Gifted Atlanta

One of the responses to my most recent post (about travel with gifted kids) mentioned Providence Canyon State Recreation Area. Sometimes called Georgia’s Little Grand Canyon, this park is a geological treasure not far from Albany, about a 3-hour drive from Atlanta.

When I went to the park’s web site, I saw a couple of items on the calendar that caught my eye. First, on Saturday, April 9, the park will host Geology Day — a guided trip through the canyons, exploring their geological history. (If you can’t make it that day, they’re doing the event again on June 4 and Oct. 8.)

Looking forward on the calendar, Providence Canyon will welcome stargazers for Astronomy Night on July 30 and Nov. 19.

That got me wondering what’s happening at Georgia’s other state parks. The answer is, more than I had imagined. The state parks event calendar lists dozens of events for April alone. Here are just a few examples:

• An 18th century colonial market this weekend at Fort Yargo State Park in Winder
• An evening of astronomy this Saturday night at F.D. Roosevelt State Park in Pine Mountain
• Civil War history hikes throughout the month at Sweetwater Creek State Park in Lithia Springs
• A hike to see spring butterflies on April 16, also at Sweetwater Creek State Park

There’s much, much more, so I won’t try to list it all here. The events page has a well-designed search feature that lets you explore the calendar by month, by park, or by distance from your ZIP code, so it’s easy to see what’s happening that might interest you.

During a presentation yesterday at Georgia State’s Saturday School, a couple of parents emphasized that travel has been one of the best ways of enriching their gifted children’s education.

I have to admit, my family hasn’t done a lot of educational travel, but we’d like to. Problem is, there’s a whole world out there, and I don’t quite know where to start.

So I’d like to ask you, readers: What are some great places to travel with gifted children?

Please reply to this post with your ideas, and check back to read what other parents suggest. I’ll use some of the responses to create a new travel section on the Enrichment page of this site.

Thanks for your help!

“An environmental disaster has taken place on Planet Earth and we need your help. The Smithsonian Institution and the MIT Education Arcade invite all scientists-in-training ages 10 ½ to 14 to log onto VANISHED and help decipher clues that unravel one of the world’s biggest mysteries.”

That’s the pitch from Vanished, a free, online, interactive game that will have middle-school students collecting scientific data, solving puzzles and playing online games. They’ll even have video conferences with Smithsonian scientists — all to find the clues that will answer the mystery.

The game will run for eight weeks, beginning on Monday, April 4. The MIT creators of the game say kids can follow along in as little as 10 minutes per week, but those who want to be actively involved will probably spend about 2 hours per week working on it.

Registration for Vanished is open now and will continue even while the game is in progress; however, if you aren’t signed up by April 4, you’ll miss the opening stages.

About a year ago, when I was looking into starting an Odyssey of the Mind team at my child’s school, I tried to learn more by reading the organization’s web site.

I was left scratching my head after reading their description of what OotM is:

“Odyssey of the Mind is an international educational program that provides creative problem-solving opportunities for students from kindergarten through college. Team members apply their creativity to solve problems that range from building mechanical devices to presenting their own interpretation of literary classics.”

Huh? I mean, now that I’ve been coaching a team for a year, I understand that statement perfectly. But to the uninitiated, the above boiler plate does little to elucidate what exactly OotM is.

Luckily, when I called someone from the Georgia OotM organization, they suggested that the best way to understand it is to watch it in action. I attended a local competition, and in a just a couple of hours, I not only understood it but was awestruck by it.

Here were teams of kids who had worked on their own with minimal adult guidance to build machines, write plays, design costumes and create scenery. It was a true celebration of children’s creative ability.

I could go on and on about Odyssey of the Mind, but if you’ve thought about getting your child involved, or starting a team at your school, I have to give you the same advice I was given: Go see it.

The Lilburn regional tournament is being held tomorrow, Saturday, March 19, at Parkview High School. It starts at 9:00 a.m. and continues well into the afternoon. Check the competition schedule — out of the more than 100 teams participating, maybe there’s a school from your area you’d like to cheer on.

(Sorry for giving such late notice on this event, but I must admit, with coaching a team, I’m a little under water at the moment!)

What better way to encourage and inspire your young musician than by exposing them to the great work of other young musicians?

The Atlanta Youth Wind Symphony will perform a free concert on Monday, March 14, at 8 p.m. at Emory University. The performance will be held in the Emerson Concert Hall of the Schwartz Center for Performing Arts.

The AYWS is an honor ensemble for local high-school students talented in wind or percussion.

Then, on Sunday, March 20 at 4 p.m., Emory will present “Atlanta’s Young Artists,” an annual showcase of pre-college musicians from the local area. The event will take place at the Michael C. Carlos Museum on the Emory campus. Tickets are $4 per person; however, members of the museum will be admitted at no charge.

The Fernbank Museum of Natural History on Saturday will open a special exhibit on mythical creatures. The exhibit, which will be displayed until August, looks at how cultures throughout the ages used imaginary beings like dragons, mermaids and unicorns to explain the world around them and share ideas and beliefs.

While you’re there, you can also see the IMAX film Animalopolis. At just a half-hour run time, this humorous nature film can be the perfect way to let younger children experience IMAX. The film runs through March 17, 2011. (Note: Tickets for IMAX films are sold separately from museum admission.)

If your child enjoys nature and would get a kick out of being one of the scientists in a HUGE scientific study, plan to take part in the Great Backyard Bird Count, which begins this Friday.

Every year, the Audubon Society and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology sponsor the bird count, conducted by bird watchers of all ages across the country. The bird watch helps scientists understand how many birds are in different locations and how bird populations are changing. It’s a project your child can do at home, at school, at a local park or any other location. Last year, birdwatchers submitted more than 97,000 checklists of birds they observed.

To participate, you’ll spend a minimum of 15 minutes observing one location, on one or more days between Feb. 18 and Feb. 21, 2011. All you have to do is tally how many birds of different varieties you see. Then you submit your count through the web site (link above). You can do just 15 minutes on one day and stop, or you can do lots more observations at different times of day and even different locations.

If your gifted child really enjoys birding, they can continue to make observations and submit them for scientific use all year long through eBird, another program of Audubon and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.