Science Fair

[DCJenn]

Well, we took the science fair project to school. It was readily apparent whose parents did the project and who did the project on their own. (handwritten vs. perfectly spelled printed on card stock information)

We'll see which is rewarded...

J.

PS- he did an experiment about what happens if you try to pop a balloon w/ your hand vs. popping a blown up paper bag w/ your hand. N. thought that the balloon would pop, which of course, was not at all what happened! We learned about elasticity.

[ladymoreta]

Cool project!!! I really hope they reward the ones the students did.

[v-girl]

That is a cool project!

[SuzySunshine]

Good for him - I hate it when parents do the projects.

[DCJenn]

I don't understand WHY they do it. I certainly don't plan on helping him with his senior thesis or any other assignment going down the road. Like I tell him about homework- I had 18+ years of homework, I am DONE. (not really, I have to write the PTA grant application tonight!) Does his "look" the best? Nope. It looks like it was done by a seven year old!

We shall see. Same thing happened w/ the pine box derby, too. The dads made most of the cars.

J.

I don't understand WHY they do it. I certainly don't plan on helping him with his senior thesis or any other assignment going down the road. Like I tell him about homework- I had 18+ years of homework, I am DONE. (not really, I have to write the PTA grant application tonight!) Does his "look" the best? Nope. It looks like it was done by a seven year old!

We shall see. Same thing happened w/ the pine box derby, too. The dads made most of the cars.

J.

We just had a similar experience with a project here. Not only did I not do it/help him (aside from helping with the computer), but I left him alone w/the babysitter b/c he'd waited to the last minute and it's HIS responsibility, not mine -- so me missed a fun night at the ballpark. I sent his teacher a very strongly worded email the next morning telling her I did *NOT* want the project back so I could "help" him with it (as happened w/the Poetry project), and I expected him to be graded on his half-assed effort. She clearly didn't know what to do with me, and obviously didn't grade him hard enough -- kid came home with an A in Social Studies -- and the project was big enough that it should have tanked his grade to at least a B had he been graded accurately.

Our school does not ALLOW the teachers to take off points for turning in things late, or to award 0's, so Jacob has spent this year futzing around with his projects until he turns in enough work to get a B or an A. I'm through with it.

[Tenacious_D]

When I was teaching, it would annoy me to no end when parents would do versus help their kids with projects. I don't plan on doing projects for another 20 years!

[fluffhead]

This is a big issue in our house - I push for DD1 to do her own work and fail occasionally. DW sits on top of her and ends up doing most of hte project.
For the last report, I forbade DW from getting involved, and DD1 was so proud of the work when she was done.
It's all from the insane house in which dw was brought up - anything short of an A grade was cause for corporal punishment.

[PrincessFiona]

We have this issue in our community. Winners are always parent led projects. They are also always the boyscout pinewood derby winners. The main reason I finally walked away from boyscouts and girlscouts is that parents did everything. It's truly ridiculous and teaches our kids nothing.

Kris


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[peggyfromwastate]

Yes the pinewood derby cars are stupid. My boys cars always are the only ones that look at all like a kid had a part of them. They design them and dh will cut bc we would like them to have their fingers later on in life. But they have to sand them, paint them, etc. Sucks bc they never get awards. But it is good bc the cars are their creation.

We've been part of cake decorating contests and it's the same deal. I like sports bc the parents can't step in there and score the goals, etc.

Anyway jen sounds like a cool science project!!!

[Chrisada]

When I taught 2nd grade I would flat out ask the students what their parents did on their project. And they would always tell. The kids whose parents did most off it got a lower grade and I was sure to let the parents know why the grade was low. I remember my cousin doing some of her 9th graders work when she was capable of doing it herself and getting very defensive when I brought it up. Ugh.

[GrayMatterWife]

i had 18+ years of homework, i am done.

this.

[diggitydot]

WTF is wrong with people that they'll do their kids' crap for them? It doesn't teach them jack.

However, some kids are super artsy. DD1 was accused of having us help her with a project when she was in 6th grade because it looked so great. Uh, no. 1.) I'm not that creative. 2.) I'm not *that* parent.

She's a pretty talented artist and did EVERYTHING herself. It was a glorified book report and she chose to do it on her favorite graphic novels. Kid can freehand sketch a of the characters. If I wasn't the one birthing her, I'd swear there's no way she could be mine.

[peggyfromwastate]

My dd made an anime in 6th grade with her best friend. It was amazing. My girls were much better artists than I by 2nd grade lol. Dh is a good artist so his father/daughter interaction was mostly sitting drawing pictures together.

I feel sorry for teachers having to explain this concept to parents. I know lots of parents who just can't help themselves. It's painful to watch your kid earn a bad grade but... That's life kid!

[SoonerTexan]

SIL (in Kindergarten) was assigned a science fair project. Of course my MIL did most of it and was annoyed it was even assigned. Is any kindergartener able to do something like that on their own?