If you were told a 10-year-old feels at home in a high school pre-calculus class, you might be impressed. But Elliott Tanner isn't just keeping up with college-bound high school students. He's tutoring them.
"I just take great pleasure in teaching people," Elliott said. Moments later, the Minnesota boy spins in a dizzying circle as 10-year-olds are prone to do.
"He should be in elementary school and he's way above my high school students that are about to graduate," said Bloomington Kennedy math teacher April Baden.
Yet, none of that should come as a surprise. Elliott has already aced college algebra, physics for scientists & engineers, trigonometry and calculus — earning a 4.0 GPA as he nears the end of his second year at Normandale Community College.
Again, Elliott is 10 — an age that would typically put him in 4th grade.
"I think we kind of have to step out of the box sometimes to realize that this isn't a normal situation," said Michelle Tanner, Elliott's mother.
Not normal, even four weeks after his birth, when Elliott rolled over on his own. "It just started happening really, really quick," Patrik Tanner, Elliott's father, said. "It was just us trying to keep up."
Elliott spoke his first words at seven months. By a year, he was completing short sentences, KARE-TV reported. By age 2, Elliot could recite the alphabet. "And then he learned it in Swedish right after that, for the heck of it I guess," his father said.
But from the start, Elliott's true love was numbers. "He would have these little magnetic numbers, they were his little lovies instead of stuffed animals," Michelle Tanner said.
Elliott carried his numbers wherever he went. "By three, he was doing addition with them on the play rug in his room," his mom said. By 4, Elliott was giving math lessons to anyone who would listen.
"I don't know exactly how this works, but I want to at least get a doctorate," Elliott said.
Elliott notes that he could be done with college before he's old enough to drive a car to the campus. Yet, he said, "I think I'm ready for the next step. I want to know the deepest secrets of the universe."
His parents just want the best for Elliott.
"I want him to have the world and whatever he wants," Michelle Tanner said. "And long as he continues to be a kind person and follows his heart, I think he's going to be just fine."
Elliott's father added that he, "Just want him to be happy. That's what it's all about."
