I agree with both of them. Class sizes are getting out of control. If a teacher must handle a lot of children during the day, they spend more time chasing and less time teaching. I’m not a teacher but I’m the product of two teachers. My mom still teaches preschool today. I’ve volunteered in my daughter’s classroom. This doesn’t make me an expert, but it has opened my eyes to the difficulties teachers face.

In a class of 20 children, you are going to have 20 different personalities, disciplines, home lives, places in their learning and maturing. Different learning styles and different personalities. When my daughter was in kindergarten, the class always hinged on out of control. Her kindergarten teacher was in her first year of teaching and kept the children in line. But she spent a huge amount of time getting one to sit down, another to focus on their book, another to listen and so on and so on.

So much of the class time was spent keeping control, the learning felt secondary. There were three to four of the children that took the greatest amount of the teacher’s time. These were also the students I could see falling behind later in school. Being brushed aside because they didn’t focus or learn as quickly as the others. They weren’t bad children, they didn’t get enough of what they needed at home or they had a learning disability or they just weren’t maturing as quickly as their peers. They just needed more time and energy from the teacher.

This of course was kindergarten and now in second grade, the same children still need an extra push, but fortunately my daughter’s school does a great job at giving extra attention to those who need extra attention and those who need extra challenges. They look at every student’s learning style and work to teach to it. Not something that happens at every school.

I agree with Joy in that class size is a very important factor in keeping control in the classroom. The more children a teacher must focus on, the less time they have to actually teach. Children need discipline, respect and boundaries at home that will transfer when they are out in the real world.

“I am a participant in a Mom Central campaign for ABC Daytime and will  receive a tote bag or other The View branded items to facilitate my  review.”

I took my girls, my niece and my mother in-law to opening night for Disney on Ice – Worlds of Fantasy in Denver Friday night.

In short, we loved it.

It was fun, entertaining and the best part – it was packed with lots of Disney characters. This wasn’t just Mickey Mouse, just Tinkerbell, just Ariel or just Timon and Pumba. It was all of them with a few Cars thrown in.

The show was high energy from the start and it was fun to join in with the excitement throughout the arena. The audience clapped and gasped every time a new character came out.

The girls are still talking about it. There are basically four acts: Cars, Little Mermaid, Lion King and Tinkerbell. The skaters act out a shortened version of each story. It is basically the story shortened into the songs, or best parts. Who needs a lot of dialogue anyway?

Except for the Cars. Instead of doing the Cliff Notes version of the movie, they do a little skit with Mickey Mouse’s car and then drive around to a song. (It’s more entertaining that my description).

If you want to see Disney on Ice during it’s run in Denver or on tour across America, use the coupon code MOM for four tickets for $44 for Monday – Friday matinee shows and $4 off Friday night and weekend shows. Additional weekday tickets are $11.

In Denver, the show will play the Pepsi Center from December 4th to the 6th and at the Denver Coliseum from December 11th to the 13th.

Special Princess Preshow

Arrive up to one hour early to tour the display of gorgeous gowns and meet a real princess! This extra is free for all ticket holders, but we skipped it due to the extremely long line and limited time.

More About The Show

Rev up for non-stop fun with four of your favorite Disney stories atDisney On Ice presents Worlds of Fantasy. Thrill to high-speed stunts as Lightning McQueen, Mater and the crew of Disney/Pixar’s CARS race across the ice. Dive into The Little Mermaid’s enchanting undersea kingdom and experience the ‘Circle of Life’ with The Lion King. Then enter into the magical world of Pixie Hollow with Tinker Bell and all her fairy friends as they make their world premiere on ice! From wheels to waves, Pride Lands to pixie dust, your family’s favorite Disney moments come to life at Disney On Ice presents Worlds of Fantasywith dazzling skating, special effects and beloved characters certain to create a lifetime of memories.

Disclosure: I am a Feld Family Activator and I received tickets to the event.

I took my girls, my niece and my husband to Ringling Bros and Barnum Bailey Circus last week. It was opening night for the latest touring show, Zing Zang Zoom!

It’s been a few years since I’ve taken my family to the circus. The girls were too young and it was hard to justify ticket prices to spend an evening trying to keep them in their seats.

This year, my girls were both old enough to go and enjoy the circus. Their cousin EV, who is 7, also tagged along. The girls were beyond excited to go and were jumping up and down while we were in line waiting to go in. When we walked past the ticket takers and into the main coliseum hallway, they looked at each other and said, “We are finally inside!!”

The circus offered a pre-show where you could meet and greet the animals and clowns as well as try on circus apparel. We were really excited to get a sneak peek at the circus early. This seemed to be a good idea, but the event is open to any ticket holder. We arrived at 6:30 to huge lines.

As we walked across the parking lot, we could see the animals and their cages on the other side. My girls really wanted to meet the animals more than anything else. I had been pumping this for weeks and now they were going to get up and close with the elephants, horses, etc. It looked like there were fences all around the animals and we guessed that you had to go inside the coliseum to get to the animals.

A lot of people came early for the pre-show. We waited in line for about 30 minutes before even getting inside. As soon as we got inside, we began looking for ways to get out to the animals. The girls gave up and began walking the circus floor. They didn’t want to get too close to clowns and the lines for the circus apparel were long. It was hot and crowded and outside of getting autographs and crowding to try and see elephants paint, there wasn’t much there. I wasn’t impressed with the pre-show and not sure I would come early to do it again.

I discovered through asking others that you had to show tickets outside in the parking lot to see the animals. We completely missed it. The girls were bummed. It would have been nice to know the procedure ahead of time or at least have seen signs that gave us direction.

All three girls sat on the edge of their seats the entire first act. I’m not sure they blinked the entire time. They laughed and clapped with genuine exuberance. There was singing, dancing, animals and circus acts. This wasn’t exactly the circus I remembered from my youth, but it was better.

The acts moved fast, the music was fun and things kept moving. I was bummed to see so few animals, yet happy to see so few animals. The animals are a huge draw to the circus, but it’s hard to see and think of them as in captivity and being forced to perform tricks for entertainment.

The second act was just as fun and fast-paced. We all loved the magic tricks … they made an elephant disappear, sent the ringmaster through sharp fan blades and my favorite, turned a man into a white tiger.

The circus was set to go late, and we had had a few late nights previous, so I was prepared to leave when the girls started to drag. They didn’t drag until after we left and were halfway home.

The girls’ favorites were the tigers, the elephants, the horses and the guys who run on the spheres of death.

On the way out the door, the girls were pumped up and talking about coming back next year. The circus may just become an annual family outing for us.

If you are interested in going to the circus, it is in Denver through October 11th. Mom Central is extending the following family offers, just enter the coupon code “MOM” in the “MC promotion” box at checkout. Tickets can be purchased from http://www.ticketmaster.com. For more information on ticket discounts, showtimes and cities where the circus will visit, click here.

· Four tickets for $44 Monday-Friday (additional tickets can be purchased for $11 each)

· $4 off tickets for weekend performances

Offer not valid on Circus Celebrity, Front Row, or VIP seating.

Cannot be combined with other offers. Service Charges, facility & handling fees will apply.

I am participating in a campaign for Mom Central and Feld Entertainment. I am a Feld Family Activator and receive free tickets for my family to attend the Ringling Bros show.

Ringling Bros & Barnum Bailey Zing Zang Zoom

I have many fond memories of going to the circus with my family as a child. It always came to town around my birthday, so it was an added bonus to go. My dad didn’t take many family field trips, but he did take us to the circus every fall. I also remember going to the circus parades with him and watching all of the animals and performers go by along the streets of downtown Denver.

My favorite acts involved the animals, but I also loved watching the motorcycles in the big iron ball of doom.

I’m so excited that it’s that time of year again and Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus is coming to Denver. I took my oldest daughter to the circus when she was 4 years old.

We are going to the show this year with my daughters seven and four. I will post about our experience after and of course, I will be looking for opportunities to learn about animals, physics, magic and more! My youngest will love the horses while the oldest will love the magic and high-flying acts.

Mom Central is extending the following family offers, just enter the coupon code “MOM” in the “MC promotion” box at checkout. Tickets can be purchased from http://www.ticketmaster.com

· Four tickets for $44 Monday-Friday (additional tickets can be purchased for $11 each)

· $4 off tickets for weekend performances

Offer not valid on Circus Celebrity, Front Row, or VIP seating.

Cannot be combined with other offers. Service Charges, facility & handling fees will apply.

Denver Showtimes:

Wed. Sept 30  7:30p.m.
Thu. Oct. 1  7:30p.m.
Fri. Oct. 2  7:30p.m.
Sat. Oct. 3  11:30a.m. 3:30p.m. 7:30p.m
Sun. Oct. 4  11:30a.m. 3:30p.m. 7:30p.m.
Wed. Oct. 7  7:30p.m.
Thu. Oct. 8  11:00a.m. 7:30p.m.
Fri. Oct. 9  7:30p.m.
Sat. Oct. 10  11:30a.m. 3:30p.m. 7:30p.m
Sun. Oct. 11  11:30a.m. 3:30p.m. 7:30p.m.

The above offers are good in the following cities:

• Denver: September 30 – October 11, 2009
• Boston: October 14-18, 2009
• St. Louis: October 15-18, 2009
• Cleveland: October 21-26, 2009
• Rosemont/Chicago: November 5 – 29, 2009 *available for purchase on Sept. 8. 2009
• Auburn Hills: November 18-22, 2009
• Charlotte: January 27-31, 2010 *available for purchase on Sept. 12, 2009
• Atlanta: February 12-21, 2010 *available for purchase on Sept. 12, 2009
• Cincinnati: March 10-14, 2010 *available for purchase on Sept. 21, 2009
• Dayton: April 29 – May 2, 2010 *available for purchase on Sept. 21, 2009

Don’t miss the Animal Open House and All Access Preshow.

Be sure to get to the arena early to check out the Animal Open House and the All Access Preshow.   At the Animal Open House, which begins at 6:00pm, you can see the furry stars up close before their big performances.  The Preshow begins at 6:30pm and will give you a chance to head down to the circus floor to meet the performers, get autographs, try on costumes, and clown around! These two extras are free for all ticket holders.

To learn more about Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey shows touring the country this year and to find shows in your area, visit the Ringling Bros site.  And don’t forget to use the special discount code when purchasing tickets online!

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey® Presents ZING ZANG ZOOM®: Through the mystery of magic and the mastery of skill, audiences will be spellbound as Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey® Presents ZING ZANG ZOOM®, a thrill-filled, mind-blowing circus spectacular where family fun is no illusion.

Magical Zingmaster Alex and his assistant, the alluring Levitytia, lead audiences through a kaleidoscope of color and imagery revealing extraordinary worlds of fantasy, flight and phenomena that celebrates the uplifting spirit of the circus and wards off a cynical Mr. Gravity and his team of “heavies” who try to bring everyone down.

Be mesmerized when a four-ton elephant disappears before your eyes, and a gravity-inducing nemesis transforms across species into a ferocious tiger.  Stand in awe as a dazzling trapeze artist performs a perilous, anatomically unimaginable one-arm speed-spin high atop the arena floor, and two formidable, female human cannonballs are blasted through the air in a daring, awe-inspiring display of bravery.  Become electrified as the dangerous double wheel of steel, the gasp-inducing high wire and soaring gigantic swings defy both gravity and logic.

Fun-filled magic merges with traditional circus arts to create a world of infinite possibilities where apprentice illusionists levitate their parents with a wave of a wand, and audience spirits keep rising as the high-flying circus is (literally) turned upside down.

Perhaps the most magical of all, watch in amazement as an incomparable array of exotic animals including a herd of majestic Asian elephants, magnificent Bengal tigers and elegant Arabian and Friesian horses join forces with our human performers to create an experience that will surprise and delight Children of All Ages, rendering us speechless and reminding us that the magic of The Greatest Show On Earth® lives forever in our hearts and imaginations.

I am participating in a campaign for Mom Central and Feld Entertainment. I am a Feld Family Activator and receive free tickets for my family to attend the Ringling Bros show.

Learning at the amusement park.

We took a trip to Elitch Gardens in Denver today. It is an amusement park and water park all in one. It’s a ton of fun and really not the first place you think of when looking for lessons and learning.

We definitely focused on the fun and the family time during our visit. The girls spent the first half of the day in the water park and then we wrapped up on the rides. In all the running, riding, splashing and shouting, we stole a few moments to do some quick learning.

My daughters loved the wave pool. They asked lots of questions about where the waves come from and how they are generated. Sometimes the water is still and other times, you are riding waves. We had to look up how wave pools work when we got home. According to How Stuff Works, small wave pools use wind to generate waves, while the larger ones use large amounts of water to push the water across the pool.

I have to admit, that while I stood there watching my daughters play, I too wondered how the waves seemed to come out of nowhere.

We also learned how important it is for the rides to work and how important water is on the water slides. We had stood in a beastly line working our way up a twisting staircase dragging an inner-tube. As we reached the top and it became our turn, the ride was shut down. They let one person ride their tube down the bowl to “see how bad it is.” They said a pump on one side had shut down and the water was not running properly. The water park test human “dummy” almost spilled out of his tube, because there wasn’t enough water. A serious bummer, but I was glad they shut the ride down before we stuck on the side of the bowl and dumped out.

After getting spending more than enough time out in the sun, we moved onto the amusement park. An amusement park is a physics lesson in itself. You don’t have to look long to find physics in action. You are surrounded by force and motion, friction, and machinery. How do the rides work? How do they keep you safe? How do you stay in your chair on the Sea Dragon?

We watched riders on some of the larger, more dangerous rides like the Tower of Terror and the free fall rides. How does the ride work with the rider’s weight vs gravity?

We also watched a water ride where the boat sails down a huge ramp and makes a tremendous splash at the bottom. How does the boat hit the water just right to make such a splash? Do you think the splash would be bigger or smaller with an empty boat?

We ended the day with a small but important lesson in sun protection. I have a sunburn on my back. Ouch! But my daughter’s both are fine. They were wearing UV protective swimwear and I was wearing sunscreen. Which works better in protecting you all day? Here kiddos, look at my back to see the effects of sun on skin.

I usually spend time on family outings looking for opportunities to ask questions or teach my girls something.

During a recent trip to Woodland Park, Colorado, we discovered the Dinosaur Resource Center. It’s easy to find right on the main street.

After driving by and seeing the giant life-sized dinosaurs outside and the fossil skeletons through the windows, we had to stop. How could I pass up an opportunity for learning AND fun? And I didn’t need to look for the lessons, they were all over.

Admission to the museum is reasonable – $11.50 for adults, and $7.50 for children ages 5 to 12. Four and under are free. Bonus!

The museum offers guided tours that you can pick up at the entrance or anywhere along the way. With a 4-year-old in tow, we skipped the tour and walked around instead. I did listen in on the tour in a few places, and it sounded very informative.

The building consists of three large rooms with a large gift shop. It’s not very big, so don’t plan on spending more than an hour or two. After you pay admission, you take a picture on a green screen. At the end of your visit, you have the opportunity to purchase the photo complete with a T-Rex attacking your family – a very cool twist on the tourist visitor photo. The day we were there, they offered a special of $5 a photo.

The museum has a wealth of information and fossils. We loved the main large room with all of the displays. There was also a smaller area for younger children with magnets, rubbing plates and a dig site.

We really enjoyed our time at the Dinosaur Resource Center, but I recommend it to families with older children. While it did offer lots to see and touch, it is geared towards elementary school aged children and up. My 4-year-old lost interest pretty fast and we went through the entire museum in about an hour.

If you are in Woodland Park I recommend you stop by and check it out.

Nature and learning in the great outdoors

My family and I went camping for the second time this summer. This is the first summer we’ve taken our girls camping. My youngest just turned four, so this year we felt she was ready to brave the great outdoors. Before four, we would have been using our tracking skills to keep her in range while camping.

Camping has so many benefits. It not only provides great family time without any of the normal distractions like TV or video games, it also provides many opportunities to teach your children and learn along the way. I highly recommend you go as basic as you can. Leave video games, movies, TV, radio home. Bring along simple, family building games like cards or coloring.

Let me start by saying I’m not a great outdoorswoman. I enjoy being outside, hiking, camping, fishing. But I’m more of your low-impact outdoors-person. I like sitting next to a river on a comfy chair reading a book. I like fishing, but not touching worms or fish. I like short strolls through nature, not serious hiking up the side of a mountain. I enjoy camping. RV camping beats out tent camping any day. A cabin with a flushable toilet is more my speed. And don’t forget the bed. A mattress is much more preferable to a mat, cot, bag or any other 3-letter word.

I do like camping. Or maybe I should say “camping.” When my husband and I were dating, he showed me real camping. I’ll save that story for another day.

We’ve been “camping” in my father in-law’s RV. It isn’t huge, but it has the comforts of home, like a fridge, a sink, a stove, a table and most importantly a mattress. Don’t forget protection from the elements. I’d like to see a bear try to break in there.

Even though they haven’t slept on the ground yet, my girls are getting a different view of ways to live, survive and look at the world. I hope I am also instilling in them a love and respect for nature that you can’t get from staying at posh hotels like LaQuinta on every vacation.

Here are some of the different lessons and questions we insert into our camping adventures:

Rock climbing & enjoying all aspects of nature

Nature and Biology

This one is pretty straight-forward. Look at plants, flowers and trees. Try to name them. Categorize them by color, size, smell, shape. What lives in them, eats them, uses them?

Look for signs of animals in the area. What kinds of signs can you find? What kind of animals live in this area? How do they form an ecosystem along with the plants?

Why is it important to stay on trails? Why should you take only pictures and leave only footprints?

Campfire Science

How do you start a campfire? How do you maintain a campfire? How will the flame go out and how does it continue to burn? How does this relate to forest fires? How to they burn and find fuel? How are they contained?

There is even science behind the toasting marshmallow. How does it change in the fire? Do its physical properties change?

Astronomy

Look at the sky. Try to find constellations. Can you find a planet? What differentiates a planet from a star? Do you see any satellites or the International Space Station? My girls can already spot some of the easier constellations like the dippers, Orion and Casseopia.

On our last camping trip, the Perseids were peaking. Although the sky was clear, we did not see any meteors. My girls were so excited and looked and looked, but we didn’t see a thing. We did see a moonrise over the mountain, which was very cool.

Weather

There is cloud watching, rain, sun, wind. You are out in the elements when camping. How do clouds form? How do storms form? Which direction do the clouds move? Why do they move? How does the water cycle work (rain, to water to evaporation)?

Conservation

I always have my children pick up trash when we are out in nature. It isn’t hard to spot. Wherever humans have been, there are traces of them, including trash. This isn’t so much conservation, but teaching them to protect the Earth and keep her clean.

When camping, you don’t have unlimited supplies of water, heat (firewood) or food. Running to the grocery store isn’t as easy as it is at home. We only have a limited amount of water in the RV. How do you do dishes, brush your teeth, wash your hands and protect your water supply?

History

We talk about the pioneers and how they had to live when making the trek across country. How did they travel? What did they use? How did they protect themselves? What did they need to protect against? Do we have any of the same dangers today? What about the Native Americans? What did they do to survive? How did they protect themselves, travel, etc

Storytelling

This isn’t science, but maybe I can stretch it into the science of storytelling. My girls had so much fun the first time we camped and they told ghost stories around the campfire. They made up the stories and although we tried to guide through beginning, middle, climax and end, they both rambled. It was a hoot listening to their stories and sharing a free, creative moment together.

You don’t need to be an avid outdoors-person to enjoy camping. You do need to be avid if you want to do the camping where you poop in a hole (I don’t recommend it.) Even an afternoon out in nature with your children is all it takes to find a wealth of learning opportunities and family building experiences. With the wide range of lessons available, you can split it up and choose different topics on different trips. We don’t spend every waking minute teaching a lesson while camping. There is plenty of climbing rocks, card games, reading and games of pretend to go around. When things settle, and you are sitting around the campfire or strolling down a path, that’s a great time to ask a question.

My Love for the Astronauts and Space Travel

I remember hearing Neil Armstrong’s historical words “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”

I remember hearing them in replayed news clips. I’m not old enough to remember the actual event. I was born a few years after the lunar missions but grew up in the 1970’s when the moonwalk was fresh in the minds of Americans.

I spent lots of time trying to imagine what it would be like to step out onto an alien world. What it looked like to the astronauts. How it felt. How it smelled. Do things smell on the moon without air?

It’s hard to believe NASA is marking the 40^th anniversary of the lunar landing this week. They have a section on their website dedicated to the even, complete with videos and voice recordings from mission control on their website.

I tried practicing the moon walk. Not Michael Jackson’s, but Neil Armstrong’s. I hopped and bounced around the backyard, but never quite got the same feeling. I wore moon boots because I thought that would put me one step closer to being an astronaut. I know, geek alert.

Growing up, I was fascinated with space. It helped that my mother, a first-grade schoolteacher, was also fascinated with astronauts and space. She had several space visual aides, including a small metal ball, about the size of softball, which was a map of the moon. I would study the moon globe over and over. I learned all of the important moon destinations: the Sea of Tranquility being the most important. If anyone ever needed directions on the moon, I could direct them.

I read and re-read all of my mom’s space books. Everything I could find from the early 1960’s and John F. Kennedy to the present day. I wanted to be an astronaut. I wanted to go into space.

I spent countless hours on my back in our backyard, studying constellations. I knew almost all of them and knew where to find them. I loved visiting our local planetarium and watching the star show. I also made many visits to the observatory. I vomited into a bush at the Natural History Museum out of sheer excitement to see Haley’s Comet.

I had my own pair of high-powered binoculars to star and moon gaze. I would study the face of the moon and try to picture what it would be like to stand on it.

My favorite movie? Star Wars of course. I spent countless hours on the playground pretending to be Princess Leia while the boys all fought over who was Luke Skywalker. This seems to be a common memory for many people my age. Did we all spend recess pretending to fly Millennium Falcons and X-Wing fighters?

I remember the first launch of the space shuttle. I remember Sally Ride, the first woman astronaut in space. I remember being at the Field Museum in Chicago and looking at the actual Sky Lab that had crashed to Earth.

My favorite thing to do while camping? Star gaze and watch for satellites to go overhead.

Anther favorite movie? The Right Stuff. I loved that movie. I can’t say how many times I have watched it. I was so amazed by this special group of men chosen to risk their lives to do something no one else had really tried. I knew I wasn’t adventurous enough to do something like that myself, but oh how I wanted to go into space.

I was 14 years old when the Challenger exploded on January 28, 1986. I had faked an illness to stay home to watch the launch. My world stopped. Astronaut Judith Resnik was my hero. I had watched her career and wanted to be just like her when I grew up. If I learned anything from the Challenger disaster, it was that space was dangerous and people could die. It made me rethink my astronaut aspirations and consider a life here on Earth.

When I was 17, my family took a vacation to Florida. We went to Cape Canaveral. It was like visiting Disneyland to me. I stood where astronauts had stood. I saw the giant tower where the space shuttle had launched. I wanted to steal a rock from the road where the shuttle is driven from the hangar to the launch pad. I wanted a piece of the space program.

I dream of someday watching a live launch of the space shuttle.

The NASA astronauts are our national heroes. From Alan Shepard to Neil Armstrong to Judith Resnik, and everyone in between and beyond puts their life on the line to further exploration and science into a world very few of us will ever see. Without their pioneering and scientific research, many of the things in our day-to-day life would not be the same.

I hope my girls will also find heroes like the astronauts to worship and live vicariously through to motivate them to go far in life.

The proud 1st grader at the Science Fair

My daughter LM participated in her school’s science fair this spring. It was a first for her –and for me. I really had no idea where to start or what to do. So I scoured the Internet looking for ideas.
We decided on testing different sunscreens for strength and effectiveness. I decided to keep it pretty simple.

She is in first grade.  She doesn’t know how to research something yet.  She doesn’t understand things like scientific method.

In doing the project, she began to understand terms like “control,” “experiment,” “theory,” “findings,” and “conclusion.” All words I didn’t learn until well into my junior high/ high school years. And here is my first grader, learning how to theorize and make a hypothesis before the age of 8.

We did the project. I should say, she did the project. I assisted, planned and guided, but I made sure she prepped the materials, did the work and made the conclusions. I helped her organize and lay out her project board, but she cut it all out and glued it all down.

We spent the next week quizzing her on all of her terms.

“What is a hypothesis and what is your hypothesis in this experiment?

“What is SPF?”

“What is UV light and what does UV stand for?”

She had it down and was ready to present at the Science Fair. Little did I know, I was going to learn at the science fair.

I had never in my life attended a science fair. I didn’t know what to think. When someone said “science fair,” I thought of geeky, introverted kids standing in front of project boards. I had no other preconceived notions. Other than wondering if anyone came to a science fair.

None of the schools in my educational career had a science fair. It makes me wonder about the state of public education in the 1970s/1980s.

LM invited her grandparents. We needed someone to see all of her hard work. I didn’t think anyone would come to the science fair.

She was the only student in the first grade to participate out of 50 entrants. But our elementary school does a good job with getting visitors to the science fair. They do a spaghetti fundraiser dinner along with a school-wide gift basket drawing. It makes the evening a community event, bringing out a lot of school staff, students and their families.

LM spent the evening discussing and explaining her project. I was so thankful that we had quizzed her. She knew it and was able to explain it. There was not a time during the entire two hours where she wasn’t talking to someone and answering questions. And of course, everyone wanted to know which sunscreen performed best.

This is when my eyes were opened to the true benefits of science fair. Yes, she gained a lot of knowledge about scientific method, dangers of sunlight and the benefits of sunscreen. But she gained another hugely important set of skills that night:

1. Public speaking. She had to speak to numerous adults and peers, sometimes several at a time. And she did it by herself. Her father and I were standing to the side. But that’s where we stayed. She did all the talking and answering. The spotlight was on. I remember the disaster of my first public speaking experience in middle school.

2. Organization. She had to organize her project, lay it out and then demonstrate it. Yes I helped a lot. This is a girl who can’t figure out where her clothes go every night. But she was able to understand the need for organizing something and planning it. She couldn’t just jump in and start swimming.

2. Self-confidence. She was beaming from the “I did it!” feeling. She had done a big project from start to finish for the first time in her life. She then used her knowledge to present and explain herself. She did an amazing job.

Standing to the side watching my beautiful daughter, I had a very proud parent moment. She’s not my little helpless baby anymore. She is working her way to becoming a stunning, self-confident successful woman.

The science fair at LM’s school does not hand out awards. It is focused on getting the students to participate and learn something vs naming a winner. But just between you and me, one of the dads who had stopped by LM’s booth earlier in the evening, stopped by again on his way out and whispered, “if I was a judge, you would get first place.”

As long as she (and eventually her little sister) are interested, we will be participating in science fairs in the future. I equate it to gymnastics, soccer, dance, swim and everything else she participates in. It’s character building at its best.

Who knew you could get that much out of a science fair?