Progress on School Research

In the interest of being fully informed, I have been researching alternative schools for AJ. Today I finalized my list, which includes 3 schools for the gifted and two private schools with a reputation for helping kids work at their own levels and paces. All of these are about 30-40 minutes from home. In addition, I've included two centers for the gifted affiliated with colleges, both of which offer extra-curricular programs both during the academic year and during the summer. These are the Center for Talent Development at Northwestern University
and the Center for Gifted at National-Louis University. Although the former is better known, the latter looks excellent and has the added benefit of conducting some of its programs within 30-40 minutes from here. Evanston, where the CTD is based is much farther away and an often irritating drive. The distance and timing of their after school programs would rule out a lot of things for us. And their weekend programs are Saturday mornings, when AJ almost always has some sport or another. They do, however, have online classes starting in the 3rd grade. Something to keep in mind, at least. The Center for the Gifted has weekend programs on Sunday afternoons -- a much better time for us.

I'm also trying to track down some extracurricular programs. I'm looking into a chess club for AJ, and I know about a foreign language program. But I'd really like to find some math and science programs. Not quite so easy for this age level. I'll keep trying, though.

I sent out a gazillion information queries today, so hopefully I'll be rolling in information within a week or two!