The problem we encounter is that most all of these offerings are clustered by age, and he's not terribly interested in what is available for 6 year-olds—usually rudimentary science exemplified by simple, but theatrical demonstrations and little explanation.
This is precisely what we encountered when our DD15 (now a college freshman) was 4-7yo. It was
maddening.Even a TAG/GATE summer program run by our local university refused to even consider that a child who was functionally PG would (just maybe) not be all that interested in re-hashing all the cutesey craftsy stuff that would have appealed to her 2-3y previously. They mandated a STRICT age-based cut-off and made up reasons why they wouldn't budge on it.
There was really no winning this one, we found-- even if we succeeded in bulldozing her in, they'd look for evidence of asynchrony or immaturity as reasons why it wasn't appropriate, or some such thing. "She has trouble reaching the faucets in the lab" was one favorite of mine.
Our eventual solution was to quit "homeschooling" her and enroll her in a cyberschool after a 3y acceleration.
THAT way, it wasn't just mom and dad touting Special Snowflake's ultra special ability.
Because really, I think that is what homeschooling parents are up against. I'll never forget how MIND-BLOWING it was for the adults leading "homeschool days" at the local marine science center to hear my then 5yo ask questions that they
couldn't answer, raise her hand again-and-again-and-again when THEY asked questions... and sheepishly revise their opinion of cute little her when SHE was the only one in a room of kids mostly twice her age
who really KNEW the answer-- in more detail or with greater precision than some of the adults, in fact. I'll never forget the look on the face of one PhD student's face as she held a baleen sample on her lap and my DD "schooled" her-- once she
finally relented and "called on" my daughter, who had been patiently waiting while everyone else got a turn first. {yeah-- "imaturity" my Aunt Fanny-- try getting THAT much emotional maturity out of a typical 9yo, and my DD was 5.}
But of course, by then it was usually too late and she was annoyed by being dissed for being a "merely" a little kid, and in the mood to be snarky or even a little bit aggressive. She sometimes really embarrassed adults who had short-changed her early on. I learned to fear a certain "I'll show YOU" gleam in her eye.
