鈥淏yrdseed is all about better understanding our gifted learners. Stick around and you鈥檒l learn how to differentiate lessons, teach across the content areas, and appreciate gifted kids鈥� unique social and emotional needs.鈥�

鈥淚 am Vi Hart! I am a real person, and I make videos and virtual reality and other things. Sorry about the bright yellow. It amuses me. This is my personal website, not some 鈥榁i Hart brand Websperience鈥� created for your enjoyment or education or whatever.鈥�

鈥淏ASIC-256 is an easy to use version of BASIC designed to teach anybody (especially middle and high-school students) the basics of computer programming. It uses traditional control structures like gosub, for/next, and goto, which helps kids easily see how program flow-control works. It has a built-in graphics mode which lets them draw pictures on screen in minutes, and a set of detailed, easy-to-follow tutorials that introduce programming concepts through fun exercises.鈥�

鈥淭he Kid Should See This is a growing library of smart & super-cool, 鈥榥ot-made-for-kids, but perfect for them鈥� videos that can be watched in the classroom or together at home. Enjoy 8-12 new vids each week, and search 3,000+ videos in the archives, curated by me, Rion Nakaya, with help from my 6 & 9 year olds.鈥�

鈥淭ED-Ed is TED鈥檚 youth and education initiative. TED-Ed鈥檚 mission is to spark and celebrate the ideas of teachers and students around the world.鈥�

The series was specifically recommended.

鈥淚n an age where everything seems to have been explored and there is nothing new to be found, we celebrate a different way of looking at the world. If you’re searching for miniature cities, glass flowers, books bound in human skin, gigantic flaming holes in the ground, bone churches, balancing pagodas, or homes built entirely out of paper, the Atlas Obscura is where you’ll find them.鈥�

鈥淐overing the outer reaches of space to the tiniest microbes in our bodies, Science Friday is the source for entertaining and educational stories about science, technology, and other cool stuff.鈥�

鈥淭he School of Life is a place that tries to answer the great questions of life. We believe in developing emotional intelligence. We are based online and in 12 physical hubs around the world, including London, Melbourne, Istanbul and Seoul.鈥�

鈥淢ensa for Kids offers a variety of online resources for exceptionally bright youth.鈥�

鈥淕iftedness: Everything parents, educators, administrators, counselors, psychologists, and gifted children & teens need to know, including articles and research.鈥�

What would you add to the list?

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Jen Mounday is the Program Coordinator for 优蜜视频鈥檚 Academy program. Academy provides young gifted students with challenging enrichment classes that focus on exploration and the application of knowledge.

I was a classroom teacher before coming to 优蜜视频 to be a Program Coordinator. From my years teaching, I naturally developed a mental catalogue of gifted students and the impressions they made on me over time. My experience in the classroom left me well acquainted with the gifted child: the voracious reader, the classical music lover, the Spanish speaking whiz, the student who challenges, the one who ponders鈥攖he child who has the uncanny power to shape you through their own quest for answers and truth. The memories I have working alongside gifted and talented kids are ever in my mind鈥檚 eye as I coordinate enrichment programs for this demographic.

优蜜视频鈥檚 Academy welcomes kindergarten through eighth grade students into classrooms of like-minded peers. As much as I grouped students homogeneously when I was a classroom teacher, I have realized that there is nothing like an Academy classroom. Observe and you will see astronomy PhDs teaching astrophysics to a group of eleven-year-olds; the students are engaged, asking questions and driving the lesson deeper. It鈥檚 the power of the Academy classroom that is meeting a need in our community鈥攄rawing highly able students beyond the mainstream classroom framework and up a bit higher.

The 2012 fall quarter for Academy included multiple levels of chemistry and neuro-energy. Students worked with molecular model kits to identify molecular make up. In Neuro-Energy II: Intro to Computer Programming, students learned the basics of Java Script to build a website. I watched in one class as a second grader stood transfixed, looking at the projector screen as the instructor demonstrated how to create digital clocks using code. The student was grinning, captivated, bouncing up and down on his heels, like he鈥檇 just seen Santa.

Our classes are unique, much like the students and the instructors themselves. Sometimes the novelty of the program is all it takes to get students excited about the classes. In Academy, there are no limits. Instructors, specialists in their field, encourage as many questions as can be asked and are willing to go off on a tangent or two to satisfy interest. Our students can come, just as they are, to talk literature, chemistry, robotics, or math and be heard, embraced, and understood. And naturally, by the end of each quarter, Academy students build relationships through a process of discovery. Over the course of grappling with content that is typically off limits to their peer group, they become a community.

We do our best to extend this community beyond the classes as well. Last week, we held Academy Family Night here at the 优蜜视频 office. It was an evening for the families to get to know each other and parents to hear from our president, Elizabeth Jones, on the social and emotional needs of gifted youth. It was an evening of learning and togetherness. Parents shared their experiences of raising gifted children, found support in each other and offered their gratitude for our programs. We will continue to hold parent nights each month through May.

We know that enrichment programs like Academy are often the bright spark in the gifted child鈥檚 week. We at the Institute for Educational Advancement are happy to provide that spark for our local community and beyond.

The Winter Session of Academy will run from January 12 to March 7. The schedule and applications are available on the Academy page of our website. Enroll your child today!

What enrichment programs have you found to inspire your son or daughter? Please share with us in the comment section below.