Tannerisms #3

This has a long background to get to the point. Bear with me, it's worth it.

Last summer Tanner & I were driving in town. This was the summer right after kindergarten. Just out of the blue he says
"Mom, I know what 1000 x 2 is."
"Really? What is it?"
"2000."
"Who taught you that?"
"Nobody. I just figured that if 1 x 2=2, then 1000 x 2=2000. This is easy. I don't know why people can't figure this out." (remember, he is only 6 1/2 at this time. He gets this math thing from his dad who is such a numbers person, doing them in his head all the time)

So forward to 1st grade. Right after Christmas I was talking to his teacher. I wrote the problem on the board & Tanner just looked at it because up to this time, he had just done it all in his head. I explained that the 'x' was for times & the line under the numbers was for equals, so he wrote the answer. Then as I proceeded to tell her the story from summer, he proceeded to do math problems on the board since he knew how to write them now. By the time we got done talking he was up to 10,000 x 5=50,000. He looked at me & said,"That's where the comma goes, right?" A few days later I told this to the principal. Remember, Tanner just turned 7 a week before this.

Forward to the next week. Tanner was sent home with a letter from school that since Mrs. Skidmore felt the math they were learning in class was too easy for him, he would be going to an excellerated math class on Tuesdays. We talked about what a cool opportunity this was for him. Then a couple days later we got a letter saying that he would be going to another excellerated math class on Thursdays. So now he has 2 different excellerated math classes he attends each week. We talked about how cool this was. He already does something different for reading group because his reading level higher. (gets that one from me)

Forward to last week. Tuesday got here & it was his first day for excellerated math. I could tell he was a little curious/anxious as we talked that morning while getting ready for school....
"Mom, why do I have to go to a different math class now?"
"Because the math you are doing in class is too easy for you so you aren't learning anything new. They are going to try to challenge you with these math classes so you can learn more."
"What if this math is too easy for me?" (no longer anxious)
" Then I guess you will just have to go to high school."
"I can't go to high school!"
"Why not?" (figuring there will be some concern about going with big kids)
"I'm not tall enough to play basketball yet!"

Seriously. Being tall enough for basketball was his ONLY concern with going to high school at age 7. This kid is going to keep me young from laughing all the time!