Pinewood Derby

My middle child Lucas is a cub scout. He has intentions of working his way through it all to be an Eagle Scout. I have a love/hate relationship with Scouts. I love the things he learns and the fun he has. I hate the way it feels like Scouts sometimes takes over our calendar. But as any home school mama will tell you, we can take anything and make it an educational experience. At first I tried having him read books and blogs about how to make the fastest car but it wasn't holding his interest and a lot of it seemed complicated. But then last year at Pinewood Derby time, I took Lucas to the Scout store to buy a few things he needed. He had some questions so he went and talked to the man who runs the shop. That led to a forty-five minute discussion in the middle of a school day on the absolute best techniques for a winning car. He soaked it all in, went home, and followed those instructions to the letter. He took home a first place trophy at his first competition and then went to the district race and won third place.  And then he did it all again this year and took first and then third again!

Lucas with his car and third place trophy at district. Notice that Patriots sticker on the car? I made it for him with my Cricut. What a headache!  He was very particular about how it needed to look and watched over my shoulder and bossed me around until it was just how he wanted it to be. I tried to take credit for him winning that trophy but he says the sticker didn't affect the speed. Well, boo! ;)