Noah has been wanting to build his own computer for a while.  It’s an expensive proposition and I was very hesitant to let him spend his hard earned money this way.  What if it didn’t work?  I don’t have the knowledge to help him “fix” it if something went wrong.  What if he was disappointed in the outcome?  He assured me that he had done the research and knew exactly what he needed to purchase and how to put it all together!  I was still hesitant.

Over the last few months I have been listening to Julie Bogart, of Brave Writer, on Periscope a lot.  She is so encouraging and after successfully homeschooling 5 kids, I believe she brings a lot of wisdom to the table.  She discusses that during the teen years kids really need to take big risks.

Letting a teenager take risks when he or she is still at home with parental support simply makes sense.  Teens are so close to the necessity of adult decision making and the chance to feel in control is important.  Of course, as parents we have to help them determine when a risk is just more than he or she can handle.   I’m certainly not advocating letting your teenager make decisions that could harm them or others!

So I decided to support Noah is this decision.  He made a list of parts that he would need and their costs.  He knew if he could get a few of them for Christmas, we would have enough money to finish the project.  It would not have made any sense to let him start buying parts or asking for them as gifts if he couldn’t finish the project in the near future.  That would be a stupid risk.  Once we had determined that he could make it work, he made a list and he received some of the needed parts for Christmas from grandparents and us.  He begin to keep an eye on the prices of the more expensive parts that he knew he would need to buy to watch for sales – even prices on Amazon fluctuate.  When one of the parts became available with a rebate he jumped on making that purchase!   After Christmas, he knew what he still needed and made the remainder of the purchases.

As parts begin arriving you could see the excitement in his face!  And when FedEx delivered the final piece, he immediately begin working to build it.

He now has it up and running!  He has also researched operating systems and commands and how to effectively run the programs that he wants to support.  The experience has not been without hiccups.  He has made a few mistakes that had to be “undone” and corrected but I am so proud of him!  He has put many hours of his free time into this project.  His knowledge has certainly grown far more than I could have taught him!

And I’m so glad that I listened to Julie’s advice and let him take on this risk!  He has experienced growth that he otherwise would not have had the opportunity to experience!

If you would like to jump in and hear more wisdom from Brave Writer, you can watch all of Julie’s Periscopes for free on Katch.