Outdoor fun for budding scientists

While Alex explains the multitude of shapes possible in creating his origami hat, his twin sister, Roxanne, contemplates a bug she’s never seen before, and older sister Margo sorts through a stack of her recent scholastic achievement certificates.

Alex’s passion is astronomy. Planetary trivia pours out of the 9-year-old: “Venus and Mercury have the same degree in their spinning, even though Venus rotates backward, but it orbits forward. And its days are longer than its years.”

Their parents’ graphic-design business has floundered for the last few years, putting the family in dire financial straits. “It’s painful to be in this situation,” says the kids’ mother, Aviva. “I worry about the future.”

But these three highly intelligent siblings seem to float above it, moving from activity to activity.

Margo, 11, says she wants to be “at least” an astrophysicist, inspired by Sally Ride. Last week, she wanted to be a writer. like J.K. Rowling.

Roxanne has had a poem published in The Times’ Kids’ Reading Room page. “I like to imagine the stories, I don’t like to write them down,” she says of her early struggles in her literary career. “I get the ideas too quickly to write them down and edit.”

It’s Alex, though, who worries his parents. He has been diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, an autism-like condition marked by impaired social skills. It has been speculated recently that Albert Einstein and Thomas Edison had the syndrome.

That’s lofty company, but it can be tough being the smart kid who can’t help saying whatever occurs to him.

The siblings are going to Camp Max Straus this month courtesy of the Los Angeles Times Summer Camp Campaign. Their mother hopes the experience will make them more independent. Roxanne is interested in entomology and is eager to encounter the camp’s bugs and wildlife.

Says the kids’ proud mother: “They’re looked upon as geeky, but the right people appreciate them.”

About 11,000 children will go to camp this summer thanks to the $1.6 million raised last year.

The annual fund-raising campaign is part of the Los Angeles Times Family Fund, a fund of the McCormick Tribune Foundation, which this year will match the first $1.1 million in contributions at 50 cents on the dollar.

Donations are tax-deductible. To make credit card donations, visit www.latimes.com/ summercamp. For more information, call (213) 237-5771.

To send checks, use the attached coupon. Do not send cash. Unless requested otherwise, gifts of $50 or more will be acknowledged in The Times.