Electronics class for 7 year old tinkerer

My 7-year-old son is obsessed with creating his own electronic circuits. He browses the resistors and potentiometers at Radio Shack and has big ideas about making calculators from scratch. This usually ends up in frustration because the plans are so complex, and I don't know enough about it to help him work things through. I'm hoping to find out about a local class or private lessons for him. We live in the Oakland/Piedmont area but would be willing to travel a bit. I'd also like to hear about any good books on the subject. (We already have Snap Circuits; he is more interested in soldering his own inventions). Thanks for any suggestions!

Media Technology Classes or Camp

Are there classes or camps that teach kids how to program video games? My son is mainly interested in playing games, but I wanted to try and interest him in a more creative direction. Ideas? Curious Mom

Electronics class for 14-year-old

My 14-yr old son wants to take electronics this summer. I have a good idea of the arts and crafts classes offered around the East Bay, but no clue as to electronics courses. We live in Danville, but could drive 20 miles or so each way. Any suggestions? Key

Computer camp for 9-year-old

My 9 year old son wants very much to go to a computer camp this summer. We live in Berkeley and we're looking for a day camp, not a sleep-over camp. Any and all recommendations appreciated! Kim

Earlier recommendations

Re: Computer Programming for Teens
My son has gone to computer camp a couple weeks every summer for the last three years. He's attended Cybercamp because it offers robotics, video classes, game programming and C++. The college kids and grads who lead the classes are great and there's flexability for anyone who changes their mind about what they want to try out. Unfortunately, it's very expensive. So this year, having taken robotics and other related subjects, he's mainly interested in C++. My plan is to wait until the camps issue of Parent's Press comes out, and see if there's a less costly alternative, though I highly recommend Cybercamps is you can afford it. I look forward to hearing what other parents have to recommend. Thanks for asking. Dusky

St. Paul's Episcopal School near Lake Merritt in Oakland has a good summer computer camp that is pretty reasonable. My daughter attended last year and enjoyed it. Info for the 2000 summer session is at http://www.spes.org/about/summer/desc.html, and they will be posting info for the 2001 sessions soon. I know that they have brochures available for 2001- if you call they will send you one. Dianne

Two years ago my son attended East Bay Schools of the Arts on Virginia Street in Berkeley. He took computer graphics and magic classes for 3 weeks, half day. They have a 3 weeks or 6 weeks half or full day program.....variety of classes. It's expensive but he enjoyed it. At the end of the three weeks they had an open house for families. I would read Parent Press for summer ideas. Doreen

For the parent who's looking for a computer-oriented summer program for her 11 yr old son, I recommend the 2-wk computer summer day camps for 3rd thru 8th graders (one is computers and science, and the other is advanced computers) at St. Paul's Espiscopal School near Lake Meritt in Oakland. I'm not sure if they're full yet, but call and ask for the summer program director. -- Dianne