Mar. 19, 2007 - Success in Homeschooling
I am starting a new feature on my blog called success in homeschooling. I went to see six youth that won FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition in Science and Technology) Lego League's New Jersey State Championship. The more exciting part is that they are all homeschoolers. They range in ages 11 to 14 years old.
First, I would like to explain to you what FIRST Lego League is. FIRST Lego League was designed to inspire young people to participate in science and technology. They give a theme (or a challenge), which is usually science based. Children get together as a team and study and do research based upon the theme. The children must register their team. For six weeks, they work on designing an autonomous robot made out of Lego. This robot has to perform certain missions, such as picking up balls and moving them to a specified location. Then, they go to a tournament against other teams. Each team is judge by presentation of the research and how well the robot performs. The team with the highest overall score goes to the World Lego Festival.
Next, let us talk about the winners. The team that won this year is called Built on the Rock. This team consisted of six boys from three different families: The Daudelins, The Billings, and the Huntons. The boys worked from about September to the first week of December. They compete against several other students from public schools, private schools, etc. The team Built on the Rock scored a perfect score in 3 out of the 4 categories. They excelled. They received a score of over 400 and the next place team got 299. So, this team desired to be recognized. The team has gone all over New Jersey to present their program. They competed at a robotics competition at the University of Pennsylvania College Engineering and won first place in robotics performance.
I had the privilege of talking to these young boys about their experience with FIRST Lego League and what it was like. I spoke to David Daudelin. He is the teams mentor. He was originally on the team last year, but is no longer in the age requirement. So, he build the teams website, organizes the team, and keeps them on track at the meetings. I asked Mrs. Vicky Daudelin how she was able to manage the team as their coach. She explained that the boys basically ran it themselves. David said that it was lots of fun, but the research was the hardest.
I was at a presentation that the boys did for their local town council. They discuss FIRST Lego League, this year's theme of Nanotechnology, and presented their robot. They explained how nanofabric helps to improve police uniforms. The council and everyone in the audience was impressed and asked lot of questions, including myself.
By the way, David shared that many times people think that homeschoolers win the First Lego League because that is all that they do. He said that this statement is not true. I asked how the team was able to manage school and work on their robot. They worked every Friday from 3:00 PM to 6:00 PM for six weeks. They still had schoolwork and other activities to do. They still had to keep their priorities straight. They all said that it was hard to manage, but David said that he would get up and try to finish school early so that he could do research. I feel like that shows determination and dedication to a task.
I wanted to feature an article once a month showing that homeschooling works without distractions of peer pressure, bullies, and the like. Children can enjoy school and learning and have a good time.
Stay close to The Rock boys. I will pray for them as they compete in the World Lego Festival in April 2007.
David Daudelin made these T-shirts for the team.
Comments
Mar. 24, 2007 - Untitled Comment
Posted by TOSPUBLISHER
eyecorn takes part in these LEGO leagues, you should check her blog out www.homeschoolblogger.com/eyecorn
It's pretty exciting though that homeschoolers won!
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