Science Olympiad Competition

This year I had the pleasure of coaching an Elementary Science Olympiad team of local homeschool students. We got to compete against 17 of the local public schools. For those of you who do not know Science Olympiad is a hodge podge of scientific events that the students compete in in timed rounds against competing schools. The competition we were in was  a regional qualifier. So the students that placed got an opportunity to go compete at our state competition and then if they win state they would move onto the National Science Olympiad competition. Science Olympiad spans through grades k-12. But this particular competition was just for elementary grades. They offered well over 20 events but our team competed in 13 of them. I was so proud of our students. They worked really hard in preparation for the competition. We had two of our students place 3rd in the "Can Race" event. I was so excited we placed in our first year going.

The schools support their team through support from the classroom curriculum and teacher volunteers. We had the support of our awesome children's librarian at our local public library and the parent volunteers. Our students practiced hard for 12 weeks leading up to the competition. They learned not only skills in science but good sportsmanship, teamwork, leadership, and perseverance. Because we are homeschool team and we tend to be more age integrated I devised a way for all the students and their siblings to participate and help with the team. The older kids were our Team Mentors, then we had the Competition Team, and of course the Jr. Team members. 

On competition day our Team Mentors were a helping hand in making sure the students got to their event rooms. Our Jr. Team got an opportunity to see what they have to look forward to next year when they compete. And of course everyone was there to cheer the Competition Team on!

Here is are the STEAM Powered Homeschoolers all lined up for the Parade before we began the competition. 

Mecca the Great was proud of her partner and her's work in the "Straw Tower" event. 

Mecca the Great is excitedly waiting to start the "Disease Detective" event. 

Kinetic Kid could not wait to blast his rocket in the "Water Rocket" event. 

Let's look at the highlights from the weeks leading up to the competition. 

We entered several of the Straw Engineering events. We practice the Straw Tower, Straw Egg Drop, and Bridge Building. Our Jr. Team even practice some extreme straw challenges. 

Here is Pony Princess holding the big Straw box the Jr. Team was constructing. 

Kinetic Kid had a huge challenge on his hands in the "Straw Egg Drop" event. We cracked many an egg preparing for this one. 

One of the coolest things about the Science Olympiad Competition was the Build- It Sessions where the students got the opportunity to have access to the power tools necessary to build their rocket launcher and construct our paddle boats. They got assistance from the scientist at our local Science Center which is funded through the county. 

Here is Mecca the Great practicing for her very academically heavy events "Weather or Not" and "Disease Detectives". 

Pony Princess and our Jr. Team had a ball making tornadoes in a bottle, cleaning up mock oil spills, and doing mystery architecture challenges. 

Our 1st Jr. FLL Exhibition!

Right before the holidays Pony Princess and Kinetic Kid got the opportunity to participate in their first Jr. First Lego League Exhibition. It was such an awesome experience. I got to see how all their weeks of collaboration and teamwork paid off. At this level is more about learning how to present your project to the judges and other teams rather than any direct competition. All the children received a certificate and a medal. Not only are we signing up for Jr. FLL again next year but we will also be supporting Mecca the Great in FLL. I guess we are officially those people now. You know the Cool Robotics Kids family. 

Our Extracurriculars for the Year!

Unlike previous years I decided to really go bare bones with being out the house. With 5 children and the price of gas these days I just really wanted to limit the amount of time I spend driving around town. So we are down to 2 outing days per week. I try and double up on those days with grocery hauls and library runs as well. This year I have Kinetic Kid and Pony Princess in a Jr. FLL Team. If you are not familiar with FLL or First Lego League that basically means my kids are on a Lego
competition team. Our team is 100% homeschool kids so our meetup days are all age friendly cause the coach knows we are with all our kids all day. So my oldest is a Team Helper and my youngest two get to play with duplos on the floor while the other two work with their teams getting ready for there first competition project. So far its been a great experience. They really love it. And who knew my little Pony Princess would love Lego as much as her big brother Kinetic Kid. They have been learning about incline planes, gears, levers, pulleys and whatnot without me having to create a Physics lesson.

We also attend a homeschool craft hour at our local public library. Our children's librarian is totally homeschool friendly and she arranges a creative and fun craft hour every week for us. She takes on some really messy projects to. I mean thank God for people like her cause one the main reasons why we always failed to fit arts and crafts into our day is cause its just way to much to clean up after.

I know other families do way more activities than us. And most will have an individual activity for each child. But that is something that would have us burning the the candle at booth ends. I also prefer activities in which all or more than one of the children can participate in. Last year we all did Tae Kwon Do as a family. It went great. It was a perfect opportunity for my hubby to get a chance to participate in our homeschooling. With all his hard work he doesn't always have the energy to come home and do any help with the bookwork but something like being able to participate in the childrens extracurriculars is a true blessing.

This year Mecca the Great and Kinetic Kid also get to participate in a science club and a book club at our local public library as well once a month. The science club has brought in various experts in their fields. They have had a member  of the Atlanta Audubon  Society come out and do a presentation on birds. Last week they had a member of Georgia's Mineral Society bring various samples and did a presentation on Gold in Georgia. We actually have a few gold mines up in Dahlonega, GA. Hopefully  we will get the opportunity to pan up there someday.The book club has been selecting books from the Newberry Award list. They have done some very awesome stories so far. They have read Bridge to Terabithia, The One and Only Ivan, and One Crazy Summer. I have really been taking full advantage of what my tax dollars have to offer.