Lewis built first Lego Education WeDo model - Alligator

Lewis has successfully constructed all by himself without help from parents nor grandpa, his very first WeDo model, the Hungry Alligator:

And here is another photo of the Hungry Alligator connected to a laptop computer loaded with the WeDo software:

Types of gears

Spur gear
Crown gear
Worm gear
Rack and pinion
Raxk and pinion animation

Spur gear

Crown gear

Worm gear

Rack and pinion

Rack and pinion animation

Song in memory of my father

Papa - by Paul Anka

Everyday my papa would work
To try to make ends meet
To see that we would eat
Keep those shoes upon my feet

Every night my papa would take me
Tuck me in my bed
Kiss me on my head
After all my prayers were said

There were years
Of sadness and of tears
Through it all
Together we were strong, we were strong

The times were rough
But Papa, he was tough
And mama she stood
beside him all along

Growing up with them was easy
Time just flew on by
The years began to fly
They aged but so did I

I could tell
Mama wasn't well
And papa knew
and deep down so did she, so did she

And when she died
Papa broke down and he cried
And all he could say was,
"God, why her, Take me!"

Everyday he sat there sleeping
in his rocking chair
He never went upstairs
Because she wasn't there

Then one day my Papa said, "Son,
I'm proud of how you've grown"
He said, "Go out and make it on your own.
And don't worry. I'm O.K. alone."

He said, "There are things you must do"
"Places you must see"
His eyes were sad as he
goodbye to me

Every time I kiss my children
Papa's words ring true
He said, "Your children
they live through you."

And they grow!
They'll leave you too"
I remember every word
my Papa used to say
I kiss my kids and pray
That they'll think
Think
That way

LEGO Education Simple Machines preliminaries

Have purchase online the LEGO Education Simple Machines Set and now awaiting collection from US. In the meantime some links to reviews and videos to prepare for its arrival:

Learning Simple Machines with LEGO Education by Featured Teacher

HomeSchooler LEGO Education Simple Machines Kit

LEGO Education Simple and Motorized Mechanism: 10% off

LEGO Education is offering a 10% off till end of this month (August 2013) for the LEGO Education Simple and Motorized Mechanism and all related products like:

Introducing Simple and Motorized Mechanisms Activity Pack
Advancing with Simple and Motorized Mechanisms Activity Pack
Pneumatics Add-On Set

Some Reviews:
LEGO Education–Simple Machines Kit Review

LEGO LEARNING WITH SIMPLE & MOTORIZED MECHANISMS

The Lego story - failures to success: get inspired

Watch the video below to learn how a huge success, LEGO, started and get inspired how the founders of LEGO never let adversities stop them from turning failures into success:

Lewis tackles first Lego Technic set on his own

Lewis at 6 years of age is now attempting to assemble his first Lego Technic 9393 Tractor set and have succeeded up to step 23, page 25. At this point, grandpa am guessing the "train" comprising of rack and pinion, rods, a pinion supposed to be the "steering wheel" is designed to convert the rotation of the "steering wheel" about a vertical axis to the turning of the 2 front wheel. Lewis seemed to have followed the instructions correcting.

Grandpa attempted to turn the "steering wheel" but the rods would not turn nor would the rack and pinion move. Grandpa think he has isolated the problem to this part::

"2 holes perpendicular axis" Lego Technic part

 which prevent the vertical rod from rotating.

Lego offers very good support and let us see how they respond to my query about this "apparent" problem which may either be a just a small mistake.

Grandpa has attempted to locate the parts list for Lego Technic 9393 and need to refer to this yellow "4 balls" part:

Yellow "4 sphere" Lego Technic part

Now let's see how Lego support respond to grandpa's query.