Are there any education/travel grants available for gifted kids? My son wants to visit a museum that is really far away. We can't afford the flight and hotel stay, so we can't go. Curious if there are any grants out there for things like this. I'm trying to avoid having to take a graveyard shift at 7-11.

I don't know of any grants like this.

It's OK to let this be a dream for him, and let him earn money toward it (chores, babysitting, whatever) as a goal. I think this is an educational want, not an educational need, and as such you don't have to knock yourself out as a parent to make it happen.

Speaking as one who's knocked herself out over the needs...

DeeDee

He's in second grade, so it'll be a long time before he can work to earn $2,500. I know he doesn't have to visit this museum. But say your highly gifted 7-year-old was into oceanography. He read 50 tomes on the subject, cover to cover, researched every aspect of it, and was eating/sleeping/breathing oceanography for two years. But say you lived in Nebraska. If the child was seven, would you tell him, "Maybe you can see the ocean when you're a teenager. You'll probably still be interested in it..." I feel like in that case you're doing the child a disservice by holding him back from something that could be life changing. I doubt wealthy parents would tell their child, "Sorry, you can't see the ocean until you're old enough to earn money to buy your own plane tickets and pay a hotel tab."

It comes down to financial means. Kids with wealthy parents can explore their world and advance their education in ways that other kids cannot. I see so many opportunities flying by. That's why I was curious about educational grants for individual children. All we hear is that the US is falling behind in math and science, but then there's a child like mine who is so incredibly advanced in science, yet he has no opportunities whatsoever to explore this in a real way. I know he can and does get a lot from books, but at some point you have to get up our of your chair.

Approach a local benefactor such as a corporation or wealthy individual and see if they're interested in sponsoring the trip.

There was a young climber in our area years ago who had earned a bid to a world competition but couldn't afford to go. He was motivated enough to go that he approached local businesses and found sponsors who were willing to help fund his trip in return for the publicity the story generated. He is now one of the top climbers in the world, but it wasn't the trip that put him in that position - it was the drive to work for what he wanted despite the odds in front of him.

If you can instill a belief that it is within your son's power to set a goal and meet it no matter how long it takes or how hard it is, that lesson will likely be far more instrumental to his success than any one experience he may or may not have due to limited available funds.

Mmm, but there's get out of your chair, and there's spend $2,500 on a trip to a museum! I don't think you should feel bad for being unable to do the latter. I think you're mistaken if you think many parents would do it. (I wouldn't, although I am so fortunate as to have the ability to do it if I chose - there are just too many other things that money would buy, like half a term's schooling. I have spent ~250 UK pounds on taking DS to London to see some museums, but that's about as much as I'd pay for an educational trip unless it was so stunning to all of us that we could decide to make it the annual family holiday!)

Maybe if you tell us which museum it is and why he's interested, we can help brainstorm other things he can do to further his interest that aren't just reading books? Fairly generic suggestions might include writing to the research scientists who work at the museum with any questions he has, and searching for which universities have people studying those topics, especially to see if there are any nearby.

I have that child who is passionate about oceanography that you use as your example . We live in the middle of the country but she is fortunate to have family on the coasts so she has had the opportunity to see the ocean. She probably won't be able to do the summer ocean programs in North Carolina that she'd love to do b/c we can't afford it, but we've tried for alternatives like ColinsMum suggests.

She did SCUBA classes in an indoor pool from the time she was eight. It was several hundred dollars for the initial SCUBA Ranger certification but only around $25-50 for future classes. We could do that even if we couldn't do thousands for the summer coastal camps. She's done other science camps that are free or inexpensive and local even if they weren't focused on marine biology. We actually found that the one "gifted" kid marine bio class she took at a STEM summer institute day camp locally wasn't a good thing b/c it seemed like it was more for much younger kids (even though she was one of the youngest) or kids with much less background knowledge in the subject.

Can you give us an idea of the area of passion and see if we can brainstorm some less expensive alternatives?

If this museum trip is something you really want for your child, and you think that it would make a big difference for him, I'd start out by calling or e-mailing the museum to explain the situation and asking if they know of any resources that are local to you that might provide some of the same benefits.

I'd also look into alternative methods of travel and lodging that might bring the cost down to something reasonable. Is there a reason you'd have to fly? Use your social network - do you have friends who have friends who have friends who are local to the museum or who are on the drive there who would be willing to let you stay over for a night so that your kid can have his trip? Is there cheap camping along the drive instead of staying in a hotel? Is there a possibility that you could rideshare with another family to split driving chores and fuel costs?

Think outside the box - just figuring out ways to make it happen has the potential to be a fun project for the family - but also realize that if not going to this museum is enough to kill your child's interest in the subject, it probably wasn't going to be their life's passion anyway, regardless of how interested in it they might seem now.

DS has already been in touch with scientists, and has been invited to this museum by a scientist there who will give him a tour and let him see things the general public doesn't get to see. We just can't afford to make the trip.

Believe me when I say we have exhausted all our local options. We do not live anywhere near the object of my son's interest, so we can only do so much. I'll put it to you this way. If you child was an expert on Stonehenge, would you take him to see it? There's only one. He's read all the books, he's seen all the documentaries, he's created artwork, dioramas, written essays. The only thing he hasn't done is see Stonehenge. No local US university will have Stonehenge. No local US university will even likely have people studying Stonehenge. Now luckily my son isn't interested in Stonehenge, because that's in a different country and would cost even more to visit. But the situation is the same. I totally understand saying, "Sorry, you can't visit Stonehenge. Maybe in twenty years when you've earned your own money..." That's just reality. But I still think it's a shame.

I disagree that most parents would not take their child on an expensive trip. 90% of my friends have taken their kids to Disney--more than once--and that's absolutely frivolous.

Living in Britain (as I did for a while), it can be hard to comprehend how far apart things are in the US. The distance between Scotland and England is similar to the distance between, say, Lubbock and Austin--and those are both in the same state! It's only a six or seven hour drive. If someone in the US wants to travel from, let's say, Austin to Seattle, it's at least a two-day drive (maybe longer with little children in the car). And you have to stay in hotels along the way, stop to eat, stay in a hotel when you reach your destination. You can't just turn around and drive home the next day, or hop on a train like you can in GB. The train here costs as much as an airplane, but takes as long as a drive.

I was just curious about education grants for highly gifted kids studying science. I'm not surprised they don't exist.

Would this scientist be willing to Skype with him?

You DD's experience with a "gifted" class mirrors ours. Classes like this around us are babyish intros, and some have even rejected my son for his age (too young). DS has very advanced knowledge, much like your DD's. DS knows more about his subject than many professors. And I'm not kidding.

I'm sure he would. They have corresponded via email and post. But the idea is to see the collection in the museum.

It's hard to point you in the direction of specific resources since I don't know the specific field your child is interested in, but you still might consider organizing car washes, bake sales, auctions, etc., and approaching service groups and related professional organizations for sponsorships to help defray part of the cost, especially if your son pledges to do something for the community with the knowledge that he gains from going on the trip - maybe acting as a sort of local ambassador for the museum in question, making presentations about his trip and his subject of interest at meetings of the service or professional group and at local schools. People are much more likely to pony up money if they see that the benefit is not going to be limited to single individual.

Video chat via webcam?

Actually, you don't have to stay in hotels. You can camp in a tent for very cheap.

When my youngest was a newborn, we had huge medical bills and very little income, so we figured out how to travel very cheap with a family of five. You could buy clearance and overstock equiment over the next few months a little at a time, save a few hundred dollars and make the trip a family trip in the summer.

Here are some ideas:
Family tent: under $200 http://www.backcountry.com/kelty-eden-4-tent-4-person-3-season
Sleeping bags: Under $40 ea http://www.campmor.com/eureka-riner...=CI&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=45365
Camp stove: around $50 http://www.amazon.com/Coleman-2-Burner-InstaStart-PerfectFlow-Propane/dp/tags-on-product/B0009PUQXW

Those are the essentials. You can use a couple of large plastic storage containers to haul your own food, cooking utensils, and other necessities. Camping in national or state parks is very affordable, and you can explore historical sites along your drive. We visited 11 national parks - including an awesome night in Arches - in 2 weeks and never ate out once or paid more than $20 for a campsite. We bought groceries at local stores - money we would have had to spend at home, made sack lunches for days we had hikes planned, and had an excellent two week vacation for under $1000 - and that included our camping supplies.

We are still using the Marmot tent, REI sleeping bags and Coleman camp stove 12 years later.

If you really want this for your son, I'd recommend thinking outside the box. We can spend a lot of time and energy ruing what isn't available or what others can do that we can't, but it won't get us closer to dong what we wanted to do.

And as to your question, no I wouldn't take my kid to Stonehenge just because he'd learned everything there was to know about it. My kids learned that we functioned as a family and that high IQ didn't give them precedence over other family members when it came to spending the family funds.

I second what ABQMom said.

You can get a tent secondhand on ebay or at a garage sale.

Use blankets and sheets rather than sleeping bags. (I prefer them anyway.)

Get an inverter for your car and use an electric skillet and microwave.

And you can camp for free on most BLM land.

I doubt that there are grants for gifted kids to visit a museum. Our local school has cut out PE, art, music, and they are looking at cutting science! (Our PTA through private donations has luckily stepped in to keep funding these programs). That wouldn't seem fair, frankly, to have one child benefit when so many worthy programs have been cut all over the country.

But what is the interest/topic/field? And what state are you in and where is the site to visit...city and state?

...people can help so much more when they have details and not vague info.

I agree with what others have said. There are ways to go on trips without spending a fortune. I do it every summer with my three kids due to living so far from family thanks to the military. We aren't rich by any stretch of the imagination but I make it work and I save a little bit every month for it. We travel with a cooler in the back of the mini van with grocery store bought food for meals, some that I purchase slowly starting a few months before the trip ( box cereal, snacks, drink boxes etc). Since I travel alone with three smaller children I don't camp in a tent but we drive long distances each day and have minimal hotel stays.

I have to disagree that spending family time on a vacation like Disney is frivoulous however! Family time does not always have to be 100% educational. Kids, smart or not, are still kids and fun is good! Some people will always have more than others, thats just life and you can't worry about what other parents are providing...its not worth it!

I don't know how far said museum is from you guys, but it is doable if you really think outside the "man its expensive, we'll never be able to do it and no one is available to help" box. It may not be a trip you can take tomorrow, but it doesn't have to be 10 years from now with a little inventiveness.

Sort of afraid to jump in here, as I did go to Egypt because DD, when 5 asked to go. She was 6 when we went this past April.

As someone who has travelled cheap, you can do it. And I have driven 1300 miles in a day. Not with small children but if they really want to see this...

I am willing to do what works to make things happen for DD. And I know what you mean about having the hands-on experience. DD's weekly science class at the museum of natural history uses the exhibit. Next semester is astrophysics and they have the planetarium, the Rose space center. It is a whole different feel from just reading about it or watching Brian Greene.

Use your American Express to pay for everything and get the points. Tell your friends you will do a babysitting sleepover for cash. Though I do not know how much money that actually makes in your state.

Good luck. I think you just have to make it happen. But getting an underwriter is not so easy.

Ren

I'm afraid this analogy doesn't really help me to see your point of view. No, I wouldn't necessarily take my son to see Stonehenge if he were expert on it (even though I'm already in the UK!). If it were possible to arrange for a family holiday to be in the area so that we could visit it and do so at reasonable cost, then sure, I'd consider it, but I'm not getting the "it has to be this and nothing else" aspect. He'd be interested in it from some point of view - prehistoric history, perhaps, or astronomy, or geology - and whatever the aspect of interest was, there'd be a choice of ways to support it. I don't understand what this interest can possibly be that can only be supported by spending $2,500 - and you're choosing not to explain. My child is expert in several things, several of which could be well supported by trips costing that kind of amount (for example, he'd love to visit Yellowstone), but I don't understand the fixation and therefore it's difficult to regard your inability to spend that amount as a thing to sympathise greatly with - I agree with whoever it was who said that even if there were a grant that would support this kind of thing, I'd probably disapprove, and feel that there were better ways of spending that money.

Really? 90% of your friends have taken their kids to Disney more than once?

In my experience, expensive trips (whatever "expensive" means to the family in question) are usually family holidays, i.e. chosen for the benefit of the family as a whole and saved up for all year (or longer). I type this from a ski resort; skiing is my family's indulgence in that respect. I couldn't spend the same kind of money again in a year, and I couldn't justify doing it for the benefit of only one family member. That's what I meant when I said I wouldn't; not that I wouldn't spend that money, but that "he's expert on this thing" wouldn't be a sufficient reason to do it.

Sure, but I don't see the relevance of this paragraph. I don't think I said anything to suggest that I didn't understand the large distances that exist in the US.

Everyone has dreams of something they want to do. This can be your child's. When he is older, he can work extra jobs to earn money, save up, etc. I wanted to study in Europe my whole life but didn't have the money- I applied in college for a number of scholarships and won a fully paid, one-year scholarship at a German university.
Some dreams require you to wait, and maybe that isn't a bad thing.

I know what we're doing next summer!

I agree.

OP, I really don't think you need to worry about hobbling your son or stunting his intellectual growth. If he has a deep and abiding love for his chosen subject, it will, er, abide. If not, he will turn his intense focus and ability to understand and remember to something else. He may go through many such interests as he develops. And while it would be nice to take advantage of the museum-study offer, if you can't, you can't; and it sounds like the money you do have can be well spent on books, classes and science gear. He's only seven, and you are in the early stages of a great adventure.

I live in CA and grew up here. My parents were poor but loved a good family road trip. We camped our way across all of the western states growing up and visited many national parks etc. My son is now 8 and has packed along on many 9-10 day road trips with me. If we want to go, we usually drive because it's cheaper. If it's that important, you make it work.

I don't see $2,500 as an impossible number to work with if this really is the end all be all trip for your son. Recycle cans, rake leaves, walk the neighbor's dog, pet sit, babysit other people's kids for money, eat vegetarian 2x a week, sell random junk on craigslist. In high school, before I was old enough to get a work permit, I desperately wanted to attend a summer program in Australia. I worked for an entire year doing odd jobs, to save up the $3500 necessary to make the trip. I asked all my family to give me money for my birthday instead of gifts. You take the $5 or $10 and save it and turn it into the once in a lifetime trip.

Hi Orson!
It sounds like you really want to make this trip happen for your child and that is great! I think it is right to ask him to contribute as another poster suggested, perhaps not for all of the costs but maybe a set portion like spending money.
There are a ton of ways to do the trip on the cheap. Ask family members if they have hotel points to share, tent camping, hostels are all good ideas. Looking for $39 flights from Southwest or driving.
I haven't heard of travel grants but asking any and everyone who might be invested in this might lead to something helpful. Calling hotels and speaking to the management about your situation might yield a good price on a room.

We took our children to Disney last year and had saved for over 3 years to make that happen. We were gifted a stay at time share by family and had airline points to use. Our biggest expense was park tickets. This could be a teachable moment for your son, making a financial goal and saving together to make it happen. Asking questions like, should we go to the movies or stay home and put the $60 in our trip fund. Your son might also get a kick out of doing a fundraiser like asking neighbors to save their returnables for him. I know we just did that for a child in my daughters class who wanted to buy something for the Humane Society.

Good luck!

There are fundraising sites online, such as gofundme, where you can put forth your project or need and people can donate money to it. Of course, you'd have to provide a bit more detail there before anybody would have any interest.

I tend to spend what might be considered too much $ on the kid's interests...I just do.

anyway, I didn't post earlier because I thought others would have at least a few suggestions.
here is one example:
http://www.vagifted.org/scholarship.html
although they state the scholarship is for an academic program, it does seem like there might be something out there that could possibly work for you if you dig around. Or like others suggest, help your child start a fundraising campaign or create a proposal to take to a local business that might be able to help.

good luck!

Thank you, Chris. That's actually very helpful.

A lot of posters here sound quite negative about providing children with interesting educational opportunities that happen to cost money. That shocks me. I'm hearing a lot of "If he really likes it so much, he should be happy just to think about it until he grows up and pays for it himself" type stuff. Really? And these are the people raising the "gifted" kids who are supposed to be our future? My goal is to bend over backwards to provide my son with a great education. My goal is not to bend over backwards to buy him toys (he has almost none) and take him on ski trips. My goal is to feed his highly gifted mind. If this means I have to find ways to raise money for this experience or that, I don't mind. I do what I can. Maybe this means my child is spoiled. So be it. I'm spoiling him with education. To the gallows with me!

If you lived in Florida and Bill Gates offered to personally give your child a tour at Microsoft, would you try to find a way to get your child to Seattle? Or would you tell your child to hold a lemonade stand and hope he raised enough to make the trip when he's 20? Make him "build character" and "earn" the trip, despite the fact that the offer from Gates probably would not stand for thirteen years.

I would never have posted this question if I'd known people were going to be such scolds. If I could delete this thread, I would. Is there a way to do that?

BTW, if there are any homeschoolers critical of me here, keep in mind that most of you are forfeiting an entire annual income, let's conservatively say $20,000/yr, to provide educational opportunities to your child/children. The public school will educate your child for free, but you've chosen to "pay" $20,000 a year to keep him home. Nobody bats an eye when homeschoolers do this. They're doing right by their child! But I look into taking my child somewhere special one time and I'm misguided, spoiling my child.

Ouch.

I sincerely apologize if my post is one of the ones that offended you. My responses were genuine, well-intentioned, and I actually spent a bit of time researching options to make sure the suggestions I was offering were still doable.

I certainly didn't mean to scold and honestly thought you were looking for answers to the questions you asked.

I can't remember what you personally posted, but the majority of the responses were negative. Everybody is entitled to his opinion. I'm just suggesting that people in glass houses should maybe think before they throw stones.

I was sincerely asking for responses to my questions, and the last few posters provided them without editorial comment.

Orson,

I, too, hope that I wasn't one who offended. I think that this thread took the direction it did for two reasons:

1) people don't know where you live or what the passion area is so they are at a loss to try to help you figure out either of the following: are there ways to get the cost down for this option, are there alternative options that might cost less?
2) some of us, too, have not been able to do things that would be wonderful for our kids but are trying to give alternative options that might be good enough if not great.

My dd13 is in the second spot. She's wanted to be a marine mammologist since she was three. She's had qualifying scores for Duke's Marine Lab program since she was 11, but we simply cannot afford the $3K-ish cost without giving up something else that our family needs more like clothes, a car that runs, etc. We are also not so low income (like free lunch qualifying) that she gets major financial assistance. We can get partial scholarships at times, but even half off is too much to justify.

It seems like you're in the spot of either needing to find a way to get the cost down or finding an alternative. Unfortunately none of us has a good idea on how to find a funder right now, but maybe we can help with alternatives. I do understand if you aren't comfortable putting your location or the specifics of the trip out there on the internet, though.

I think the problem that you're facing is that your child is quite young. So while there are research and travel grants that may be available, you will be hard pressed to find funding for an elementary school child. My son is 8 and we have battled age discrimination quite heavily at our local museum. Because he is grade skipped and subject accelerated, his age and grade do not match. It's been a rough battle some places to get them to understand.

I'm sorry you felt criticized and as a homeschooling mom who quit a job as a vice-principal to stay home this year, I do understand the money and the sacrifice. I think the tone of your original post may have lead people to feel judged, however. As a family who has been to Disney several times, it's hard to feel called out by a stranger that our choice of where to spend our money is somehow more foolish than another's.

I never once critisized you for wanting to find a way to fund something not in your budget. I still think if you would state the interest and location of interest and name of the museum and vague area where you live I could be of help...say you live in the southeastern US...gives me something to go on....say he wants to go to the kelp beds of monterey bay...gives me other ideas and a general idea of how far you have to go. Unless his interest is in something embarrassing, I can't figure out why you won't give more details.

Orson, I hope you didn't take anything I said as trying to discourage you. I really am trying to help you brainstorm ways to make this happen, but as someone who would currently find coming up with $2500 completely out of reach no matter how appealing the opportunity, I am also trying to help you find "good enough" substitutes in case you aren't successful in finding ways to bring the cost down or the resources up to something you can manage. I would love for my son to have been able to do a lot of educational things that he really wanted to do that I haven't been able to afford, so I know where you are coming from.

I was assuming that it couldn't be coincidence that I saw this just after this thread - a 7yo has successfully raised a large sum of money to enable him to visit a museum relating to his passion, with the help of the Pharyngulean horde. If it's not your son, maybe it'll nevertheless be inspirational - although I don't suppose exactly the same fundraising method would work twice in quick succession. Importantly, this child is a blogger; right there is a visible commitment to share the knowledge that results from the trip, which is very likely to increase people's willingness to give.

I probably am one of the people you feel criticised by. For clarity: I do not criticise someone who would choose to spend their own money on such a trip, nor do I criticise someone asking for donations to it specifically or someone who makes such a donation. I would, probably, criticise a general educational charity that funded such an expensive museum trip for one child, because on the basis of what you said it would seem likely to be such poor value as to constitute breaking faith with the donors to such a charity. I'm sorry if this view offends you, but I don't apologise for expressing it: if you post on a public forum, you may hear opinions that offend you. I am in turn offended by your implication that by not choosing to spend my money in such a way I'm parenting my gifted child badly, but you're entitled to your opinion, and I'm entitled to disregard it, as I do.

Orson, I just don't think such a trip is necessary to provide a high quality education-- and though it certainly stands to engage the student, I'm not sure it would engage him more when he shows a strong interest already. Of course wealthy parents are able to fund more expensive learning opportunities such as museum trips than poor parents. Still, that doesn't mean that children of wealthy parents wind up learning more, having more drive to explore their chosen areas as adults, or being more successful just due to the extra expensive items. (The comparison would obviously be to children of parents who provide plenty of learning opportunities-- just not luxury items-- not disadvantaged children who aren't adequately provided for.)

I doubt the trip mentioned in the blog will make a real difference long term for that child. A fun, memorable trip is not an educational necessity, and seems more like a luxury item; I'd bet there are many successful researchers who didn't have such things growing up. There are so many high-quality learning materials available on TV and the internet these days, I really don't think your son will suffer without a cross-country museum trip. (This is assuming that the blog is not made by you about your own son-- nice find, ColinsMum. Hopefully this is all moot.)

As an example, Wren mentioned astrophysics. DS6 is interested in this, and while a planetarium trip would be fun and exciting (and we plan to go back in the next year or so at a local museum), he learns plenty from books, TV (we recently killed the cable but have OTA PBS, plus The Universe and some other things on optical discs), the web, and planetarium software on our PCs. I doubt that children growing up, say, 50-100 years ago-- including all of the world's leading physicists of those generations-- had it so good in terms of available information and the ability to engage in self-directed learning. Is it the same as talking to a real-live astrophysicist, or standing next to a real working large telescope? No, but if I had to pick one or the other, I'd pick the premade information, both canned and interactive, plus home science tools in a heartbeat; and I don't think I'm shorting him by not wracking my brain over getting him into more exciting learning opportunities at this stage.

ETA: I don't think it can be the same kid. You said your desired trip would cost $2,500, and that you wouldn't be able to go if you didn't find a grant or take a graveyard shift-- after the blogging mother had already gotten funds for the other trip, which cost less. Perhaps you got the idea from that blog? In any event, I think it does show that it's possible to do without saving up or working extra shifts.

And I'd be happy to learn that you got to take that trip; I just don't think you need to worry if you can't provide it, and I personally wouldn't work longer hours, on a budget, to spend thousands on the ability to browse one time a museum collection behind the scenes. If I have anything valuable to contribute, it's my opinion that it might not be as important long-term as you think, so you might be able to relax a bit. I salute you for caring so much about your son that you'd experience stress over this.

I think it is great that you started the blog. And, I also think that people should respect any parent's decision, since we are here trying to do what we think is best for our child.

I like it when people share their own experiences, either what they went through, or their own child, so that other parent's can share and learn.

Each kid is different.

I think it is great that some showed some options so that Orson can check them out. Some kids run a lemonade stand at the beach each summer to raise money for something local and people are generous because they like the cause. I think that Orson's child could raise money stating his case. Do a creative Youtube, get attention. He might get on the local morning show and find a benefactor. Just make sure you have details on what you are spending the money on. Benefactors like that.

Ren

Just adding a short note. DD7 announced last night, at dinner, that she wants to be a quantum physist when she grows up.

And it took me back to my own interest in science at that age, though astrophysics was my "destiny".

I didn't even work in science, though my undergrad is engineering, just went right to Wall St. So whether you get to the coast or not, passions can change. Though there are the Darwins, who seem to keep on path from childhood.

Physics at higher levels can be boring and can attract some bizarre people. Not that your daughter won't do it or do well! But it's like you are saying that you studied engineering but ended up in Wall Street!

The Boy Who Played With Fusion

A few suggestions to check out for your child to nuture his oceanography.

I would consider contacting various organizations to see if they know of grants/scholarships. Tell them your story, you never know, something good could come of it.

http://www.jason.org/public/whatis/start.aspx

Look into near by Science Centers, Nature Centers and Park Systems. My local park system does camping type travel in small family group and I believe they are more reasonable.

http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/

My final goal in this thread is to encourage people to think bigger. It's not a bad thing to go the extra mile to help your child get what he needs, to feed his brain and open up a world of possibilities. This is not "spoiling" the child. The bootstrappy idea that something "earned" is more valuable than something given is not a philosophy to which I subscribe. And I doubt the parents claiming that here truly believe it anyway. If they did, none would accept college scholarships for their kids, or support grants and funding for scientists and researchers.

My son has funded his trip via support from a philanthropic organization.

Don't settle for little or nothing when possibilities are endless!

Congratulations. that's so wonderful. Do you want to share how you made this happen?

Have a wonderful Trip. I'm sure we would enjoy hearing your experiences.

Glad to see it's all worked out and that you were able to find a solution that fit within your own values and those you want to teach your child, that's important.

I'm glad that your son will get to take his trip.

Do you realize that you're the only person to use the words "spoiling" and "spoiled" in this thread? You don't seem to deal well with input that's not in complete agreement with your own thoughts.

That's unneccessary. Just be nice.

Rereading old posts is fascinating because more information has become available over the years.

In this case, fundraising websites have become more commonplace, including:
- GoFundMe - https://www.gofundme.com/
- GiveSendGo - https://www.givesendgo.com/
Updating this for future readers of this thread.

Although this parent ultimately posted that they received funding for this trip via support from a philanthropic organization, they seemed unwilling to post the source, or a follow-up on how their son enjoyed the experience of the family trip, visiting the museum, and meeting the scientists.

A few quick clicks reveal that evidently the child started a public blog on social media, and another blogger made a fundraising appeal to it's wider audience of readers (who shared similar interests), collecting an amount which exceeded the financial goal. This sounds like an appealing strategy for families to use, as it exercises the child's passionate interest and gathers like-minded individuals.

The young scientist would be about 17 now, possibly about to graduate high school, or possibly accelerated and already in college. It would be lovely to learn how the past decade has gone for him, and whether his interests are in the same general area, or have changed much over the years.

I have found that everyone is using gofundme platforms for everything. From ballet training to moving to Europe to be with a loved one. I think your fundraising capability is based on how good your network is. I find it isn't the cause, just how willing and big the group you reach. I would think my network unwilling and not big.

Exactly! That's where the child's blog comes in... when picked up by a known blogger who shares a specific area of interest, one can potentially reach a wider audience, beyond their own existing network, by leveraging the network of the well-known blogger, its readers, and its social media contacts.

Like ripples on a pond.