Call me a helicopter parent if you must. Among the gazillion reasons that my family homeschools is that I love watching (or even better, joining in!) the cool things my kids get to do.
And because my kids are kind of geeky, one of the things I've gotten to re-live thanks to them is discovering a love of science. When my younger son asked when we were going to do chemistry, I overcame my trepidation and did a whole year's worth of chemistry experiments.
When my older son got interested in robotics, I ferried him to robotics classes and camps, helped him buy a Lego Mindstorms set – and even signed him up to test out and review several newer Mindstorms kits.
And to help give us some background for our scientific explorations, together we watched hours and hours of great scientific programming on TV and video. One of the first science shows I ever got hooked on was Bill Nye, The Science Guy. Back when it ran on PBS, my kids were still little, so it's possible that I probably got more out of it than they did. What I really liked, besides the great information, was how Bill Nye gave scientists a personality – and a fun one at that. I was sorely disappointed when I had to stop my Bill Nye habit cold turkey, after an episode where he turns into a werewolf sent my then-toddler running in fear whenever the distinctive theme music began to play.
Even though my oldest is now in college, I still like to keep an eye on what interesting stuff he's doing. And since he's studying computer game development at RIT, there's a lot of geeky stuff going on. He got to take part in a Human vs. Zombies match, try out a new game, Just Press Play, meant to encourage students to take advantage of more helpful and fun offerings at college, and go see some great performers. But I was really thrilled when I heard that Bill Nye would be giving that year's commencement address – and since it was the same day we had to be there to move my son out of his dorm, we'd be able to slip in and hear him speak. (This made me particularly glad because I had missed bumping into Nye a couple weeks earlier at New York's Five Boro Bike Tour.)
The excitement of the graduates as Nye's talk approached was clear. ("Bill! Bill! Bill!") And his message was a great one to hear. He told the graduates, "I want you all to change the world in big ways" – and then suggested problems and mysteries yet to be solved, just waiting for RIT graduates to tackle.
For instance, he said, solar panels are now only about 10 percent efficient. Finding a way to make them 90 percent efficient would change the world – "But my friend, you would also get rich. You would get crazy rich."
Or consider the following: "The universe is bigger than anyone thought – and you know why? No one knows why!"
For this GeekMom, having GeekKids has given me an opportunity to be inspired all over again. Say what you will – for me, it's just one of the perks of being a parent.
You can read about Bill Nye's speech and hear an audio excerpt on the RIT website. And on his website you can find videos like the one above, home demos, links to his organization The Planetary Society, and more ways to revel in the geekiness of the man who will forever be known as The Science Guy.
