It can be a rude awakening when you first see the requirements for middle school science fair projects that your 6th grader brings home. This is when the truth hits you that things sure will be different than when they were younger. Your new middle school child is letting you know pretty clearly that they prefer to do things by themselves, and do not want you telling them what to do. This just part of their move towards self-reliance. You will find yourself facing two parent challenges during this often trying time.
One is how to teach them how to organize themselves and become independent, and like the saying goes, make it their own. This can be done by having the student play teacher and take the assignment sheet and tell each step to you. The whole process of talking the details of an assignment through from beginning to end forces them to look at all the details, while sending the message that you respect them. Throwing some advice in along the way will be appreciated.
Teaching them how to ask for help is the second big challenge. That includes you learning how to give help without getting too involved in the middle school science project. Doing any part of a project for them is not helping. Helping is more like de-mystifying directions . Help that they will most likely need most is editing for spelling and grammar issues. Help by lending a hand to help hold something up could be all that is needed. One key help you can provide is practice time. Let them give their oral presentation to you so they can get it to sound smooth. If the child learns to ask for help, then they can benefit from the parent support team in lots of ways.
The bottom line is that this is a transition time, and to make this a smooth transition to an independent self starting student, middle school science fair projects are a great starting point. You want your children to have pride in the project as well as in the ownership they feel for what they accomplished. It is truly their own.
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