Another option is to find a mentor. I think there is a website to match up mentors with children. But probably it's just as effective to start letting everyone you know in on that you are looking for someone who wants to guide your son in science activities.
This has worked well for us. I wouldn't use the web, though; for a kid that young a personal reference seems more trustworthy to me. We got the gifted teacher at the elementary school to contact a teacher at the high school and find us an advanced science student she could recommend wholeheartedly.
It's perfect: the student is doing this to get his service hours in (so we don't even have to pay him), he's amused as heck by my kid, and my kid is delighted to know a cool older guy who knows more than he does about science. They do lab time at hours when the science teacher is in the room doing planning, so it's supervised; but they're free to do what inspires them.
DeeDee
