Maybe you’ve identified your child as gifted. Maybe you haven’t.  Maybe you are wondering why your smart kid seems to be having so many behavioral issues and home and at school.   

You are not alone.  

You may be experiencing that giftedness is about way more than advanced intellectual capacity.  In fact, intellectual abilities are only one of five of the “overexcitabilities” of giftedness identified by Kazimierz Dabrowski.  Gifted children can also experience the abundant energy of psychomotor excitability, or the depth of feelings of an emotional overexcitability. Gifted children with sensual overexcitabilities can be more easily swayed by the beauty in music, or be very bothered by the irrepressibly itchy tags on their shirts.  Finally, gifted children can have an abundance of imaginational ability demonstrated through interests in fantasy worlds.

These wonderful children come in unique and complex packages that requires parents to develop a strategic parenting toolkit.  These skills can range from soothing meltdowns or advocating for appropriate curriculum in school.  How do you as a parent meet these needs?

Come join us for a roundtable discussion, “A Herd of Buffalo Could Raise a Gifted Child.”  This free CGCC Parenting Gifted Seminar is led by Newenka DuMont, who has  over 18 years of experience in advocating for gifted children. 

  

Come find yourself amongst the herd of fellow buffalo bravely raising gifted children.

Register at CGCC Parenting Gifted Seminar: Gifted 101

All tickets are now on sale to the general public for the 25th Anniversary Chicago Humanities Festival! The theme of this year's festival is Journeys.  Programs take place October 6 and 21 and October 25 - November 9.  See http://chicagohumanities.org/ for details and tickets.

The September (email) newsletter from The Field Museum contains the following program announcement:

Calling all teens! New after-school programs

Electronic Gardens
Wednesdays, September 17–October 15, 4:00-6:00pm

Explore the Museum year-round with our after-school programs. Tinker, create, and innovate in our digital studio. In a connected world, even gardens are part of the Internet of Things. Come learn the basics of urban gardening and how electronics can give us better insights into homegrown food at The Field Museum. Programs are free of charge and open to teens ages 14-18. Teens can arrive up to 5:00pm. Learn More.

No matter what type of "school" your kids participate in, the end of the summer can be a stressful time as it is a time of transition.  This is a good time for parents to remember to take care of their own needs, as well as the needs of their children.  In the article, "Parental Self-Care," in our Spring 2014 Newsletter, Sheryl Stoller explains that great giftedness is accompanied by a great need for parental self-care.  Take a moment to read it today.

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From the Adler Planetarium E-News:

Join Adler astronomers and volunteers at Chicago's parks and schools this summer for free telescope observing. 

Daytime observers can view the Sun safely through special filters to see its sunspots and prominences, while night time observers can potentially get a glimpse of the rings of Saturn and its largest moon, Titan, as well as the red planet, Mars.    

 Upcoming Events:

Saturday, June 21 

10 a.m. to 12 p.m. 

Buckingham Fountain at Grant Park (301 S. Columbus Dr.) 

 

Thursday, July 10

1 to 3 p.m. 

Union Park (1501 W. Randolph St.) 

 

Thursday, July 17 

8:30 to 10 p.m. 

Ronan Park (2904 W. Lawrence Ave.) 

 

Monday, July 21 

10 a.m. to 12 p.m. 

Buckingham Fountain at Grant Park (301 S. Columbus Dr.)

 

Tuesday, August 26 
7:30 to 9 p.m.

Senn High School (5900 N. Glenwood Ave.)  

 

Please note: All dates are weather-permitting. Follow @adlerskywatch on Twitter for day-of updates.  

From the MSI Web Site:

We're gearing up for another fun summer of learning with Summer Brain Games! MSI is once again offering up an exciting science-fused solution to help kids stay engaged during summer vacation.

Summer Brain Games offers eight weeks of free and fun at-home science experiments designed to combat the "summer brain drain," when kids lose months of critical learning. The free online activity guide features weekly experiments. This year, we'll have fun with science-themed carnival games and activities, all easily done at home with kids of all ages (and a little adult supervision).

The Summer Brain Games online kit will offer other engaging tidbits about the science to be found around you all summer—and year—long. Learn about pressure as you launch stomp rocket daredevils, become an engineer and design the fastest boat you can race, construct a carnival tent from newspapers and much more.

Register to Get in the Game

Register now to be a part of MSI’s Summer Brain Games. When activities kick off in June, you’ll receive a voucher good for a FREE Museum Entry ticket to MSI this summer. We'll send you weekly emails (starting the week of June 16) with tips on each experiment and additional ways to play with science.

Presented by Cinema/Chicago and the 50th Chicago International Film Festival, CineYouth is a yearly youth film festival celebrating and showcasing short films made by filmmakers 21 years old and younger from around the world. 

Celebrating its 10th year May 8-10, 2014, CineYouth strives to encourage the talent and accomplishments of young artists and provide them with opportunities to tell their stories, network with other filmmakers and be recognized for their creativity. 

CineYouth is a free festival open to the public of all ages.  Click here for complete details and schedule.

Taking a cue from the Gifted Homeschoolers Forum, The Hoagies Gifted Education Page has started a Blog Hop.  What's that you say?  It is an invitation for bloggers to blog on a topic.  For the month of May the topic is The "G" Word.  A brief blurb and a link to each blog is available on the Hoagies Blog Hop page.

Enjoy the hopping! 



Next month: Gifted@Play. 

For many architects, building with LEGOs was their first step towards cultivating a mind for design, and they often return to this classic toy to spark their imagination. Today, sets like the LEGO Architecture Studio are more sophisticated and versatile than ever, appealing to teens and adults as well. Building with this set at the ArcelorMittal Design Studio @ CAF is a fun way for people to get inspired by architecture and learn the fundamentals while creating their own designs! Every Sunday in 2014, they host workshops led by guest designers, offering two sessions each day with themes that change monthly to drive the topics of discussion and kinds of structures that guests build. The studios are open to all, and visitors under the age of 14 must be accompanied by an adult. TIME: Two shifts (12pm – 2pm; 2:30pm – 4:30pm) COST: $10 non-members, $5 members LOCATION: CAF Design Studio, 224 S. Michigan Ave  2014 Schedule of Themes: April: Scale  May: Space June: Repetition July: Landmarks August: Surface September: Mass October: Symmetry November: City Scale December: Home for the Holidays For complete details see the Chicago Architecture Foundation web site.

Illinois Junior Academy of Science (IJAS) encourages students to explore problem-solving and thinking methods of scientists as they pursue their own research. NIU is proud to host the 2014 State Science Fair Exposition. Attend the public viewing on May 3 to see the best of the science projects by Illinois students.  The viewing is from Noon - 3 at NIU's Convocation Center.  See the IJAS web site for complete details.