and go up in ranking next month.