Seeking enrichment classes for a 6 year "2E" Kboy
My 6 year old was tested for WISC assessments and scored 149 (I believe its out of 150) so he was in the "Extremely high" category. He plays many sports - soccer, tennis being some and extremely interested in Math, Science and space. School has pretty much told us they cant do anything to supplement his education in school. He acts out as he is bored in school. What can we do to supplement this at home or extra classes. We are in Orinda. Would love to see if there are social groups for kids like this we can join? Potentially even home schooling groups?
Dec 6, 2019
Parent Replies
I have a 2E high schooler. One thing we did that was helpful (although not a social group) was Fusion Academy--not their high school or classes, but their guitar / music lessons with Danny White (not Daniel Wright, the head of school). He is a gentle and good teacher, and it was very helpful confidence-wise and socially for our child. It's close to Orinda, probably 20 min, about 1 minutes from the University Exit, free parking. What ended up being true for our boy was that connecting with kids his age was hard--he also played multiple sports up until 8th grade, and went to summer camps (Galileo, Lawrence Hall of Science, sleep away, etc)--but though spending lots of time with other kids, still had a hard time. Just wired differently, and yes also tested off the scale. Also, some of the private schools have summer camps. I think Aurora has a summer camp.
Have you tried going the music and foreign language route? Somehow that helped my now 9 year old who seems to be in direct alignment with your son (score, activities and school district). In a few years, you will probably be able to see areas where his interests reside so you can also help him pursue those.
In terms of online resources for gifted children:
Davidson Young Scholars
Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth
Later on, around age 11-12, you might look at the Stanford online learning program
Hoagiesgifted.org
I believe there are some gifted homeschooler sites as well. I don't know of any social groups in your area particularly, but I suspect it would be very beneficial to be around intellectual and developmental peers.
Is he 2E or just intellectually gifted? 2E means he has some learning challenges. Anyhow, contact Summit Center in Walnut Creek. 2E is there thing. Lots of support groups and resources.
It wasn't clear from your post what the second exceptionality was. E.g. is he profoundly gifted and dyslexic? Profoundly gifted with ADHD? Or is he just profoundly gifted, and bored at school as a result? I'm looking for suggestions myself - but wanted to throw out Berkeley Math Circle, UC Berkeley's ATDP summer camp program, and the Summit Center at Walnut Creek as possible starting places.