Yesterday I was listening to a parent of a 7th graders whom I know pretty well talk about the Robotics Club her son participates in. She homeschools her two boys and both are very good at math and science. She (and her son) are heading up the fundraising efforts for this private, not school-based, robotics club. She said she’s stressed because they have to raise 10-20K by a certain date. I only listened and empathized with her stress, of course. It just seemed like she wanted to vent.
At first I thought, Are you crazy? Your kid is only 12 years old and he’s already doing Robotics Club which is a huge financial and time investment? He is way too young to be putting in that kind of effort for robotics!" Yet, I realized that many sports parents spend just as much time and money on travel, equipment, camps, etc. on their 12 year olds.
So my question is, is it worth all the stress for her 12 year old to do Robotics Club? Shouldn’t that stress happen when he’s older, when he’s high school aged? Has the craziness that we see in sports to specialize at younger and younger ages worked its way into Robotics as well?
If someone truly enjoys robotics (and some kids do) it is perfectly fine to be involved in middle school. If it is a hobby it should be (and hopefully is) exciting, not stressful to that person. The kids doing robotics may find things that many other kids enjoy (such as sports) to be stressful. To each their own.
I don’t think it’s as crazy as she’s making it out to be (or you’re interpreting it). First Robotics Competition (FRC) is the main robotics league. In middle school, they have the First Lego League (FLL) where the students learn to build a robot using legos. (They actually have a Junior FLL that begins in elementary school as well, to introduce them to math and science problems).
The middle school program in our district runs for two months, October and November. In addition to the teachers who oversee the program, robotics kids from the high school serve as mentors. They do need a budget (though $20k seems high). It’s not nearly as intense and competitive as at the high school level.
Any activity is worth it if the child enjoys it and has the time for it. And they should be able to participate in robotics without spending a ton of money. I coached an FLL team of 7 and it ended up costing $75/person. We had some of the necessary kits and were able to borrow some from our school, but it shouldn’t be anywhere near that expensive.
So I say, robotics - yes. My son has been involved in robotics since he was around 12 and has has a lot of fun and learned a lot. But it doesn’t have to be expensive. They are cheaper ways to be involved.
Sometimes it’s difficult to understand the commitment people make to activities our kids aren’t interested in. I remember commenting to a friend about some huge commitment and how I didn’t know if I could handle that, and she reminded me that my D’s commitment to theater took just as much time. But she loved it and it was worth it.
As long as people do it for the right reasons - the child enjoys it, and the time doesn’t stress them too much. The parent has to decide if it works within their family in terms of both time and money.
I’m pretty familiar with the high school level FRC. I was just surprised at how demanding this private robotics club was and how much money was needed for their project at the middle school level (remember - it’s not affiliated with a school or school district.) To me it seemed like this private club was emulating FRC, but at a younger age. I really like this family and am worried they’ve taken on too much too soon. Could they sustain this level of involvement/fundraising for 5 more years until the 12 year old goes to college?
Our middle schooler does Lego robotics and I think my only contribution was like $20. I will note that the school this year decided not to do the competition and just make it a club because they felt the comp was too stressful, not fun enough, and kids got too pigeon-holed in their duties too fast.
we know a kid who did a “club” robotics group in middle school; it cost thousands. He made it to the national competition. His parents are proud and he’s seen as a robitcs genius. Our middle school offers robotics as a club once a week for free; the kids do not make it to nationals.
It makes me wonder how colleges look at all of this in regards to high school related clubs & interests. Do those kids with the most money, who can pay for tutors/teachers/private lessons/supplies/specialized clubs come out ahead of those who dont have those resources? Do colleges realize the difference in accomplishments? Or do they look at the end results?
I will chime in as my child is part of an FTC robotics team (similar to FRC but smaller robot, fewer team members). It is great for those interested or those passionate about the team. Most of the students will be on the team for 4 years in high school. Sustaining the intense level of enthusiasm for longer will be a challenge no matter how much they love robotics or the team.
The experience has been life changing and extremely valuable for everyone on the team, even those not directly interested in robotics or engineering. So, it is “worth it” meaning the time and effort to support a child’s interest. But the competitions are too intense in my opinion for middle schoolers and a 6-7 year commitment is possibly too long.
That aside, a high level team can operate at a cost of around 5000-6000 dollars a year (or more for the highest level teams) so fundraising is important. Corporate sponsorships are encouraged.
It sounds like the stress is for the Mom with fundraising more than for the kid. It makes me sad that this kind of money raising is necessary to have a competitive team. If the kid is having fun I think it’s a great activity.
It’s not crazy if the kid really enjoys it and is ready to tackle it on his own. OTOH if it includes tons of parental involvement because the kid simply isn’t ready to do a lot of work on his own, then it isn’t worth it.
One of my sisters-in-law set up an elementary-school robotics club at the school where she teaches two years ago. It’s a poor district and a poor student body. The school does not contribute anything other than space, so she has to raise whatever it takes, but whatever it takes has been nowhere near $10,000+. It has been a very satisfying experience, for her and for the kids – a huge boost to the math and science interest and competence of the kids who get involved.
My kids participated in FLL in middle school and I thought it was one of the best ECs they did. But I’m a bit taken aback at the amount of money you say is necessary. 10-20K??? For what? I think you can buy the basic kit you need for a few hundred dollars–several of the kids had their own at home. It was helpful, but not essential, to have 2 kits, so that the kids could work with 2 prototypes at the same time. Perhaps another few hundred dollars for a good supply of extra parts–though many of these may already be owned by participants. Does the table set-up and registration cost more than $500? We did do some fundraising, but not much as most of it was covered by the school. However I am pretty sure our school had nowhere near the budget to spend 10-20K on a group of 10 middle schoolers. It can’t cost that much–I’m guessing closer to $1-2K per team.
I think it’s difficult being outside looking in. When my kids were younger they had friends doing pretty high-level sports that were 20+ hours a week and 500$-1000$ per month (and there was some travel involved). I thought they were CRAZY. Then one of my kids was told by a national coach she had talent in the sport and we got sucked in too, and I understood. Yes, it’s crazy, but if it’s a true passion and you can swing the time and money there’s nothing wrong with it.
I was a mentor for a FLL (middle school robotics) team last year. It was our first year and the school refused to have anything to do with us. We had 10 students on the team and everyone chipped in $100, Later we had to chip in another $50. That’s a total of $1500. Its $225 to register and $500 for a kit if they don’t already have one. Additionally, a few students had the kits so we had more than the 1 we purchased. We donated the table to practice on and families donated food. A far cry from the money your friend is talking about. We did not make it to Championships. But… I am a mentor on an FRC team that has been to Championships the last 3 years. Travel is expensive. But I would assume middle schoolers wouldn’t go without their families (who wants that kind of responsibility?) Why wouldn’t that be the each family’s responsibility? FRC needs to pay $5000 to register for Championships. Maybe FLL does too? I think local competitions are a few hundred dollars for FLL.Anything is possible I guess. I’m really not sure where her numbers came from. If its a FIRST team, there are plenty of companies that give grants. Your friend can certainly look into that.
Regarding the time commitment. As I said I am a mentor to a high school robotics team. With 2 kids who have been on the team, it is not unusual for them to spend 200+ hours over 6 week build season working at school on robotics. That is in addition to school and homework. We use scanner technology to log people in and out so we know down to the minute how long they’ve been there. Some of these kids live for this. It is a passion I certainly don’t understand, but fully support. It has completely changed 2 of my children’s directions and molded their high school experiences to be amazing and thought provoking endeavors. My FLL kid, quit after the season was over. Some of the mentors and kids were too intense.,She wanted to have a good time and they were all about winning. That’s okay, she wanted to try it and did. Some parents and kids (just like some sports families) get way too into it and don’t have the attitude that its about what it does for the kids. She does want to join the HS team when she’s there, but on the webmaster side of things so she doesn’t have to deal with super intense kids and parents.
Oh, and the sport comparison is actually one they use. They call it a sport of the mind.
Local FRC teams spend 20,000-80,000 per season for teams of up to 120 students.
FTC teams can have up to 15 students and registration is $275, kits of parts to start and extra parts to build totals around another 1500. The new phones and technology for the robots were over 400. Then competitions cost from 100. States cost 250. Lets not even get started on regionals and worlds. T shirts, banners, tools, tool boxes, etc. We spend around 5000 a season in total without travel to worlds. A very primitive team will still be spending at least 2500 a season. A solid contender around 4000-5000 in general
The OP is talking about a 7th grader. Not sure about all the different robotics teams, but they certainly can do FLL and it’s not going to cost more than about $200 per kid. There’s no reason to stress out families and 7th graders with fundraising thousands of dollars. FLL is intended for that age group.
It is possible the robotics team OP is referencing is FTC, which ranges, I believe, from 7th to 12th grades. It’s not uncommon for homeschooling groups to do FTC. This is the fastest growing division of FIRST robotics. That said, $20,000 is still a breathtaking amount of money, unless they’re aiming to attend tournaments in Australia.
That may be, but they are in the age group for FLL, so there is no need for all the stress and expense they are experiencing by putting their 7th grader in what is apparently primarily a high school program. Just pick the right program.
I agree with mathyone. The FTC competitiions are too intense for most middle schoolers. I think FLL is great for that age group and the budget is much more manageable. $20,000 and up would be common for the FRC teams which is strictly high school age.