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The teacher is complaining that your child is too young to be in the grade he's in while simultaneously complaining about having to make up extra worksheets just for him because he finishes the regular classwork too quick and easily.
She sees 1977 Star Wars for the first time on her 9th birthday and rationalizes, quietly, when the Death Star is fatally hit and lurches, sending everyone sliding and falling, "Hmmmm... well... maybe in *distant galaxies gravity's laws are different..."
DS7: Can I practice chess on the computer? DD's 6th-grade friend: Oh! I'm really good at chess. I put everyone in checkmate. Do you want to play me? Rest of us: (Tactfully worded comments about DS playing competitively and being good at chess for a 7yo) DD: (Looking at small goofy boy) No, let's play. I'm really good. DS: Okay, I'll play you. (10 minutes elapse.) DD's friend: Dang. (tips over king)
Also, here's an odd one: DD recently learned the Star Spangled Banner on her band instrument, and then I saw her playing it fluently on the keyboard (she has never taken any piano lessons and is not particularly musical in a traditional sense, but has been teaching herself keyboard). She did not have sheet music in front of her. I commented on this and she told me she remembers all the actual *notes* from the band sheet music (as in, the song goes "A g D e F G," or whatever--that's obviously wrong, speaking of unmusical) and can then play them on the keyboard, since she also knows which keys are which notes on the keyboard. This struck me as a completely strange yet DD-typical way to do it...
Oh, um... is that strange? Because that completely makes sense to me, and in fact, that has always been how I've approached things-- and, I suspect, so does DD, having watched her translate melody across instruments.
Depends on the population--in music school, this was most definitely not strange, as that community selects for people who can do this. And then there are others who remember all the notes by their "color" or timbre (not necessarily actual synesthesia, though that may be the case for some).
And still others who are like my #2, whom we took to a concert at age 4 (stayed awake for the whole thing, too, lasting until about 11 pm), then heard playing pieces from the concert on the piano the next day. Still can't read music though, several years later, despite my best (okay, more like indifferent) efforts to teach score literacy.
Sometimes I can't tell the difference between #2 playing on the piano and SO.
...pronounced like the long vowel and first letter of the alphabet...
DS7 was able to play on the piano the songs from this game called "Singing Monsters" when he was five, less than a year since he started learning piano. He did not read notes. All he went by was the sound he knew from the songs. He was also able to put a harmony using both hands. The longest piece he had to play in his recital was 10 pages long and he memorized all of them. However, getting him to practice is always a struggle
Your three year old memorizing the correct Icelandic pronunciation of Eyafjallajökull for fun. And then at seven or eight, the entire word and correct pronunciation of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch . There is a great video on YouTube for anyone who wants to learn:
Because that completely makes sense to me, and in fact, that has always been how I've approached things-- and, I suspect, so does DD, having watched her translate melody across instruments.