For the past 2 years we have taken DS to the annual meeting of a local conservation organization. They have panels on wildlife, water quality, endangered species, and public policy with real experts often with differing opinions discussing the current issues. In the afternoon they have field trips for small groups led by the experts. The program is definitely for grown ups but is kid friendly. DS (age 11 last year and 12 this year) sat through almost every presentation and even asked questions during the QandA periods.

Wildlife biology is a passion of his and finding this group has been wonderful for him. At the meeting this year, he was even offered the chance to come and help one of the local field workers for couple days this summer.

This has been such a huge success for us, I wanted to encourage other parents to keep an eye out for opportunities such as this that are the "real thing" not just more school. DS is often squirmy when in school, but because he could tell this was important and fun for him, he paid full attention and even took a few pages of notes (something he never does in school).

Have other parents done this same kind of thing? Are there other groups that you recommend we keep our eyes out for?

We did that with our kids and now with GS8. He goes to the cattleman & breed association meetings with us. The local cattleman's association is set up to have guest speakers on a regular basis for educational purposes. The junior associations he belongs to are set up with a bit more educational activities than the adults, but they groom the kids to become fully participating members of the adult associations at 18-21.

GS8 has gone to lots of farm related seminars with us. He attends field days with us and goes to the Farm Science Review. He's gone to clinics put on by the Department of Natural Resources, similar to what your son just did.

Anything we're interested in, we take him. We have him take along a book in case it's too far over his head but he takes in more & more each time.

But, this is fairly common among the agriculture community.

ACS, have you checked out your state Department of Natural Resources?

My parents were farmers and I did grow up going to farming conferences, sometimes sitting through sessions and other times playing hide and seek with my brothers. Good memories.

But DH and I are both city folks in professions where you really do not bring your kids to conferences. It even says specifically that young children are NOT welcome. Older kids can come, I guess, but they would have to have to register at $300 or so. So we don't take him along with us!

I should just add that there is no way that I would have gone to this conservation conference if it weren't for DS. He saw the agenda and got so excited and kept asking to go. I don't have a problem with the group (they're great folks), but I just have a lot of other interests and time commitments. At the meeting I introduced myself as DS's driver. I was the one tagging along, not the other way around.

You know, I'm always looking for opportunities like that too, those real life experience are where I see the girls really excited to learn.
That was the main reason we applied to DYS for DD8, because the info suggests the children could have access to mentors.
We've had a lot of success at The Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. They have a lot of young people who are pursuing or have achieved degrees in science, math and physics doing what they call on floor demonstrations. These are just live science experiements that are done in different spots in the museum. The girls love it and usually stay after asking tons of questions. They particularly like the young women and DD8 followed one around for a while after the demo bugging her. But the nice young lady really was nice and told her about a science program the museum had for kids which we didn't know about.
I try to accomodate the girls when they are on fire about learning something as well, ACS. Whether or not someone else thinks it's not appropriate.

((shrug))

ACS, your DS is a bit older than our GS8, but I can see in just a few years where I'll be taking GS to an adult activity of his choosing. I like how you introduced yourself as his driver

Acs - what a wonderful opportunity for your son! I'll keep my eyes open for such things for my son.

I've had in mind to contribute to this thread for awhile, finally getting here.

As far as specific opportunities to do something real - I recently heard about the Connecticut Corsair restoration project. (The page looks old but this is still going on.) From what I've heard, which is secondhand, they are giving kids the chance to help design parts. (SolidWorks was mentioned as a package they use - this is real stuff.) Worth looking into if you've got kids who are interested in aircraft or design.

Several families that I know have their children help out at the same workplace as the parent(s). It's not always child-driven, but I think it's still useful for kids to contribute in a workplace and see a little bit more what work is like. The folks I know who do this all work at, and/or own, small engineering firms. When the company needs help on some appropriate task the parent asks if the kid(s) would like to do it or help. Usually not very exciting (eg assembly or packaging) but the kids are often eager to help out.

Back when I worked full-time, I often added several high school & college kids to my group in the summer. Parents in the company I worked for would come see me in spring about summer jobs for their kids. Thinking about it now, I should probably have treated it more like summer camp.