Forcing my son to solve a Rubik's Cube

In 1981, when I was 9 years old, in 4th grade, the Rubik's Cube was very popular.  My brothers, who were 5 and 6 years older than me, bought a book called, How To Solve a Rubik's Cube, or something like that.   I decided to read that book and was able to solve Rubik's Cubes in about 1 minute.

At my elementary school, for some strange reason, no one else knew how to solve it.  I told them it was as simple as  reading a book and that they, too, could have a solved Rubik's cube without having to break apart and resnap the pieces together, or peel the stickers off and restick them on.  However, instead of reading the book, they all decided it would be easier for them to just give their cubes to me, and then I would just solve it for them.

Of course, everyone at school thought I was super smart, but I really didn't think that was the case.  All it involved was remembering the steps, recognizing the patterns, and applying the formulas.  How I wish that I were smart enough to solve an entire Rubik's cube without being shown the formula!

Come 2008, Jacob is in the 3rd grade now, and I thought it would be a good time to teach him to solve the Rubik's cube.  I showed him over and over and over how to just make 1 face, but he couldn't do it.  He had no interest, or it just didn't click.  I was really worried because getting 1 face is very intuitive.

Perhaps 3rd grade was too early to introduce it to him?  Perhaps he just had no interest and I can't force him to learn anything?

I couldn't remember the name of the book that helped me, but in this age of information, I did the most natural thing which was Google the answer.  Sure enough, we found a good website that I was able to use to step through and solve a Rubik's cube.  However, Jacob was still confused. 

So I gave up.

Then when my daughter was in 3rd grade, I tried again with her.  I also tried again with my son who by then was in the 6th grade.  My daughter was able to get a face now.  So was my son.  But neither of them were interested in learning how to solve the entire Rubik's cube even though there were so many solutions online.

So I gave up again.

Then suddenly, last week, Jacob, who is now in the 8th grade, had a sudden fascination with the Rubik's cube.  I'm not sure what website he went on.  It might even have been YouTube since he seems to learn everything on YouTube.  He solved the Rubik's cube, and his goal was to solve it in record time.  Then he started researching all the different ways to solve a Rubik's cube to learn the fastest algorithm.  1 minute was way too slow for him.

He started researching different types of Rubik's cubes.  He discovered 4x4x4's and 2x2x2's.  He begged for a new Rubik's cube.  One called a "speed cube", and I was able to bribe him to do some extra chores before I ordered it for him.

Last night, he also found instructions online about how to make a 2x2x2 Rubik's cube.  He spent a couple hours of his free time working with duct tape, paper, and strings.  And voila! A beautiful, workable Rubik's cube.  I was quite impressed.

And of course, the first thing he said was, "I can't wait to show my friends this at school tomorrow!" (But that's a different story)

Anyway, I just thought it was interesting to see how much more kids can accomplish when the interest and motivation comes from within themselves.  I'm curious to see what Jacob and Joanna are interested in next.