never done it, but does seem like a great activity for older elementary children to choose. my neighbors--i think 7th grade at the time--were practicing as a group and were having so much fun. the parents had very little to do with it. and the younger kids on the street were watching with fascination.

I'm sure their success was predestined by their participation in OOTM. Note to self, force snowflake into this activity.

Our neighbor kids kept with Odyssey through middle school. I seem to remember them driving 12 hours to go to a national contest somewhere in the midwest. The kids then went on to TJ and are now at UVa and W&M. Go figure.

It was absolutely the best thing my kid did in 4th grade. Their team placed second, but they put alot of practice into it
and probably accomplished more than everything else in school that year combined>

Would really be interested in hearing why anyone thinks it's BS?

It's not BS, but having gone through it with my kids (also as a coach) from the ages of KG to 7th grade, I'd put it off until 3rd grade. Earlier if the kids can co-operate and follow directions. I found that earlier than that, the immaturity and inability to stay on task was counterproductive.

Anonymous wrote:B.S.? 14:01 here. It's really fun and engaging for the kids. Not sure why anyone would think it's a bad activity...?

I'm certain that pp is one of these types who don't believe the activity has any merit if it doesn't tangibly improve her dc's chances of a Princeton acceptance

B.S.? 14:01 here. It's really fun and engaging for the kids. Not sure why anyone would think it's a bad activity...?

Odyssey of the Mind? Are you kidding? What a big bag of B.S.!

Sorry op. If you're looking for validation, this isn't the right place to find it.

I coach a primary team in MD and it's completely self-selecting, though each team is limited to 7 students. The school has nothing to do with it -- it's a parent-run organization.

just show up

We have several kindergarteners in our group and in fact a kindergarten parent is running one of the groups. It is a lot of fun so far for our kindergartener.

Our kids just showed up at the after-school meeting. Agree that it's rather self-selecting.

There's no requirement at our school that you be gifted. Anyone can sign up, although it does seem to be somewhat self-selecting.

I just read that our elementary school has a kindergarten/first grade Odyssey of the Mind team. Pre-standardized testing, how do they pick kids to be on these teams?