I think we knew this before we even had kids so it shouldn't have come as a shock to us- any kids we have will most likely be extremely intelligent and quick to learn. They come by it honestly- many intelligent and creative minds on both sides of the family and going generations back. Lawyers, farmers, nurses, teachers, artists, musicians, engineers- superb intelligence is all there, each one requiring extensive knowledge of their specific fields. And really, it's not so much shocking, but still amazing to me how very stinkin smart my kids are.
Squeaker has known his alphabet since about age 3 and knew his letter sounds from about age 3.5. Now at age 6, he is learning how to read and reading pretty much everything he can. He correctly uses big words like "actually" and "apparently." Squeaker's memory retention still amazes me too. Hubby taught him the cardinal directions on a compass rose about 4 months ago. We haven't done much with maps/directions since then other than the occasional "which direction are we going, Mom?" Yesterday we were looking at a map and I told him Roswell was in the SE corner of the state of New Mexico. I asked him to show me which way was south and which way was east. He correctly gave me the answers with no hesitation and we found Roswell quickly. Then of course there's the Snail/Hurricane Incident. Now that Squeaker is in Kindergarten, we've really noticed just how much farther ahead he is of his peers on many levels. I don't know very many Kindergarteners who know as much as he does or any who even CARE about learning about stuff like he does. We pulled out an old (2004) NM State educational benchmarks book and compared what Squeaker knows to what the state requires for K. He's achieving most of those goals and a few of the 1st grade ones. He's bored in Kindergarten, and it's a struggle that we're working on to find the right balance at the moment, but we will see what the future holds.
Monkey-man will be 3 on Friday and he's just as smart as his brother. He's known his alphabet (upper and lowercase) since January or February, and he's showing number recognition as well as being able to count to 10 (and he does try to go higher). He's starting to show basic reading readiness by figuring out the correct letters that certain words begin with. He plays preschool computer games and more often than not wins the games easily. Several of the games he plays are even closer to a Kindergarten level than preschool and he still wins them. Much of the stuff that he does is stuff that some of Squeaker's classmates still can't even grasp. Monkey-man's memory is just as good as Squeaker's. If I tell him we're going to do xyz, and forget about z, he will remind me that we haven't done z yet. He wants to go to school like big brother, so we're doing some "school" stuff at home. I am utterly fascinated and constantly amazed at how quickly Monkey-man AND Squeaker process and retain new information.
Of course, all this is to say that although I have extremely high expectations for my children (as any good parent should), I will not discourage them from their dreams. My parents used to say that if we wanted to be the director of a flea circus and that was what made us the most happy in life, then by all means, be the director of a flea circus. I expect my children to go to college and get degrees, but if they perhaps choose vocational school or military pursuits instead, I will support them and continue to encourage them.
Learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere. ~Chinese Proverb
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