Does anyone have experience with Hatterdays at Stetson in Deland, FL.? We've just found them and are going to sign DD6 up for their Dec. program. I was just wondering if anyone else is going, or has gone in the past.
Hi Kerry. We were considering it, actually. I just read about it a few days ago. My ds is 6! I know nothing about it really, but it's supposed to be a good program. Hopefully someone here will have something to add. Do you live nearby? We are in the Orlando area.
Jen
We've done several of these since spring with DD7. She has really enjoyed and requests to go back even though we spend almost as much time in the car as we do at the class (we come from near Jacksonville). There are a number of east coast and central Florida families that attend - one from as far as Tallahassee (for an older child). They also have weeklong summer camps at several locations, includin the main Stetson campus and usually one at an Orlando elementary school, Princeton I think.
We've gotten a little more selective about specific topics and some scheduling conflicts, so didn't make the November program and will miss the December program as well. Am waiting for the spring schedule to come out so we can get these penciled in first.
They have a fair amount of hands on stuff in the younger group (K-3rd usually), but much of the material itself is pretty advanced. Recent focus has been tied to topics covered in Magic Tree House or Magic School Bus - December is Polar Express.
Since these are targeted at gifted kids, the grade levels for the classes aren't absolute, but they try to manage them because many of the older classes can involve some pretty intensive fine motor skills (rocketry, sheep heart dissections, etc.).
I think the parent classes are quite valuable as well - the director has a parent resource library, has had excellent speakers - and getting information from other parents who have BTDT in their own school districts (or possibly even your district) builds a useful scaffold for advocacy - at least it helped me a bunch last school year.
JenSMP - Yes, we're in the Orlando area. We've just moved to the area and know only the people I work with, so we're looking for contacts.
Prissy - thanks for the info. We are pretty excited about it. I think DD will love it. We'll let you know how it is.
It's neat to see other parents that are near to us :-) We live in Melbourne and travel to Orlando quite frequently. We were excited to find Hatterdays - we were also looking into MASA in the Orlando area as well. We really wanted to do the Polar Express Dec. gathering but my inlaws will be watching DS6 while we will be out of town for the weekend and we don't want them to have to deal with a long drive in unfamilar territory. We haven't been to one yet so we are waiting for the Spring classes with anticipation!!!
MASA is Math, Science, Arts, and Science Achievement Center for High Achieving and Talented Youth and is a program sponsored by Space Florida and NASA's Florida Space Grant Consortium.....they also run Saturday programs and they are in Winter Park right outside of Orlando...here is their site....their classes look amazing....
http://www.masaflorida.org/saturdaydescription_fall2009.html
Thanks for sharing that Belle!
Thanks, They do look great. We'll have to compare the 2 programs each month and see if DD wants to go to one or the other and if we can afford them each time. It sure would be nice to have an unlimited budget for these sorts of things wouldn't it?
Well, DD6 loved the Hatterday yesterday!
She was a bit nervous going because she didn't know anyone, but once there she had a great time. She came out with a huge grin on her face telling us all about what she had learned about the northern lights, polar ice caps and candy canes.
She definitely wants to go back again, so anyone that decides to go will probably see us there.
DS7 tried MASA for the first time today and my son really enjoyed himself. They learned about rocketry and forensics. I was thrilled to learn at the drop off that they had a mentor working with the kids today who was a police officer that worked on the forensics team and was also an undercover cop for many years...so he taught them all about fingerprinting, how to solve mysteries through science. My son was totally fascinated and came home with his fingerprints done along with guide sheets talking about whorls, tented arches, double loop whorls...and he proceeded to give us a whole lesson on DNA and fingerprinting.
Everyone was very nice and the person talking at the drop off said all the teachers are gifted endorsed and are gifted teachers in the area so that was nice to know. She said they were going to be offering a summer camp as well and the kids would rotate around different topics.
We are signed up for HatterDays in February so I am curious how he compares the two of them.
Belle,
It looks like we'll be seeing you there. DD is signing up too. It was a hard choice for her because she wants to do both, but we said she could try MASA another month.
Oh that's great Kerry! MASA was really neat but it looks like they only offer the same class each month - so it doesn't change each month like Hatterdays...DS7 is looking forward to Hatterdays this month...he is still a little nervous about going into a group of kids he has never met but I am really proud of how he handled MASA so I know he will be okay :-) We will see you guys there
Hi all,
I just found this old thread. Is Hatterdays still worth it, or have things changed? We are in Jax and were thinking of trying it in Feb or March.
Thanks-
The Feb one will be our first so I will post when we finish :-) We are driving about an hour to get there
For us it will be nearly two hours, so I look forward to seeing what you have to say!
DD (7 tomorrow
) has loved the 2 she went to. They are so interesting and hands on that she finds them amazing. In fact, they are so good that we can pretty much be guaranteed a bad week a school after one becasue she realizes, on some level, how bad things are at her school right now.
We asked her last month why she liked it so much and she said that the teacher is great and rather than making them just do worksheets they actually teach her things that she doesn't know yet.
We too drive a bit over an hour to get there, so it makes it an early morning start, but it is worth it for us because since her school situation isn't too good right now, it is the only time she gets to be with other gt kids and feels like they understand her and that don't think she is just wierd.
Well, we just found out that DH waited too long to send in the check for Feb. class, and it was filled already. So, we won't be going this month, but are already signed up for next month. So hopefully you'll be there then too Belle.
Oh Kerry - that's a shame :-( I guess it is a good sign though that it is filled up- that means kids must like it :-)We want to see if DS7 likes it enough this time around and if so, we will sign him up for the next one....the parent talk this month is on Perfectionism...which is perfect for us!
They just put up on their website the classes they are offering for their summer program..the only thing is that they have the classes split into K-3, 4-6 and 6-9...my son wasn't very interested in any of the K-3 classes - he was more into the 4-6 classes (geocaching, Harry Potter Science Magic, Blast Off/Rocketry, I want my mummy/egyptology, an experiment Experience-science and math, and Let's Build/architect)..the only classes offered for K-3 were geometery (basic understanding of shapes to sorting, describing, identifying and demonstrating symmetry) or Medieval Times Adventures.
DS7 said the Medieval was the only one he would be remotely interested in but he was really bummed that all the "super cool and interesting" stuff was only for Grades 4-6 :-(
I've thought the same thing about their k-3 classes. I think it is because they have just started this level class and are not sure what would be the best bet for this age group. DD is more interested in the older classes too. Maybe we should let them know this and see if they can make any changes?
Kerry and Belle, I would suggest that you contact Lynn and ask about moving up as the grade levels are not cast in stone. She may consider it, but it depends on the class and she may be less flexible for the weeklong summer classes. If your child has a specific interest or aptitude in a subject she is willing to try to work it out, but some of the activities are not just academic and need other age-appropriate skills such as advanced fine motor skill, safety awareness, etc. The specific example she has described is that she would not be likely to let anyone move up to any of the dissection classes due to the fine motor precision necessary. Rocketry would likely be another I would guess for safety reasons.
Also she wants to make sure that she has enough spots for students in those age ranges. We have been quasi-regulars for about a year and she knows my DD7-almost 8 (in 3rd grade). So Lynn was willing to register her for one of the 4th-6th grade classes in April, but she was very upfront about the fact that if the class filled past capacity that she would likely bump us to our second choice the BER (K-3).
I know that Lynn works nearly all year on getting the summer classes put together. The remote locations and finding teachers are the hardest from what she has said. She is always looking for new ideas for classes, so I'm sure she would be receptive to suggestions.
In my experience Lynn is very accessible via email and will also speak with you by phone; she can be quite busy on the actual Hatterdays, so that is not usually a good time to get into any extended discussion. She is also a parent of a (former) HATS student so is sympathetic to these kinds of situations and is willing to work things out where she can.
Is anyone going this month?
Belle, how did it go last month?
We're definitely going this month, and DH is keeping DD2 at home, so I can listen to the parent discussion this time rather than walking the halls with our little chatter box
We'll be there next weekend. DD(now)8 will be in the Irish folklore class.
Belle, in addition to hearing how your DS liked the class, I'm also curious about how the parent session went. I think you mentioned the topic was perfectionism, which rears its ugly head in our family as well. We are always looking for new ideas on managing that particular monster - extra tools for the toolbox, ya' know!
Hi all,
We will be there in April, I sent in checks last week.
Will any of you be there?
We are planning to be there in April. Not entirely sure which class though - we registered for the Predators/Prey class (which is above my DD's grade level), but Lynn warned we might get bumped back down to the Dolphins class (in my DD's actual grade level).
I don't think there is much specifically planned for parents that day, but there are several things related to Earth Day planned.
Good luck! Have fun!
We went to the Feb Hatterdays and DS7 said he really enjoyed it -it was about the heart/body and was based around the Magic School Bus theme....At the end of the time, the older kids had been disecting pig hearts and the coordinator brought a pig heart down to show the younger class and my son thought that was awesome. The parent session was okay...I didn't quite know what to expect as this was our first - we kind of thought maybe that a specialist or someone would be there to do a small talk on perfectionism and it was the Hatterdays Coordinator who gave the talk....she is one great lady and man talk about energy! She passed out some fliers from some sites and shared some book ideas but it was about the same kind of materials you find on the SENG site and on here so nothing new to really pass on - but it was still interesting. I would have loved the chance to hear some of the parents share some of their issues with perfectionism and then maybe have a guest speaker address some of the issues brought up.
We didn't make the March one on March 13 because it was the same date as the Huge Pokemon State Championship Tournament DS wanted to do...and then the next one lands on April 17 and DH and I will be going to see Bon Jovi in Tampa that evening and the grandparents are coming down to watch DS...they said they didn't feel comfortable driving 1.5 hours away with our little guy so he is going to miss out- we tried to tell the grandparents that it would give them a chance to see the various activities we try to do with him and for them to get involved but it was a no go - he was bummed because he is really into Dolphins and the ocean - we had the concert tickets bought before we started Hatterdays so we can't change anything :-( and we may aim for the last one in May - the only downside is that DS is not really into learning about plants so the topic wasn't very interesting to him...so I am not 100% sure if we will go or not. We are trying to figure out if we want to try their summer camp or not
We aren't going to April's because many of my students are involved in my school's robotics club and they made it to FIRST nationals in Atlanta the same weekend. I took DD to the regional competition in at UCF and she loved it, so the whole family is driving up for the nationals with the team. It should be a lot of fun.
We are planning on going in May, but I need to look at the date again.
I don't know about the summer program yet either because of job issues, but we'll see.
My DD9 will be in Predators/Prey and DD6 will be in the Magic Tree House. If we like it, we might go this summer.
Hi all,
We are considering relocating to the Orlando area for a bit. Are there any website links to the Hatterday stuff? I did see a link to the MASA stuff. I would love to find some other families in the area if/when we do come down. We are homeschooling too so I would love some homeschool resources if anyone has any. Thanks so much!!!
Hello :-) Here is the link to Hatterdays....or the Hats Program
http://www.stetson.edu/hats/
Hello! Jumping in late to the discussion. My son (age 7) has attended various programs with both MASA and Hatterdays for about a year. He's had positive experiences at both, but he definitely prefers the MASA program. He attended the MASA Saturday program in March and in April he attended HATS (Berets), so he offered a "back to back" comparison. In his words "MASA doesn't talk down to us because we're young kids. At HATS, it's all about Magic School Bus or Magic Tree House, which are cute stories, but I outgrew them last year. HATS feels like public school with work sheets and cut and paste projects. MASA is all about the science and its application. It is super cool to do hands on experiments. Plus Trinity Prep rocks." He's a very enthusiastic boy...he carefully reads the provided course descriptions and he expects them to live up to their billing. He can be a bit dramatic, but those are his words and feelings, so I thought I would share.
Personally, I'm glad to have found both programs. We moved to DeLand last summer (from south of Orlando) and finding a school (Children's House Montessori in DeLand) and program like HATS were very important. Stetson is a wonderful community resource and I think that Lynn (HATS director) works hard to put together her program. BERETS (for the younger children) is still new and, therefore, doesn't offer the variety available for older children. I'll continue to support her program and I have registered my son for one week of the summer program and look forward to the time when he "ages up" to HATS. And, in the meantime, I'll be on the road to MASA, as well! :-)