My nephew is exceptionally brilliant and motivated. He is currently a sophomore studying pre-med at Caltech, carrying a 4.2 GPA and his research has already been published in medical journals. If he keeps this up he will be a strong contender for valedictorian. I am so proud of him and have high hopes for his future.
When I asked my sister what they did she said “we always treated him like an adult.†They let him play with real objects rather than just toys. For example, when he was two he was allowed to hammer real nails with a real hammer into a real board. When he was a toddler they used sophisticated language with him rather than baby talk. By his third birthday he regularly used words like “plethora.†He learned to read shortly after his third birthday. When he was a preschooler they gave him complex scientific answers to the why questions. She said the first time would he ask “why†about something they would give him a simple answer, but if he immediately asked “why†again she would keep giving him more information until his curiosity was satisfied. They even told him where babies really come from. By the time he was ready for grade school he was far ahead of the other children. As for discipline, they never ever punished him but relied on natural consequences and mature discussions to help give him the information he needed to solve his own problems. They never underestimated his intellect.
He started grade school along with the other 5 year olds and was admitted to a very competitive private school that is renowned for its academics. This was supposed to be the best school around and my sister found they were dumbing down their lessons. The pulled him from that school in the second grade and started homeschooling. This allowed him to maintain his advantage and gave him the time to cultivate diverse interests. It would only take him a couple hours to get through his lessons then he could spend the rest of the day on hobbies. He is very well rounded intellectually and socially.
. At what age did your mother start the program with you?
I believe she said when I could sit up, so that would have been around 6 months.
As someone asked, we you also taught math the Doman way?
No, at that time, I believe the only book available was the reading book, and it was pretty primitive compared to now.
How long were you taught with the Doman method?
Until I entered Pre-school.
Was it combined with any other methods as you grew up?
My mother would take me to museums all the time and really did a great job of exposing me to different places.
Could you share your academic journey with us?
My elementary experience was horrible. I was taught nothing by my teachers who were unequipped to educate me because I was so advanced. I was on a fifth grade reading level when I entered the first grade and on a third grade math level. No school was willing to skip me because of the social ramifications. They put me by myself and gave me work to do. When I was in the third grade, I was put in MGP (the mentally gifted program) in public school. That was OK, but once a week was not enough. For junior high I was put in a public school for the mentally gifted. It was more challenging than elementary school and was the first time I ever had to think. The school still wasn’t for me. It was not until I was put into an exclusive private catholic high school that I really felt at home. They tailor made a program for me and did an excellent job teaching me. I fit in very well with the other girls there. I graduated Temple University with a degree in Mathematics. I now teach high school math, (my second career). School was always easy for me.
I feel as if I always knew how to read
Apart from academics, what other areas of excellence do you have? Do you attribute that to the early education you recieved?
I am pretty good at most everything. I am pretty athletic, draw pretty well and I am musical. I do think that is because of my mother. She always wanted me to be well rounded.
My parents are not exceptional. My mother was very artistic but never excelled at school, she was a c/d student. My father was maybe a little above average but he was very athletic. He played football at the collegiate and semi-pro level. One thing I can say about them is that they are both very interesting, curious and like doing many different and unusual things and believed in exposing me to as many things as they could. They knew nothing about music, but would constantly take me to the opera, symphony or the ballet because they believed it was important that I developed an appreciation of the arts.
Thank you for sharing your experiences realgirrrl.
One of the things I’ve always been warned is not to teach my kids too much or they will be bored at school, they will be social misfits, etc. The feedback has always been negative. Despite the lack of support from family, I still continue with my programs. However, I am concerned about them not feeling challenged at school and being bored. Do you have any recommendations around this - besides homeschool (which doesn’t seem to be an option for us because I don’t know how to get an exemption from the ministry of education)?
Dear ShenLi, I have the same concerns as well. And what I am planning to do if I encounter such a situation is, to give the leadership role to my son. Because one of my friend was ahead of other pupils in the class and his teacher has been asking from him to teach and help to other students. Do you think this kind of thing helps ?
Thanks for the suggestion Esra. I’m not sure if it helps but it’s definitely something to consider. This is such a new experience for me, I haven’t a clue how to go about it!
How ironic… I actually do know a genius - my husband. He was tested in school and he had an IQ of 160. He was invited to join Mensa. He’s also got a photographic memory.
We were talking about right brain schools for the children when he said, “I’m a genius and I never did any of this stuff when I was a kid.” That’s when I probed further about what his parents did do with him when he was a child and it seems he played a LOT of Lego and jigsaw puzzles. He was doing Lego Technic even before he was old enough for it because he said he didn’t have the manual dexterity to pull the pieces apart and would often use his teeth. His Dad would mixed up three different jigsaw puzzles for him to sort out and complete. I don’t know the full details, e.g. how old he started, what kind of puzzles he did, etc. because he can’t remember. What he does remember was that school was always very easy for him and he was always getting into trouble because he was bored.
My hubby thinks he’s a genius because it’s all in the genes, but I think it’s what he did when he was growing up. What do you think? Lego and jigsaw puzzles were the contributing factor?
I’m curious because a lot of the right brain activities that Shichida does are game-like. Some of them are not unlike doing jigsaw puzzles. Tangrams are a kind of puzzle. If there is a correlation, then perhaps jigsaw puzzles and Lego are the kinds of games we should also be encouraging our kids to play.