Odyssey of the Mind

Chloe is going to be in Odyssey of the Mind (OM). Her teacher recommended her for it and we think it is a great outlet for her. From what I know about OM it’s more about creativity than intelligence. She’s already showing us how smart she is, but I really want to cultivate other aspects as well. Soccer helps with her athletics – her hand to eye and foot to eye coordination. Her schoolwork is helping her to grow mentally. She loves to read and she's getting very good at math as well. This will help her to grow creatively and socially.

Adding another commitment to her schedule brought up a topic of conversation for us. Salvacion and I agreed that we are going to limit Chloe to two extracurricular activities at a time. We don’t want to stretch her too thin and we want her to learn not to over-commit. Right now, she will be allowed to do OM and soccer (although the current soccer season is almost over). We don’t want activities to conflict with each other because then she won’t get the most out of either. It also frustrates the others involved when someone is less than fully committed.

I always wondered what they did in OM and I learned a little bit about it from a buddy in high school. He is the one that told me it was more about creativity than intelligence. It made sense. They are given problems to solve and they try to come up with creative solutions. They try to think "outside the box." Salvacion may end up being the coach for Chloe’s team. The coach really only helps organize things – sort of keeps the kids focused and on track. We’ll see how Chloe likes it.