Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Odyssey of the Mind

My 4th grade son's elementary school is looking for people to run with this. My son is very underchallenged this year, but hopefully will get admittted to his brother's gifted school next year.

I've worked with this age group and could do it but I am overextended and am ONLY interested in helping my son. If the other kids benefit, fine. But I wouldn't be doing it for altruistic reasons. I am very fair and would do a good job but my reason for doing it would be to help MY son get challenged, since his school isn't doing it.

The pros:

-Give my son some challenge
-Meet some kids in the immediate neighborhood
-Observe the learning styles of my son and other kids
-My third grade son could observe and participate a little and I wouldn't need to make alternative arrangements for him

The cons:

-I'm busy
-The time could be spent doing something tailored more specifically to my son
-Don't really understand how the projects are evaluated and if they learn anything specific. Seems like the kids could spend half a year messing around in my garage and then get a pat on the head for producing very little. This is my biggest concern. I can make time, but is it worth it?

ETA: Any opinions, perspectives appreciated. I'm not normally so stingy with my time, but this is a tough year and I have to prioritize.

Odyssey is a great program. My DS6 did it last year and I co-coached it because they needed someone to do it. they honestly don't get a lot of volunteers so it is tough. It was a decent amount of work but my son really enjoyed it. The kids are the ones coming up with everything which is really cool, you are more the facilitator and coming up with spontaneous practice activities. I wasn't going to do it this year because I just didn't have the time to coach and wanted DS to be on a team that had more of the challenges of building things and contraptions and all that (and less of the drama and acting). So I just found out that there is a team for 3-5th graders that he will be on (he is 6 but skipped a grade so is in 2nd). I assured them that I would not coach, however I would help out. Now I think my DH will help though because it is an all boys team and I think it would be good for him to get involved. Anyhow, it really is a great thing and the kids learn a lot of outside the box thinking, creativity, teamwork, etc. If it is done right, it is well worth it. But I know a lot of people have a lot going on. this year they tried to tell me that my son wouldn't have a team unless I coached and I had to just sit back and say okay because I just couldn't do it. Finally someone else stepped up. I figure I did it once and maybe I will again but can't do it every year with working full time too. Anyhow, feel free to ask any questions or PM me if you want to know more about how it works.

Jane,

My dd10 has done OM for three years. This is the first year she isn't doing it and it is only b/c the coaches for her team decided to select a different problem that wasn't what the team chose (long story) and dd decided that she would rather attend a family event on the day of the tournament that she had otherwise been willing to skip than do a problem that wasn't at all of the type she enjoyed.

I've coached twice. My perspective is as follows:

* It's great for creative expression and for kids, like my dd, who are good at coming up with novel ways to approach problems.
* It depends on who is on his team. If he gets a team full of kids who can't focus or who are set on ideas that don't comport with his way of doing things, it may not come out how he'd hope, but it does help with learning how to deal with different ideas and still come away with some product as a team.
* The coach(es) are vital. If the coach can't help these elementary kids stay focused and organized, it can deteriorate into what you fear: kids messing around and getting nothing done. I view assisting with organization and staying on task to be a big part of the coach's job with elementary teams.
* If you have a lot of focused bright kids, they could learn something b/c you could help them research ideas they have or find experts to give them info on ideas. Most of the time, it isn't so much an academic learning experience as it is a fun experience for creative thinking, though.

Is the school asking you to coach a team or be the school coordinator? There is a big difference. The school coordinator needs to deal with paperwork and timelines for all teams at the school. A coach needs to ensure that the kids fill out all of the paperwork and turn in forms and payment for things like T-shirt to the coordinator on time. The coordinator also arranges and informs parents of the trainings for their various volunteer jobs. Each child on the team needs to have his/her parent volunteer to do something: coach, tournament volunteer, etc. If you are both the coordinator and the coach, you'll need to assign jobs, coordinate with the district to figure out the times for the judges' training, etc.

Make sure you know how much they are asking you to do!

Thank you Cricket2 - That is exactly what I needed to hear. I was considering coaching, but I am not certain that they have someone to fill the coordinator role.

I'm glad some parents at the school are trying to add some rigor, but I think there are too many ways this could go wrong for it to be worth my time (again, because this is a tough year for other reasons).

Thanks again for sharing your experiences. I appreciate the help.

My husband and I just started coaching three weeks ago. I have to say so far, I'm pretty sure my husband has gotten more out of it than the kids! It's been a very enriching experience for him and he looks forward to the meetings. I'm around kids all the time so it's not as delightful for me but I'm still enjoying it!

My son's team is a mixed grade 3rd-5th team. We chose the kids and made it half boys and girls and mixed the grades on purpose. We didn't want kids messing around in the garage- we wanted to work on Odyssey!

So far it's going very well. Most importantly, I'd say that my son and a girl who is also HG+ on the team, are learning to respect others' ideas, listen to what they have to say and to wait their turn. That sounds a little bit immature but when you fill a room with 7-10 year olds and ask them a question, it's loud, silly and chaotic while they make their case for their idea. Learning to work as a team, not boss a team around is the best learning experience for both my son and the other girl!

Ah... OM! DS16 was at the World Finals in 2005, and his team came in 4th. He had an experience of a lifetime and still talks about it today. Now that he is a junior in college, he told me there are two experiences in his life he values the most. Going to college at 14, and taking part in OM when he was 11. Enjoy the process! I was also a coach. It was sheer HARDWORK if the team wants to be placed tops in World Finals. His team also topped Division 1 Spontaneous. But the success was sweet as they moved around exchanging pins from participants from all over the world. Do they still do that? None of my younger 4 ever followed his footsteps, which is a pity.