[School Non-Attendance] Submitting an Independent Research Project to a Competition

I am ao-mama, in my ninth year of supporting my child through developmental differences and school non-attendance.

My son worked hard on his independent research project during summer vacation.

Last year, his homeroom teacher submitted his science project to a competition, and he won a gold prize. He remembered that, so he worked even harder this year!

He worked hard, but...

The science teacher changed this year, and it seemed they wanted to submit someone else's work.

The special needs teacher said, "I could submit it, but..." but I felt it would be absolutely wrong to force them to submit my son's project when there were other excellent ones! Besides, if they did that, I would feel awkward and sorry for the other children.

So, I did some research and decided to take the plunge and submit it to a corporate independent research competition!

My goal was the "participation prize"!!

When you work hard, you want to be seen and praised by a third party, not just your parents!

He wants to be told, "That's amazing!" or "You worked so hard!"

For my son, the way to feel that is through something visible, like a "certificate of merit" or a "participation prize" that you are guaranteed to get if you enter.

Even if you can't go to school, you can still submit your work!!

So, I looked for corporate competitions that give a participation prize to every single entrant and applied!

Some of the application periods were surprisingly long, so if he ends up not going to school in the second semester, I'm thinking of spending a week doing a different study or experiment and applying to a different company!

School isn't the only place where you can be recognized!!

The world is vast!!

When this participation prize arrives,
it will be motivation for him to keep working hard, as I'll tell him, "I'm glad you worked hard! Let's apply again next year!"

It also serves as motivation to go out, such as by visiting other research projects!

I want to make good use of this "opportunity"
to help boost motivation!

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🧩 This article is participating in the September project "#WhatWeCanDoForTheFuture" by the co-operated magazine Totsuto-Oto.

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