Journey into uncharted territory

Nope, I'm not talking about my upcoming move to Ohio. For once, I'm talking about something else.

I'm talking about Odyssey of the Mind, the international creative thinking and team building competition that my son and 10 other children at McKinley Elementary school are a part of. There are two teams at McKinley, and I'm the coach of one of the teams.

The big competition is this Saturday, and it's been quite a ride.

6 kids after school in my basement every Tuesday for a few months now. One long term problem. Six opinions on how to build the solution. Lots of discussion, lots of work, lots of bounce-off-the-walls giggles and energy, a few tears, and--ultimately--a really cool solution that the team arrived at completely on their own.

That's the crux of Odyssey of the Mind--the kids do it themselves. They dream it up, they try it, they build it, they fix it if it doesn't work or breaks, they improve upon it, they OWN it. It's not exactly a linear process, it's definitely not efficient, and it's very wonderful.

I'm incredibly proud of these kids.

In this photo, they are practicing a spontaneous problem, which is a separate part of the competition from the long-term solution. In this practice, they had to make a 8" tall structure that would support a few spice jars. Their tools: 40 pieces of spaghetti, 12 straws, 25 mini marshmallows, and 6 sticky address labels.

Notice how all those hands are in there, working together, figuring it out.

(Why all the camouflage, you may ask? Just before this they were practicing their long-term solution, which they decided needed costumes, which they decided should be all cammo. They think it's the coolest thing ever, and you know? They're right.)