Defense of Superior Projects

You slip into your child's classroom for the science or history presentation with all the other parents. As you sit in the back of the classroom on the folding chair, you note the children whose projects are far superior to your little joy. Instead of enjoying the presentation, those thoughts of "her parents did that" or "it's not fair- my child's doesn't look that good" or "what a crock" run through your head as you try to justify your involvement in the project. As your child stands at the front of the room with a little bit of trepidation and a quivering piece of paper, your heart goes out to the apple of your eye. The presentation is stalled when the words on the piece of paper don't come together into a sentence. The distraction of a classroom full of onlookers will cause them to studder and blush as they simply try to read through the couple sentences on their paper. The construction paper and glued project stands beside them and they too feel inadequate as they survey the offerings of their peers.
[This senario has been conveyed to me by many parents and I've heard this complaint on the radio and elsewhere, so I know that there are those out there that feel like this.]

I've heard so many parents complain about the over-involved helicopter parents that do everything for their child. I've heard of the architect families that construct a monstrous contraption that serves as their child's projects.
Yet, we are one of those families. This is in defense of how we do things.

First, we do not write or construct our child's project. Second, we try to teach our children to love learning and thus to find passion in what they do. Third, we give them time to prepare for the oral presentation so that they will easily read it aloud without any problems. Fourth, we firmly believe that if a child is proud of their work and proud of their presentation, this confidence will be conveyed. Fifth, the whole point of an at-home project is to allow the student to delve into learning with an on-hands approach.

Here is our approach:
As soon as my eldest comes home with a project (note this has more to do with her left-brained, list-making, first born personality than anything else), she is excited to delve in. She often walks off the bus with an idea already in mind and several follow up brainstorms for the assignment. That evening, I make her pull out the encyclopedias and she copies into her notepad the details she feels are important (she is only in 2nd grade now- so copying is as good as researching for her). As she reads, she might ask me about the details and/or seek clarification. Often, if I read it to her (off of the Internet), I will make her explain to me what each sentence means. This way, when she is gathering her information, I'm certain she has understood the content.
Then, the creative-portion of the project begins. Often we spend a couple days brainstorming and talking about materials she might use, elements she might include, and a whole host of hands-on research. For example, when she had an astronomy project last year, she came home with an idea in her head to create a paper mache moon. Daddy and her sat down and looked up paper mache and found a new way to do it. [Thus spurring on my recent artwork that are crafted from these paper mache ideas.]
Once she has a clear picture in her mind of what she wants, the next several days will be spent getting the materials and making it happen. Often she will do most of this herself. For example, for her latest dinosaur diorama (that we were informed of this afternoon), she has decided to make playdoh and use it as the base of her diorama. She will paint it and put foot prints in it from the dinosaur that she's chosen.
We will help her with anything that might be dangerous or simply need adult supervision, but for the most part- constructing her creation will take several days or weeks (depending on the length of time she has to create it).
Once it is completed, she will begin writing her paper/presentation. Often after weeks of talking about it, reading new things... and simply working with her hands on the project, she will have enough knowledge to sit down and write out what she wants to say. We will correct it for spelling errors and ask her to include sentences about any of the concepts that are necessary for her assignment. Often she will rewrite the project a couple times until it is neat and includes everything she needs. So, by this time she is solid on what she's written.
Then, for about 3-4 days before the presentation, she will practice it in front of us. She will stand tall, project and read her writings. She may present it to anyone else that might come to our house and this will give her a firm grasp on the concepts and the presentation portion of the project.

In summary, I'm defending our involvement. The next time you bemoan the fact that there is a child in your kid's class that has a superior project and as you assume has not actually done any of it. Consider the few of us that do care. We work for weeks to ensure that she will be proud of her project and have a firm grasp on the concepts. She thinks, brainstorms, writes, practices, and manages to pull off a great presentation. Remember that there are those of us that don't necessarily hand our kids a completed project and hope that they might glean some knowledge. We simply give them the tools to succeed.
Yes, I am an artist so I might have materials and/or ideas that others might not. However, giving her these tools is not necessarily bad.... it just helps her to think outside of the box and connect with her work in a different way.

I wonder if teachers see this... maybe not... maybe they too simply think that we do our kids' projects. *sigh*
Maybe it doesn't matter... our child has learned and will not soon forget all she's learned. That's the point. However, I've heard so many times the grumblings of other parents and I would like to set the record straight- for us at least.
Am I wrong to expect my child to put her best foot forward and strive for excellence?

Edit: upon further reflection, I want to state: we all do what's best for our children with the skills and time that we have. I have more time than money to enroll my children in extracurriculars. I tend to thrive in the learning environment and seek to pull the best out of my children. Consequently, I might defend the time we spend. In addition, I can appreciate parents that don't have the time that I might have to dedicate to these projects, so in no way am I stating there is a superior parenting at work in our home. However, I'm sick of hearing the complaints from parents who are simply frustrated that my kid worked hard and created a great presentation, without realizing the work that went into it. It's easy to judge others, but not so easy to see how the seemingly impossible can indeed become possible with time.