<p>Hoping to get some suggestions.</p>
<p>My younger kid is a lifelong lego lover (she has a lego dream house she is constantly rebuilding using bricks from various sets - 2 story & quite elaborate), she likes tools (has appropriated some of her dad's screwdrivers as her own) and is also always drawing.</p>
<p>This summer she went to a 1 week camp with her friend where they built an elenco robot (she learned to solder, which she thought was awesome) and they had 1 half-day to play with a Lego Mindstorm kit for the first time - she & the friend got it up & running right away. The teacher was impressed.</p>
<p>She is a hard-working student but doesn't like Math (homework is a struggle) - we'll see if that improves in 8th grade with Geometry. She likes chess (not a whiz but she can beat her older sister).</p>
<p>I think she has a talent/bent for working with her hands and probably has good spatial skills.</p>
<p>Here's my dilemma. She is a rising 8th grader. She goes to a small school K-12 which focuses on college readiness but does not have (money for) a robotics club or a FIRST or FLL team. (It does have Art, so I'm not too worried about that). Our local public HS does have a robotics club & an FLL team, but she says "the kids who go there are scary, please don't make me go there." Ideally I'd send her to the pricey private HS which has all that, but we can't afford that. I have been trying for more than a year to find a FIRST or FLL team she could join, but no luck. I'd really like her to be in one because it opens up scholarship opportunities.</p>
<p>I found out that there is a 4H robotics club that meets once a month around 30 minutes away which is a possibility; I am kind of worried though about something I read that college admins have an aversion to 4H clubs (is this true?). </p>
<p>How do I give her a good chance to develop her talents? Help me brainstorm ideas? </p>
<p>Thanks!!! & sorry for the length!</p>
<pre><code>Hello there! I see that you mentioned that she likes building things. My high school has classes like workshop, where they work with wood, and ceramics class, wherein they work with clay. This will give her some more formal education on it, and maybe she will get a better understanding, but once again, that is in high school, so for now, you could probably try looking into entering some science fairs, and doing some projects like building motors, etc. It will prepare her for possible subjects she could see later in her life, such as physics, and more math. You mentioned that she doesn’t like math, but maybe when she realizes that math is integral to building things, she will be more interested. Math is pretty important for her interests, on a technical level so she might want to get exposed to it sooner than later.
Also, I would suggest you encourage her in pursuing career paths that she might be interested in, like architecture, but I know that she is young, and she is prone to changing her mind.
All in all, just try to enter some science fairs, as it seems like one of the cheaper alternatives, which also maintains the opportunity to dig deeper in her field of interest. Furthermore, she might be able to examine the other contestants’ projects and broaden her own views.
It’s nice to see a parent caring so much about his/her child. I wish you the best of luck, and I hope I could be of some help. Good luck!
</code></pre>
<p>Could she join the robotics club at the larger school while remaining at her current school? My D goes to a 6-12 public but one that is too small to maintain sprots teams or certain EC’s. Kids are allowed to go to the closest comprehensive HS for sports, EC’s, dances, etc. The leader of at least two clubs last year at the larger school came from D’s little school. </p>
<p>Did your D articulate WHY she is scared of the kids at the other school? Is it known for crime, or is there a population there she is unfamiliar with? I have a friend who had to move her D from a nice private to a “scary” public due to finances, and the girl has thrived, made some great friends and is doing well. Both kid AND mom were terrified of the scary big public but it’s gone quite well.</p>
<p>That’s a good idea - neither of my kids ever seem interested in science fairs, but if I connect it to robots she might want to participate. I’ll have to do some digging into that. Thanks!</p>
<p>sseamom - I am going to ask about joining the club at the larger school.</p>
<p>I think there is a bullying problem in the larger school. That’s what the gossip is from the neighborhood kids who go there. They also talk about kids from that school who are disruptive and vandalize stuff when they are in mixed group settings.</p>
<p>I doubt the robotics kids are ones you should be worried about being bullies. :)</p>
<p>My bad - when she says “go” she doesn’t mean visit. If they allow it, I’m sure she’d be fine joining the club.
She is opposed to the idea of enrolling as student there.</p>
<p>I think these concerns are almost certainly overblown. I’ve never known a school that did not have bullying and disruptive kids. The kids who are choosing to spend their time in robotics are less likely to be such troublemakers. And in my experience, private school kids tend to think the worse of their public school counterparts. After all, their families choose to keep them out of those schools. </p>
<p>I also have a hard time believing you would keep an 8th grader out of an activity you think she would enjoy because you think colleges might not prefer that organization?? Really?</p>
<h1>7 - Her current school is small & (maybe 80 kids per grade) and they all know each other and most of the school.</h1>
<p>No bullying (hard to believe, but true.)
I wouldn’t want to force her to enroll in the big HS if she did not really want to, even if they had a robotics club. I am thinking of doing a campus visit with her during 8th grade to see if she changes her mind, but it seems like a difficult age to just pull her out of her current school and into a new school if she hates the idea, you know what I mean?
The other thing is while the bigger HS has a bigger budget, I haven’t seen neighborhood kids do much better in it - I know 2 who graduated are commuting to local colleges, frex, and the one who is my older kid’s age is very lackaidasal about college. I know these are bright kids (live next door). So I don’t know if it would necessarily be a better overall school for my kid.</p>
<p>@scholarme Coursera is a site with free courses from MIT, Georgia Tech, Univ of Toronto and other great schools.
Check out this online robotics course from Georgia Tech:</p>
<p><a href=“https://www.coursera.org/course/conrob”>https://www.coursera.org/course/conrob</a></p>
<p>Here’s a virtual maker camp. <a href=“http://makercamp.com/”>http://makercamp.com/</a>
Some areas may be less virtual (they actually meet in a physical place).</p>
<p>We’ve dealt with a few 4H FIRST robotics teams - they were well-regarded and well-organized. I have hard time believing colleges looked down on them just because they were 4H affiliated. You may also look into just how difficult and/or expensive starting up a FTC team is at the school. I know our large public high school will sponsor new teams at other high schools, helping with start-up costs and material.</p>
<p>Thanks SlackerMomMD! That is pretty cool!</p>
<p>Thanks for the thumbs up on the 4H robotics club. I think we will go ahead and check it out.
I’ve been thinking about talking to the other parents in school about an FTC team; I’m sure there would be a lot if interest.</p>
<p>Does she like building things? How about getting her some books of plans to spark her imagination and some building materials? Or is there anything you need, for example, a window box, a planter, a small table, a box with a hinged to to hold your recipe cards? Ask her to build it for you. She can probably find demos on youtube. When I went to boarding school in England in 8th and 9th grades, we all took carpentry. I absolutely loved it. I made a nightstand, a box with a hinged lid, a tray with sides. Since she likes welding, she could make something out of metal. Ask her to make you a tabletop Zen garden.</p>
<p>I like the idea of asking her to do something “real,” rather than something more predictable like a robotics club. That’s fine, but I like the idea of something more self reliant and off the beaten track.</p>
<p>@patertrium I’ll look into coursera. Older kid is doing an edx course now.
@Consolation carpentry / woodwork - I think there is a summer camp she might try that at next year.
@stradmom that is so cool!</p>
<p>An 8th grader could participate in FLL robotics. It’s not cheap, but it is certainly within the reach of a group of parents who can afford to send their kids to private school in the first place. Plenty of parents around here spend more on sports, music lessons, and other activities for their kids than it would cost for a share in launching an FLL team.</p>
<p>I’m going to talk to some other parents and the school admin about an FLL team. I’m sure we could fundraise, its probably more an issue of who would lead/mentor. It’s really a shame for the kids to be missing out on the experience & scholarship opportunities.</p>
<p>Good. I highly recommend FLL robotics if you can manage it. My younger one isn’t into building stuff and she wants to be a writer but I coaxed her into checking out FLL, and she eventually got so into it, she would go in early, stay late, and try to finish her work quickly at school then beg her teachers to let her go work on robotics.</p>
<p>I can’t imagine that colleges look down on 4H. Our elementary school started several 4H clubs because our principal thought they had better curricular materials than the public schools. As I recall we had rabbits, quilting and a vegetable garden and participated in the 4H Fair. It’s not just for rural kids anymore! Anyway, if you don’t want to have her at the public school, I wouldn’t hesitate to have her join 4H. I think, on the contrary, colleges will be interested in a kid who does something slightly off the beaten path.</p>
<p>Thanks mathmom! I’ve been looking at the 4H websites - because of our location, the one in the next county might actually be closer.
I’m really so glad to have started this thread - getting so many good suggestions!</p>