Take another pill and a big swig of coffee because it gets worse. Let me tell you about the year of the English project where I had to sew sock puppets and his dad built a puppet stage. There was no way on this earth any kid could have done that on his own. I'd love to know what his teacher was smoking when she dreamed that one up. And then there was the world history project where we had to draw maps by hand, color them and glue them to a beach ball. (This is where Mom's black belt skills in artful photocopying and providing tracing paper came in handy big time.)

I think we were fortunate with the science projects in that he always picked something that was more like consumer science. One year we all chewed different varieties of bubble gum and tested how far they'd stretch. Another year he tested milk to see if fat content affected how fast it would go bad in a cool, dark environment (under the bathroom cabinet).

The key to getting through this is to let the kid do what he can do, fix what you can, stay calm, and just try to get it looking tidy and nicely placed on the poster board. Colorful photographs are a great way to fill up space. Good luck!