Parental Entries for a Science Fair

I think it'd be fun, but the parents would STILL be "doing" their kids' projects. LOL

Then, it would require the Teacher/school to organize more... for the parent entries and manage it.
Who'd want to do that?

ROFLMAO....

Okay... so I homeschooled for 5 years (loved it).

In the beginning, one of my biggest problems was that *I* wanted to be doing a "whatever" (pictoral timeline, science experiment, canopic jars, etc.).

SO...

What I did was to do my own durn project right next to my son doing his project. That way he had his how HE wanted it, and I had mine how I wanted it!!!

Problem.
Solved.

He came up with it. It was stickers that were his last straw (for the pictoral timeline, we found images and printed out stickers). I wanted him to put the sticker exactly "so", and he rolled his eyes and said "Do it that way on YOURS if you want to, I want MINE like this."

Huh.

Blink. Blink.

Brilliant!

Yes, let's have a "parent" category, and give every single one of them a trophy! LOL!!! :-)

I think that parents need to step aside and let their children shine.

I don't even agree with parents assisting with their kids' projects. Yes, you can show them where to find information, drive them to the craft store for supplies, give them tech support or safety information, or show them a method for cutting and gluing neatly... but the project itself should be done by the child, on their own. And the event as a whole should be for the children.

If parents want to do projects, there are plenty of organizations out there for them. They don't have to overshadow their kids' events.

I say only do it if the teacher could move a 'kid's' project over to the parents tables when it's so obvious that the parents did their kids project! I swear, every year teachers beg parents to let the kids do the work, and there are always THOSE parents!

I think it's great in theory, and to put parents on notice that we all know they did the work, but just more work for the teacher. Teachers always say that they absolutely know who did the work on a given project and grade accordingly. Really, Johnny? 4th grade and you know how to mitre a corner? :-)

Great thought!!

I think the parents need to find their own hobbies and stay out of the school fair. You could ALWAYS tell when my SD's mom meddled in her projects and it wasn't fair to the other kids, nor to SD (who didn't learn anything from the project). If you really like to build rockets, then go join a club. If you can't compete with people your own age, then you shouldn't be doing it. It's not "well meaning" if the parent basically does it so the kid wins. You see a lot of that and it's unfair to honest families. Even if there was an adult entry option, people would still help their kids cheat.

In 5th grade, SD did one of the most lopsided versions of the Tower of London that I've ever seen, but learned SO MUCH once all the adults stayed out of it. Let it be ugly. That's why it's a KID's fair/project.

I think it would be a lot simpler if all pare at just pledged to STAY OUT of it!

Too crazy? Lol

I'd be all for it. Maybe a Kids Division and a Family Division?

I think the parents who are compelled to doing their kids work should find an adult pursuit to compete in. However, there are inherent problems to the science fair, in that to find an interesting project you have to have a lot of familiarity with scientific principles, creating a hypothesis, arranging controls and proofs. In other words, you sometimes need to have an adult adviser helping at least organize one's thoughts. Not always the realm of the 7th grader...but I agree not to jump to conclusions.

My son (5) will suffer from the opposite--I'm the parent who makes him do his own homework. "The teacher doesn't want to see that I can do X, she wants to see that you can do it." This now makes me feel great about sending him off to school with a little 'story' about holiday traditions he was assigned to create. He did all of the work and composed the text, so it reads like an early reader-- but hey, he can 'read' it!:)

I think it defeats the purpose. I get what you're saying, that parents just can't stay out of things, which is a HUGE problem. I think a separate category sets kids up to know that their stuff just isn't that good. It's possible that a separate category would make parents see how ridiculous their competition is and maybe it would make a few of them step back. I also think there's a difference between a school science fair or project (definitely nothing for parents) and an "outside" competition at a county fair or non-school event.

For school things, the schools should make clear that teachers and judges know when parents have had their hands in things, and the kids' chances for prizes or high grades will be set back accordingly.

One year we had an Invention Convention in lieu of a science fair. Students were allowed to collaborate with other students or family members. The parents were allowed to help to help but they were asked to let the child come up with the idea and do most of the project. The parents names were included as part of the Team approach.

I think it would simply double the work the parents do. Our son did his first pinewood derby last year. He did the whole car himself, with just a little bit of help on the balance weights. Meanwhile, most of the boys had cars there was no WAY they made themselves. Our son came in last in almost every race. He was devastated. Not sure how we'll handle it this year -- I expect, it'll be the same deal, but it's hard because he felt very defeated when he should have felt very proud of himself, and the other boys felt very proud of their wins when they had very little to be proud of, and we felt like bad parents for letting our son lose...