Dad doing Son's school science project

[coriolis]

We, (or should I say I) put together an electrical project, complete with batteries, switches, wires, light bulbs, an electromagnet that I made with a steel shaft and winding wire. The electromagnet acts on a piece supported by a spring to make a primitive telegraph. This is the project that I always wanted to make as a kid. The only problem is that my son was supposed to do it!

Now how is a teacher going to grade a project that from concept to craftsmanship is beyond the typical 4th grader?

I remember that when I was a kid, I participated in the soap box derby and my dad ended up doing most of the work, not because I was lazy or anything, but just because I wasn't old enough to use most of the power tools. I do take credit, though for the design.

Anyway, I was wondering how many dads out there, or former kids can relate to the "Dad doing Junior's project" syndrome.

Anyone have any stories to tell?

[CajunMama]

I always got A's on my kids science and social studies fair projects!

[Miss Mary]

LOL - what we parents have to go thru......

First off you have to make lots of coffee and have tons of patience. Second you try your best not to curse out the teacher who imposed this project onto your child. Who is standing there clueless - what do you think he/she means by this sentence...... I remember staying up very late working on projects. Oh I've done my time. One was a stitchery for a 7th Grade Renaissance project. My daughter came up with the design and started it, but got behind b/c of other homework. 75% of the time, our girls did the work. But that time we knew the teacher would never know if she stitched it or I did. And to be honest, I made bad stitches like she did - Laura said, don't do too good a job Mom, otherwise my teacher will know you did it. Who knows where that stitchery is by now anyway.....we should have burned it. Hours and hours worth of work went into that Ren. Unit. We were so glad when it was over. I decided she needed sleep and since I wasn't working at the time, I could nap when she was at school. Teacher never knew! I'd run into parents with students in this 7th Grade team and we'd all sigh - when is this over? Sure it was hands on but too much hands on. I longed for her to go back to reading chapters and having tests on Fridays! Another time I helped make a science project out of tri-fold science boards. We had to paint them to look like a brick wall and then come up with a display for an 1800s scene. I punched holes, used twine to hold the 3 together and sponged on red paint to resemble red bricks. It was a red and white look. Laura kept telling me we had to first paint the science board and I'm standing there looking at this all white board. When she finished her rant, I said look it's all white - let's sponge on red? It worked. I just cut a sponge into a rectangle shape and away we went. My kids played with it for a long time. But again, everything else pretty much came to a halt. That project was front and center. Dinner? Oh yeah, we do need to eat.....how about tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches? LOL

I don't miss those days!!!! I can smile about them but I'm glad they're over. Not the little kid part, just those time consuming science and art projects that parents have to help with.

Mary

[weatherlover427]

My dad wrote a book report for me once when I was in 6th grade, and somehow my teacher found out about it. She was like "Now Joshua, do you want an A for effort or an F for cheating?" You can only guess what I picked.

[Skywatch_NC]

My Dad often edited reports I wrote during my school years...as sometimes I may have written too many words and going "overkill" on an assignment. Also, my sister when she had time to...would type H.S. term papers for me from my final drafts...when a teacher wanted it type-written and not long hand for turning it in.

Eric

[Kim_in_MN]

My son did his first science fair project this year - and I did not help one little bit; of course, I did offer suggestions, but he didn't take my suggestions anyway ; too independent, but he could truly say he did it himself.

At the science fair, it was pretty obvious which kids had the most parental "help"; I was proud of my son - he did his project himself (I would have helped if he had let me, but not done the majority of the project for him) and he won a ribbon. Makes me believe the teacher knows which kids got the most help from their parents, too

Kim