LEGO Mindstorm with friends

William has a LEGO Mindstorm that he plays with in fits and spurts.  He will play with it for hours each day for a week or so, and then it goes back on his shelf for a while.  Today we got together with some other homeschoolers, and some great students from the U of Guelph who gave all of the kids an over view of how to build and program their Mindstorm robots.  I think that it was just what William needed to get him back engaged with it.  Having the university students on hand, who know a lot more about the programming piece than I do, worked wonders.

LEGO Fete

You all know by know that the boys (and Jim, for that matter) get a little crazy when it comes to LEGO.  Today I look William and Charlie to a LEGO fete in Toronto - an exhibition of different models made by adult LEGO enthusiasts.  Even I was thoroughly impressed with the displays, and the boys walked around open-mouthed for almost 2 hours.  Here are some of their favourite displays...

Somehow I see a lot of extra LEGO building in our future...

Lego Love...

My camera has been being rather temperamental lately, so I borrowed Williams.  I just had to share this pic that I found on his memory card...

Science Happens

Just when I get myself worked up into a frenzy about how little time I have been able to spend on 'official lessons' with the boys, they do something so natural, exploratory, and undoubtedly educational that I have no choice but to smile at my lack of faith.

Today William got out his more 'mechanical' Lego pieces and build this little vehicle that has an elastic inside that helps it to push off of a hard surface and project itself across the floor.  Will wasn't happy with how hast (or slow) it went, so he got to work. 

He spent the better part of a hour after that exploring traction and resistance.  Did it go faster with plain plastic wheels?  What if he added rummer tires?  Would gears for wheels work?  Carpet?  Linoleum?  Hardwood?  (Rubber tires on linoleum proved to be the fastest, in case you are interested)

Thank you, oh homeschooling fairies, for a much needed reminder about how kids really learn!

Lego Creations

I love seeing the designs and creations that the boys come up with when they are up to their knees in LEGO. Over the past week or so, William has been designing his house. It seems to change daily, but at the time that I took this pic it contained a kitchen complete with appliances, table, chairs and dishes, a bedroom with a double bed accessible by a folding staircase (to save space, don't you know!), a living room with fire place, desk and book shelves (and books!!), a bathroom and everything that requires...you get the idea. He even build a LEGO vacuum cleaner. I have to say that I am very impressed, and very much more upset than he was when he decided to take it apart to build something new!!

Mindstorm explored

Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you.
~Oprah Winfrey

LEGO Mindstorm

This is the first peek of something I am sure we will be seeing a lot more of here in the weeks to come. Seeing the Lego Robotics competition at the College Royal has had William all frothed up about getting his own LEGO Mindstorm kit, so a few days ago we made the trip and picked it up for him. This is one of those home school investments that cost a bundle now, but has been worth it already. In the few days that it has been here, he has played for an average of 3-4 hours each - sorting pieces, building, programming, and just staring at it with a big smile on his face. Basically, this is the ultimate Lego kit - build it, attach the motor, program it on the computer, and watch it go. I will post more as he finishes a masterpiece or two!

Building Co-op Returns!!

Today was the first day (this year) of our home school group building co-op. Once you call something a co-op it sounds a little more important, but really this is just a group of families who get together every few weeks to...well... build. The general idea is that it is a chance for kids of all ages to come together, surrounded by tons of building toys - LEGO (could you guess?), K'Nex, blocks, Magnetix, and see what wondrous things they can create.

Here was the goal.


The kids started off strong...


But soon drifted off towards...


And then outside to this...


And this...


And a whole lot of this.


Ah well - it's not as if my guys are lacking in LEGO time. In their defense, it was far too beautiful a day to stay inside. The kids (about 10 families worth!) had a great time outside, and it left all the parents time to chat. I guess we can't ask for anything more.

LEGO Revisited

I haven't posted any photos of LEGO lately, and well, that is just not representative of our lives. As Charlie has gotten older, he has joined his older brother (and father!!) in their LEGO obsession. These past few weeks, the two friends who live next door have joined in with William and Charlie to act out the ongoing saga of their LEGO figures. It has included the building of forts and houses, ships, planes, and in fact whole landscapes. The toy room is for all intents and purposes closed off to anyone else - it is an exercise in torture to try to step into the room in bare feet. These photos are not great, but they were all I could manage to snap before being shooed out of the room by four fanatical builders.

Junior First Lego League Presentation Day

Today was the presentation day for the Junior First Lego League project that William has been working on with a few friends. It was the culmination of lots of hard work, lessons on working together as a team, and finishing off the things that we have committed ourselves to. All in all, it was a really good experience. William loved the building, and especially the time spent with friends. He was very proud of the final outcome, and had a great time at the presentation day, explaining to others all about the project, and checking out the displays that other teams put together. The final few days of this project were challenging, mostly, I think, because of the rush (I somehow managed to think that the presentation day happened 3 whole weeks from today, forcing us to rush through the last bits of the project a little too quickly!!). William has a hard time with feeling rushed, especially when he has to coordinate with other kids to make things work out properly. Today, though, we all left the presentation with smiles on our faces. All's well that ends well, I guess!

Junior First Lego League

William and Charlie have decided to take part in the Junior First Lego League this year. Some friends of ours have participated for the past few years, and my guys are finally old enough to take part. Each year, the kids form teams of 6-9 year olds and are given a challenge that they need to solve / demonstrate using only Lego. Although William was a little unsure at first (in his mind, Lego has always been a solo sport) he is enjoying himself now. This year, the challenge is about transportation - all of the ways that things travel in the course of their lives (from field, to harvest, to manufacturing, to storage, to store, to home...) Our team decided to look into how ice cream gets around - always a good choice, in my mind. They are did some research on-line (including a visit to the Ben and Jerry's site, which is great, and browsed through some great books that explored how things are made. Of course we are all looking forward to a field trip to our favorite local organic daily and ice cream shop.

Solar Lego

Today the boys co-op enjoyed a visit from a science in schools program offered through a local university. The task - build a solar powered car. It was a great chance for the boys to play around with Lego in a new way, and with a challenge for them to focus on. The kids all came up with some great designs to try out, and it was even better to see them shrug and go back to the drawing board when something that they built didn't work out as planned. By the end of the visit, each team had come up with a working design.

The afternoon put William into full Lego swing, and gave him lots of ideas as to how to use the advanced Lego kit we recently bought. He came home and got right to it, building for another hour or so on the living room floor.

LEGO Bliss

William is finally old enough to take part in the Junior First LEGO League - yeah!! Both he and Charlie were thrilled to take a road trip today to pick up the kit that we will use to complete (along with some other home school friends) a LEGO challenge. This years challenge is all about transportation. The kit that we got was full of gears, pulleys, some sails, and even a motor and power source. As soon as we pulled into the driveway, the boys bounded out of the car to go collect their friend Ben from next door, and the building began. More posts to come as we get together with the rest of the LEGO team.

LEGO Mechanics

William has a bit of a LEGO obsession going on, fueled in good part by the many LEGO sets that he got for Christmas and his Birthday. Along with making his own creations, he loves following the instructions that come with the sets - seeing all of those little pieces come together into something so intricate and detailed, especially when they have moving parts. One of his favorite gifts that he got this year was a book that comes with LEGO pieces, teaching all about mechanics. It is full of gears, pulleys, cranks, and other goodies. This morning's projects included a spinney-top launcher, and this grabber.....lots of fun. He requested this morning that we just skip all of the addition and subtractions 'stuff' and move right onto physics........

Building Co-op

Along with our Boys Group, Building Co-op started up this week as well. This is, I have to say, the easiest and most fun co-op that we belong to. This year there are about 8 families who are involved. We get together once a month at a local community centre to visit, play, and build. Each family brings a snack to share, and a different building toy: LEGO (of course!) K'Nex, Magnetics, straws and connectors, blocks, train tracks, marble tracks.....you get the picture. There is no curriculum, no agenda, no directions. Just l0ts of kids, and lots of stuff to build with.

William's latest LEGO creation

You know how sometimes in families, Mama and Daddy have somewhat differing opinions about things? How sometimes one parents wants to share an interest or passion with the offspring and the other parents wonders about its...appropriateness? Well, that seems to happen a fair bit around here. Sometimes I manage to get my point across, and sometimes, well....

So, here is William's latest LEGO creation - Dr. Who figures. I know, I know, don't even start. Believe me, I have had that discussion before. For those of you who are not up on the latest Dr. Who details ( as I am certainly not), here is The Doctor - 2 different incarnations, Donna, K-9, a darlick, and the Tardis (inside and out).