DS has found his passion, but how can i be his ally?

[umami_mommy]

DS, who will be 9 in a few weeks has madly, completely, head over heels, fallen in love with lego robotics. he's been in love with legos for the last year or so, but we send him to a robotics camp this week and he is swooning. he begged for the advanced camp (which luckily grandpa was willing to pay for), but i have never ever seen him so excited and totally absorbed by something. he hates bookwork, hates reading, hates writing and every other school subject you can think of. every other camp we have ever sent him to he has begged to not have to finish the week. this is so so different. 

please, this type of math/science is not my area... where else can i go with this with him? esp since camp ends on the 18th and that is the end until next summer. DH is starting a lego first league with some other parents, but that isn't gonna fill him cup. 

anyone who knows more about this, please chime in!

[NellieKatz]

My DS (8) is like that with Power Rangers Samurai and for a while it was Lego Hero Factory, and now the two overlap. He just has the kits so he can make things (not just the kits as they came, but he mixes and matches the kits to create his own creatures and "weapons"). And he watches videos on YouTube, like product reviews & all that, which go into all sorts of detail beyond the toys & shows themselves, which really satisfies him, gives him ideas, inspires him to build more things & on & on....I don't need to be involved. I've been involved in a lot in my son's life but these things leave me cold, so they are 100% his. And of course if there were like-minded friends, or a group, or a class, I'd send him to that if need be, but it hasn't come to that.

So could you buy the robotics kits for your DS and he could sort of do the stuff himself? Maybe watch videos to get ideas, inspiration and instruction, just like my son does?

[savithny]

Not a home/un schooler, but saw the Lego Robotics thing and wnated to post (because I think the Lego Robotics are really amazingly cool):

We're in a university town, and a group of Engineering students in an outreach/activism club actually run enrichment classes using the Lego Robotics sets -- DS got to do it for a semester as an after school activity.  The college students came weekly with a bunch of the sets and components and a stack of laptops, and had all kinds of guidance in setting up the different robotics components and then programming using the plug and play software components.

And I'm with our DSs -- the Lego Robotics are SO COOL.  They're far and away more than just block or bionicles, but still have all the open play options of traditional Lego.  Unfortunately, they're also really, really expensive. :(   (You can look at the sets on Lego.com, but they start at over $200 for a basic set, last time I checked).   And hard to just pick up and use, especially if you're a learn-by-seeing kid vs. a learn-by-reading-instructions kid.  

SO:  that said, I'd look into whether there are LUG (Lego User Groups) in your area that might have meetings where he could meet other people who are into the Robotics?   We really benefit from being in a college town, because in addition to this student organization that does classes (and would probably be willing to set up homeschool classes, since this was set up through our PTA knowing someone in the group and setting it up) -- there's also a regular LUG of Lego train builders and other things.

Anyway, that's what I'd start with to find more resources -- user groups or interest groups or college student organizations that might be working with them?  

[Callimom]

Do you have a kit? If not I would start there. There are a couple of books you can get from Amazon with lego challenges - The King's Treasure and the Mayan Adventure. They are NXT challenges with stories built around them.

There's a guide to building mindstorms animals etc. - just put lego mindstorms into Amazon's search function.

There are lots of ancillary challenges as well. Moonbots is one. http://www.moonbots.org/

Check out lego engineering as well http://www.legoengineering.com/ for ideas, curriculum resources, challenges etc.

After he's mastered the programming language that comes with NXT there are other programming languages that you can use with the robots. My husband will know more about it - this is so not my department - lol.

hth

Karen

[umami_mommy]

thank you!

[onatightrope]

One more place to possibly look for support: 4-H (through the University Extension office in your county).  4-H programs vary a lot from place to place, but some of them have robotics projects that kids can sign up for, so your son could go to their meetings and hang out with other kids and an adult or two who are passionate about robotics.  In my experience, 4-H tends to aim to keep things affordable.

Ooh-- it looks you can access the 4-H robotics curriculum online for free. http://www.education.rec.ri.cmu.edu/robots/4H/roboticsandyouonline/  It looks decent.

[umami_mommy]

wow, thanks so much. i had no idea.