Wild Idea Wednesday - Odyssey of the Mind

Today we celebrated a fantastic Odyssey of the Mind season with a pool party and cupcakes. I couldn't be more proud of our team! Four of our six team members were participating in Odyssey for the first time, and it was really fun to see them develop both individually and as a team throughout the year.

The theme for this year's Primary (K-2) problem was Money Maker, which required the team to come up with and perform a humorous eight-minute skit about a money maker character that has all kinds of wild ideas for making money. They must present four wild ideas (three unsuccessful and one successful) and one real-life wild idea, and the skit must include a commercial, a customer and a character that encourages the money maker. Ours also included a hungry pony, a professional news reporter and an adorable police officer.

Since Odyssey is all about creative problem solving and thinking outside the box, we were excited when the team came up with a unique twist on the problem. We'd recently completed a co-op on the history of money, and instead of coming up with wild ideas for earning money, they chose to focus on a more literal interpretation of "making" money.

What I love most about Odyssey - and what's also the biggest challenge, especially for a homeschooling parent - is that the kids have to do everything themselves, from picking a concept, developing characters and writing the script to making props, creating costumes and setting it all up on tournament day.

The team originally performed their skit at the regional tournament in February but was selected to again present their solution at the state tournament this past weekend. It was fun to see how relaxed they were having performed it once already, and they really got to focus on just having fun.

This was Noah's second season doing Odyssey and Ava's first. They both just love it, and we're all looking forward to many great seasons to come!

Back from OotM Madness

Yes, I realize I've been terrible about posting lately . . . mostly because our homeschooling has been very single-minded in nature the past month or so. Somehow, I'd forgotten how Odyssey of the Mind becomes all-consuming this time of year!

Noah just completed his second year of Odyssey, and Ava took part for the first time. Both loved it and are really excited that our team was selected to represent the region at the state tournament in April!

For those unfamiliar with Odyssey, it is a team-oriented problem solving competition. Teams of 5-7 students work all year to come up with an innovative solution to one of the long-term problems, then present their solution (usually in the form of an 8-minute skit) at the regional tournament. The team also solves a spontaneous problem at the tournament, for which they walk into a room of judges (no parents or coaches allowed) and are asked to solve a verbal or hands-on problem on the spot.

Our team competes in the Primary division (grades K-2), which was assigned the Money Maker problem. They had to create a humorous, 8-minute skit about a character who comes up with wild ideas to make money (three are unsuccessful and one successful). The skit had to include a character who encouraged the money maker's idea, a customer and a commercial.

The most challenging part of Odyssey (for a homeschooling parent, at least) is that the kids have to do everything - from coming up with the concept, characters and script to making costumes and props. In the end, it was awesome to see the kids pull together as a team and deliver a great presentation.

More to come soon, since they will be competing in the state tournament in April!

Odyssey of the Mind "Surprise Party"

Since our Odyssey team worked so hard on their Surprise Party skit, we though a little celebrating was in order. And it was so fun to have our post-tournament celebration party be a surprise for them. We met at a local park for some playground time, then called them over to the pavilion for their surprise party, complete with snacks, cake and a pinata. After meeting for the past several months only for practices, it was great for them to have some time to just play and have fun!

It's been wonderful to see the friendships the kids have developed through Odyssey. We've just put plans in place for next year, including the addition of a new team. Most of our existing team will move on to Division 1 competition, and our new Primary team will be comprised of younger siblings and a few new members. Can't wait to get started!

Odyssey of the Mind

Wow, it's been a long time since my last post. No, I haven't been sick. Not having technical difficulties. Not going through any kind of rough time.

The reason for my delay is . . . I've been coaching an Odyssey of the Mind team. And anyone who's ever coached one will know what kind of wonderful, exciting, stressful, all-consuming task that is. At least at tournament time.

So what is Odyssey? I'm certain I can't explain it any better than this overview from their website:

Odyssey of the Mind is an international educational program that provides creative problem-solving opportunities for teams of students from kindergarten through college. Team members apply their creativity to solve problems that range from building mechanical devices to presenting their own interpretation of literary classics. They then bring their solutions to competition on the local, state, and World level. Thousands of teams from throughout the U.S. and from about 25 other countries participate in the program.

Millions of students from kindergarten through college have participated in the Odyssey of the Mind. Each year, five new competitive problems are presented for the teams to solve. These long-term problems are solved over weeks and months. Some of the problems are more technical in nature, while others are artistic or performance based. The teams are invited to participate in competition and present their solution with other teams. At the competition, the teams are given an on-the-spot "spontaneous" problem to solve. The combination of long-term problem-solving and spontaneous problem-solving produces a confident, able student.

Last fall, this sounded like a whole lot of fun - but I really had no idea what it entailed. A few of us worked to scrape together the minimum of 5 students required to form a team - and to our surprise ended up with a team of 8!

Our kids all fell into the K-2 age group, which put us in the Primary division - a great way to introduce kids to Odyssey concepts in a non-competitive environment. Their long-term problem, entitled Surprise Party, was to throw a surprise party for a team-created character for an occasion that usually isn't celebrated. Required elements included three gifts related to the reason for the party and an original noisemaker. The end result was to be a humorous, eight-minute skit to be presented at the tournament.

The kicker? Every single detail - from ideas to dialogue, props to costumes - had to come from the kids. No input or help from parents, coaches, siblings or friends is allowed.

The end result? The cutest little play you've ever seen about some friendly mice in the Seminole Gander Library throwing a party for their friend Squeaky (and his detachable, mischievous tail) who just learned how to read by himself.

The kids were amazing, especially given the tight timeframe we were working under given our late start and steep learning curve. Towards the end, they really learned to work as a team, and I can't wait to see what they do next year given even more time to discover each member's talents and creativity.

The tournament was last weekend, and I'm still resting up. Noah, on the other hand, has already scripted another play and created all the props. My biggest challenge now is breaking the news to Ava that she still has another year until she can join the team. She can recite the skit word for word and is still asking for her own set of mouse ears!