Planning

The first time we did homeschool when Kelly was in the first grade, I read a book by Raymond Moore about the subject. He highly recommended that a small business be a part of the homeschool experience. The point of the business is to teach the children how to work and to run a business. He believed that anything would do; paper routes, a delivery service, anything. I really like that idea.

My dad owned and ran a doll house factory for many years. The doll houses were very fun products. My thinking is that it would be great to make something that is really fun. That is easier said than done. In as much as I am a robotics engineer by trade, I am thinking of something in that arena. At the same time, I do not want the product to be a robot just for the sake of being a robot; I want the product to do something.

In thinking on the robot idea, I thought it might be fun to build a robot controller along with a series of projects that apply the robot controller. I thought maybe we could sell robotic project kits complete with materials and instructions on how to build and use the kits. Then, I thought that there are probably a lot of homeschool parents who have the same problem I am having and cannot think of something to do as a business as part of their homeschool. All that lead to an idea that I really do not have perfectly clear in my head yet, but I will try to take a stab at explaining it.

The first thing required is a robotic controller with a real time operating system that can control a good number of stepper motors, digital and analog inputs and outputs, and possibly a camera or two. In addition, it would be great if the device were accessible via ethernet to the internet. That computer would have to have a data driven application already running on it (probably developed by me) that would allow for its use as a controller by someone who has minimal computer literacy and even less robotics literacy.

Next, three to five good projects would need to be developed with the controller. The projects need to both do something interesting and be useful in teaching both robotics and one or more secondary subjects to a homeschool student. A couple of projects that might qualify include:

  • An orchid growing environment that controls the light, temperature and humidity in an environment, measures nutrients in water and soil, and possibly keeps the windows to view the orchid clean from condensation so the orchids can be appreciated. The homeschool student could learn about robotic control, mechanical assembly, and horticulture. The chamber could also be useful for growing salsa materials (onions, cilantro, tomatoes, and chiles), other flowers, etc.
  • An automatic tortilla maker.
  • A tethered mini-blimp camera platform.
  • A dremel tool milling machine

    All of these projects could be offered as kits with curricula for assembly, technical understanding of robotics and the task performed by the equipment, and even how the product could be used in a small family business. I will continue trying to develop this idea.||Raymond Moore, a homeschool research pioneer was very big on the idea of running a business as part of the homeschool experience. I really like that idea and have been beating my brain trying to come up with something.