great american teach in

[greenman407]

My son Nathan recently asked me to participate in a program at his elementary school called the great american teach in. In it the parents of the children come and teach a class on one of the following subjects: their job, a hobby,a vacation or any other subject that the school deems as educational. Guess what I choose as my subject. Ill give you three guesses and the first two dont count. You got it. Radio control model boats and submarines. I brought with me the Seaview, The Albacore and two targets. It was very enjoyable! We discussed what makes a ship float on the water as well as what makes a submarine operate. Then we moved on to the operation of there radio controlled cousins. I asked for and recieved good audience participation including vollunteers to hold the radio and the submarines as there operation was demonstrated. We also watched part of a dvd on model submarines in operation. At the end of the class Nathans friends came up to him and told him that his dad was so cool! Nathan was so proud! On a sad note I only have one picture to share with you on the event because the school refused to give me any pictures of the children participating because of the fear that pediphiles would some how use the pictures in some way as they knew that I was going to post them online. Oh well at least I was able to help create an interest in the hobby among these kids
Here you can see yours truly and my son. At the very bottom you can just see the Seaview

[anonymous]

Isn't that fun?!?
I did something

Isn't that fun?!?
I did something similar for my son's third grade class last year. We started off with a discussion on bouyancy (they loved the story of Archimedes running through the streets...), then R/C subs. Tim Smalley provided an excellent powerpoint on R/C subs, and I had brought in one of my boats. Then we built Cartesian divers out of 1/2 liter water bottles. Great afternoon!

[greenman407]

Ill bet you were your

Ill bet you were your sons hero for extending yourself so. The dvd that I used was a culttvman production of Dave Merriman building the Deboer Seaview. On the 2nd disc at the end is about a five minute video with the Seaview on her trials set to music. It was very well done.

[mylo]

You did WAY more than

You did WAY more than promote some 'boat hobby', you took an active interest in your son's life, ....and he....AND his buds...think you are 'cool' because of it. You can't buy that kind of good will. Very, VERY good parental move on your part, a memory your son will have for a lifetime, how do you quantify that kind of value ?

Mylo

[anonymous]

The answer is, you can't

The answer is, you can't Mylo (which I suspect you knew already... ).

The best part for me was when I was reading the class newsletter the next month and there was a whole article written by one of the students about the "Submarine Class".

Good stuff 'eh greenman?!?

[skip asay]

When my oldest grandson was

When my oldest grandson was 12, he built a "mini sub" for a science fair. Obviously, he needed help but HE DID IT ALL. We took a couple of small pieces of lexan tube (1 smaller than the other), machined some end caps, put in an ABP pump wired to a toggle switch, put a snorkel on it, and stuck it in a fish tank. He also trimmed it out so that it stayed horizontal whether surfaced or submerged. Now when I say he did it all, I mean exactly that. But he had never done any of that stuff before at all. He machined the end caps, installed the pump, soldered the wires, trimmed it, etc. My part was showing him how to do it all. AND I ENJOYED THE HELL OUT OF IT. I got to spend a week of evenings with him and it just doesn't get any better than that.
At the Fair, he was beaming the entire night....his display had the biggest crowd and he won his class!

Skip Asay

[greenman407]

Absolutely right! who knows what

Absolutely right! who knows what will become of the seeds that we plant in young people. Perhaps one of those young students will become the next Skip Assay or Dave Merriman.