Today was the regionals for Destination Imagination, which used to be Odyssey of the Mind, and is sorta athletics for kids’ brains, with acting and engineering and history and science all mushed together. Oldest’s team came in first and will be going to state. It helps that no HS teams competed in their event; they try to plan it that way. “Hmmm, which event is emptiest?”
Things One and Two’s team came in seventh, but had a real good time. They are competing against teams coached by teachers who have a personal financial stake in their teams doing well, with all the implications you can draw without me accusing anybody of cheating. Wife coaches their team and goes by the rules, which can get pretty frustrating when doing it, or at least describing how the kid should do it, is so much easier than leading them to figure it out for themselves.
I was guarding coats and purses in the cafeteria (they also serve who only drive and wait) with Thing One when a family sat at the other end of the table. One of their kids was real little and in a wheelchair. After they left I asked my daughter if she noticed that we had been sitting with a movie star, the kid from “Simon Birch.” She hadn’t noticed, thinking as she was about lunch.
Oldest has had to compete against Ian Michael Smith in previous years and considers him a ringer. But the judges just love him.
Congratulations to your oldest, dropzone! It’s funny, but when I saw your thread title, I thought to myself, “Should I brag about my oldest in D.I.?” I suppose the answer is yes!
Her fifth-grade Tech Effects team took State today, and they’re going on to Knoxville for World Finals (because when you think “world-class,” you think “Tennessee”). Our state is so thinly populated that we don’t have regionals. We just go straight from local schools to State, so teams from states with more competition generally wipe the floor with our teams at World. They do have fun, though (this will be the third year in a row my daughter’s team has made it), and I think they learn a lot about how to solve problems creatively. It helps that we’ve got a wonderful teacher who helps to guide the parent-coaches and won’t let the kids coast for a minute. I don’t know how many times I’ve had to bite my tongue this year, trying not to make even the most trivial veiled suggestion, because if it doesn’t come from the kids, they’ll reject it outright.
For those of you (many, I’m sure) who haven’t a clue what we’re talking about, the official Destination ImagiNation site has more information.
So, dropzone, want to compare fundraising techniques?
My kid’s coping in school! We pulled him out almost 3 years ago because He Was Not Coping and we thought some clues as to why he was frying was a good idea. So he’s been out of school for nearly 3 years with a flourishing school phobia.
Last month he decided he was ready to go back :). He doing OK. Some behaviour stuff but very little considering what he is capable of. He’s getting nothing academically but he’s surviving socially which previously he has not been capable of doing. The academics can come later, he can afford to coast for some time.
Prima, I’m glad your kid is coping that well. My nephew was like that and, at last count, he has only missed one day ALL SEMESTER! Babysteps, or kaizen*, as we learned in quality control class. Take everything one step at a time. And the social part is the hard part. Learning can be done anywhere, and usually that doesn’tinclude the classroom.
IL, Wife keeps everything so cheap we don’t have to worry about fundraising. Marrying a cheap Welsh/Polack pays off.
I don’t know what my Oldest would do if her team were up against competition. Actually, I do. Last year they lost to a team whose skit was hilarious but didn’t TOUCH the problem they were supposed to address. Nice teacher/coach didn’t protest.
I am happy that Oldest doesn’t see that “Simon Birch” kid as some pitiful cripple. Nope, he’s the enemy, which is a step in the right direction. (I try and try but these kids don’t have a competitive bone in their bodies! They didn’t get that from their mom, either. She INVENTED acting like you are hurt when fouled so she gets an extra free throw! We just roll our eyes.) Now she has to learn that, yeah, maybe he’s checking out all the other skits and maybe he’ll get some tips from them or even steal the best material, BUT THAT’S HOW YOU WIN! The kid’s a pro. No problem with that.
Way cool dropzone! I’m pretty proud of my oldest too. He made some really cool paintings in Kindergarten last week! My favorite is his take on “starry night”. I keep meaning to take a pic of it and post it soon. It’s pretty impressive!
My kid sleeps in the sock drawer, and he climbs up there all by himself! And he feeds himself with the cats too. He prefers liver and cheese flavor. He also knows to poop outside instead of on the carpet.
My kids kept the destruction down to a minimum today! Yeah! And I only had to tell my daughter three times to stop yanking the cat’s tail, instead of the usual 12. Oh, and my son disovered that if he opens the door on the little cabinet in our entertainment center, it shuts by itself. He laughed at that for a good half hour.
[sub]Persephone, who is having a bad toddler week…[/sub]
First off–Tequila, your kid is a much better artist than my kid. I like the one with the hands!
His talents lie elsewhere…my husband is an engineer and I think my kid is, too. (Kid is six years old.)
exhibit A: Broke a toy car while playing in preschool. Instead of crying or running to the teacher, the little bugger fixed it. Teacher was surprised enough to tell us about it.
exhibit B: Got “Mousetrap” for the holidays a couple of years ago. We woke up the next morning to find the exploded diagram out (in Spanish, no less–doesn’t matter if you don’t read yet, I guess) and the ENTIRE THING put together.
exhibit C: Kid now reads exploded diagrams from K’nex, and builds enormous things (working merry-go-round was one of 'em) that the adults can’t figure out.
Wasn’t that a Dilbert episode, where they talked about (shudder) the knack??
BTW, congrats to all of you whose kids are doing better than they were. Quite an accomplishment, and not to be pooh-poohed.
I haven’t got any kids, so I’ll brag about my cousins:
I took the three girls to the playground yesterday. When they were strapped in their car seats and we were about to leave, I looked back at the two-year-old:
“Kalyn, are you ready?”
“Yes!”
Then at the 13-month-old:
“Mara, are YOU ready?”
“Yesss!”
I don’t have a ton of experience around infants, but I’ve never met a 13-month-old that could answer a question. She’ll have a Nobel Prize by the time she’s my age!!!
Plus her 27-month-old sister can say her ABC’s, count to ten, and sing “I’m a Little Teapot”.
I’m so proud.
(Tequila: That’s great artwork your kid did - very clever use of color!)
My sons are 5, 3, and 2. They can dismantle complex machinery in seconds. I have a feeling they are destined for careers in demolition.
In all seriousness, they are well-suited to sports. They can all throw and catch very well for their respective ages, and the two younger ones are impervious to pain. They’re pretty rough – I’ve seen 'em give and take hits that would leave a grownup (such as myself) out cold.
And they’re all pretty smart. My daughter, who is seven, is exceptionally creative, always putting on little “plays” and painting, etc. Plus, she’s working on both spanish and chinese.
BTW, Tequila, that’s an incredible starry night. Isn’t it amazing the imagination on them kids?
dropzone, my…brother! You describe the central, pure experience of my life, the source of my user name and the reason for my sig! I have fancy degrees, experience with birth and suffering and presence of mind, but I spend unbelievable amounts of time reading regulations, washing things, driving places and waiting. If I can’t believe that this is somehow ennobling, I will go completely absolutely OUT OF MY FREAKIN’ MIND!
Anyway, my white collar vanities lie in the realm of academic achievement and high culture, so I am of course happy to report that my 8-year old’s greatest skill is bowling. He rolled a 149 without bumpers this weekend. My 4-year old plays with Barbies.
Ranger 1 (the angst ridden 14 year old drama queen) has on her own brought her grades up from dismal pits to B’s. We had done all we could and, frankly, had given up on making her see the importance of it. On her own she enrolled in an after school tutoring program, asked to be changed from a French class she was hopelessly failing to being the teacher’s assistant so she could catch up on other homework and has been doing homework with friends who were also behind so they could all catch up.
Yea, Shannara!
Ranger 2 (the seven year old who likes Van Halen) has been working really hard to control his anger issues and we’ve all been working hard to keep him off the Ritalin the school was trying to put him on last year. I’ve seen kids on Ritalin. I hate Ritalin. Because he has “anxiety and anger issues” we had to enroll him in a special class for kids with emotional problems (Having your kid diagnoised with emotional problems is a real kick in the teeth for a parent, btw). HIs teacher, a saint, called and told me that to be mainstreamed he was going to have to have medictaion, he just couldn’t control his anger and it was causing him even more stress which just made him angry at himself. She recommended Adderall. He has been great about understanding this change and handling taking medication twice a day and asks questions about the Adderall and what it does to him. The change has been amazing and even he is proud of himself.
OK: She’s three, and has been kicked out of daycare because she’s too far ahead of the other kids (some up to a year older), and was using-up the resources of three other children. Now she’s in Montessori school, and is running with kids up to two years older that she, and is more than holding her own. She’s like a little rock-star there. All the teachers know & love her, all the kids in her class stop what they’re doing when she arrives to run up and greet her, and the college students that run the aftercare program make a point of dragging their friends away from their Saturday afternoon activities to meet her when they see us on the street. She’s a social Goddess, and she’s got the place wrapped around her fingers. Note: This isn’t totally unique; Her cousin does the same thing. Between the two, they own that school!
At 15 months, she figured destroyed my proxy server, via the keyboard, not in the usual toddler way.
At 32 months, I caught her lowering the difficulty on one of her computer games (JumpStart Preschool) to get extra rewards. Hell, I dind’t even know that capability existed!
At 40 months, she’s going on 15 years, socially. God, but you should see her flirt! (Momma owns a shotgun. So do I! ) That kid can work a crowd like no one I’ve ever seen, including politicians!
I’m a smart enough guy, but she’s got smarts so far beyond me that I haven’t the tools to measure how smart she is.
Not that I’m a proud pappa, no…
Ralf Jr. is competing on a DI team, too. His group chose the Triplicity event. For you non-DI parents, the abbreviated requirements are:
build a 3-part structure out of balsa, paper, and glue. One part can be balsa and glue only, one part paper and glue only, one part paper and balsa and glue only. Must use teeny tiny balsa sticks, about 1/8 inch square. Total weight of the structure limited to a max of 100 grams - about 3 oz. Hight must be between 7 3/4 and 8 3/4 inches. The 3 sections are stacked together, and are put in an apparatus where weight is added until it crushes.
must prepare and perform a skit about traveling. The skit must be no more than 8 minutes long, and has to address a variety of requirements. InternetLegend’s link to the site can show you more of the requirements.
Just prior to performing the skit, the team is handed an improv item. They have 1 minute to come up with a way to work this into their skit.
Ralf. Jr’s team took 1st place at regionals here in Central Michigan. Their structure weighed 32 grams, and held 300 lbs. No other team at any level in this region (including the high school teams) held that much. Some crushed when they put the pressure board on, before they started adding the regular weights. These 5th graders were very proud when the high school kids came over to see how they had built their structure. Oh, and they got a Da Vinci award for the whole presentation, too.
We’re off to the state competition at the end of April. Legend, Dropzone, if we make it to Tennessee, does this count as a Dopefest? And pass along the fundraising techniques!
Are the nationals in Tennessee? Unlike my over-confident daughter, I see her going to the Nats as an extreme unlikelihood.
Wife didn’t go with Triplicity because she didn’t want to mop up any blood (destroying an already destroyed living room is okay, though. Found my library books! They were behind the scenery.), didn’t want to pay for failed experiments (“If you can’t tell them how to do it, do you know how many designs they are going to go through teaching themselves?”), and objects to balsa harvesting techniques (although a lot of it is because balsa reminds her of her father, so I had to quit my model airplane hobby, too).
What kind of glue do they alow, CA or Elmers? 32 grams is AWFUL light, especially to hold 300 lbs. Congratulate Ralf Jr for me. Sounds like he has the “knack,” too.
You know, there really is something to that “knack” thing. F’rinstance, I understand most people can’t visualize in three dimensions. Guess I’m in the right job. (I once managed visualizing a five-dimension array for about two seconds. Made my head hurt.)
dropzone, D.I, like O.M. before it, is all about duct tape and hot glue.
Ralf, I’m impressed by the Triplicity teams. The kids at our school all looked at that one and took a pass, but my daughter and I went to watch some of the teams because she’s fascinated by the engineering. Your son’s team did WAY better than our winning state team, so that’s one state that won’t be much competition unless they improve a lot before May.
We need to raise about $7,500 to send the kids and their coaches to Knoxville, but it could be worse. Last year, we had three winning teams and had to come up with over $20,000 in six weeks. Our group is doing a silent auction of donated items, a candy sale, and directly begging/cajoling/guilting business leaders into giving up hunks of cash. The team members are also going to sell “Nerd-O-Grams” to their classmates - they’ll dress as “nerds” and deliver boxes of Nerds candy to students for 50 cents per delivery. I’m also checking around to see what kind of group rates I might be able to get from airlines.
I was kind of rooting for them to take second place. And I’m sorry, but I’m not going to Tennessee with the team. May 23, the date the finals begin, is my 20th wedding anniversary.
Primaflora and Arden, it’s wonderful that your kids are coping well with school - great teachers make a huge difference, don’t they? I’ll be forever grateful to my daughter’s teachers for doing such a fantastic job finding teaching methods to keep her occupied, challenged, and enthusiastic.
[I hope all you parents of those amazing toddlers are taking notes - you’ll be in our shoes in what will seem like mere weeks.]
::wanders vaguely back in:: just needed to say my kid is incredibly smart too ;). that’s half his problem, he’s in the socially incredibly maladjusted part of the bell curve.
Just felt the urge to say my kid’s a seething broth of potential with a scary IQ number who has yet to hit his form. Or something.
OTOH he hit another kid in the eye today after the Gang of Four bullies trapped him in the girls toilets. My maternal mind wonders just WTF he was doing near the girls toilets in the first place…
I thought someone said Tennessee. Maybe it was Kentucky. It was one of those long-way-runs-east-and-west states south of us. I also have my doubts about our team making it to nationals. The competition at the state level is at a completely different magnitude from the regionals. It would be nice to go, but then again, it’d be a pain. We thought we had a good chance at states, so we booked a hotel room for that 3-4 days before the regional event. We ended up staying in the next town over - everything closer was already full.
I think they used Elmers. The rules say any commercially available glue is allowed. CA is specifically mentioned, but in a cautionary tone. They require debonder be on hand if you use this. We took a pass on it.
This team split into 2 groups during that phase. One group (including the contractor’s son) designed and built the structure. The other group (including Ralf. Jr) worked on the skit.
Gotta run teach a class right now. When I get back I’ll show you a technique that will let you visualize 6 dimensional arrays easily, and 9 without straining too much.
) That kid can work a crowd like no one I’ve ever seen, including politicians!