Damek & Robotics
Santa brought Damek a Robotic Arm for christmas. Of course the first thing out of his mouth was "just like on the space station!". We haven't quite started putting it together as I decided to order the software/curriculum that was extra. I know Damek will want to read all that we can about the arm before, during and after putting it together. Damek's been drawn towards robots for over a year now, and we decided that it was time to get serious about it. When Damek has an interest, he's not content with just skimming the surface or with the dumbed down kids version of whatever he wants to learn about, that type of stuff just bores him and he loses interest fast. He likes to dive head first into very technical information and books written on an adult level. Of course he enjoys picture books as well, but for actual learning he wants the technical stuff, and much to my surprise, understands & retains a great deal of the information.
When Damek first expressed an interest in robots, we got him the Gears, Gears, Gears robot kit, which he had fun with for a little while (until the motor broke), but the very first time we put it together he said "how come it doesn't pick up stuff?" (it only goes forward and backwards). Soon after there was a robot exhibit at our local children's museum which he really liked. Of course the part he liked the most was where you get to control a robotic arm with a remote and have it pick up and move blocks. We really haven't expanded much until now because we really didn't quite know where to start. I've seen all the small robot kits out there, but knew that he wanted something that resembled a human. He has seen the robotic arms they use on the space station, and a month or so ago a friend and I were talking at the park about artificial arms and Damek was asking about the arms and why someone would have one and she mentioned that if someone got in an accident and their arm couldn't be saved or it had to be removed for some reason than they would use an artificial/robotic arm to which Damek replied "cool!" A woman in our local homeschoolers association mentioned starting a Lego Robotics club, which Damek is really excited about as well.
After Damek opened his robotic arm on christmas and Lee looked in the box at all the parts and wires, he said "looks like I need to take an engineering class so I can help Damek put this together" Although we both agree that this is one of the many things we love about homeschooling, we get to learn right alongside our children. Helping them pursue their passions and watching how excited they get about learning about the world. Life is good.
***Update (at 9:40pm). This evening we went over to the neighbors house, as Damek & Kyan's friend Jayme, who lives next door, had broken her arm over the weekend and really wanted some friends to keep her company. The boys made her a card and they picked out this fabric flower at the store that plays music along with some "get well soon" balloons, so we took those over and hung out for a bit. They played some games on their Wii system (Jayme played with her left hand), played some board games, ate a spaghetti dinner, and ended up watching the movie WALL-E, which Damek absolutely loved!
