The Bowl

Britton and Jenna went bowling this week. . . Geography bowling that is! (Ha ha) It was the big Geography Bowl they have been preparing for for the last 6 weeks. It is open to 4th and 5th graders at the school. The 4th graders focus on Utah, general geography terms and some of world stuff. The 5th graders focus more on the United States and the world in general.  It is extra-curricular so the students who are interested in participating meet 5 times during the week before and after school.  Since we had 2 kids doing it this year, and because they are in different grades, it meant we had to juggle an extra 10 meetings a week.  Put that together with all of Britton's extra meetings for his Panda Power club assembly they put on for the school last week (3 mornings a week), Britton and Jenna's orchestra (2 afternoons a week), Scouts, Activity days, Soccer (3 times a week), Piano (Britton), and Theater (1 time a week for Jenna), Orthodontist appts, Korinne's violin (2 times a week), and everything else that always seems to come up and it has been a crazy winter. 

Tangent--

You know, I really thought that if I limited my kids to just one extra activity and one instrument that we would be able to avoid the crazy schedules.  What I didn't factor in was the extra school stuff like Geography club, and the fact that my kids are enthusiastic about everything and want to do it all.  When Britton and Jenna come running in from school saying, "We want to do Geography club!" I just couldn't say, "No, I'm sorry, I don't want you to learn about Geography even though I know you'll study hard and get every question right in the Geography Bowl."  Bam! All of the sudden I had 10 extra hours of "stuff" to get my kids to.  When Britton wanted to do the Panda service club at school and it meant early morning meetings and 3 mornings a week during the winter as they prepared for a school assembly, I couldn't quite say, "No, I'm sorry son, I don't think you should serve people and learn leadership skills."  And when Britton and Jenna both wanted to participate in orchestra, which is free, and were willing to practice and do the work we could hardly say "No, we know there are great benefits to learning a string instrument, but we just don't want you to have that experience even though you're excited about it and willing to practice."  I have to admit it has been quite an education for me.  I used to watch mothers like me running around and would say to myself, "They did it to themselves. They put their kids in too many things!"  Now I realize it isn't always the case and there is a lot more to it.  I have also realized that my kids may be somewhat more enthusiastic about certain academic pursuits than the average kid.  They want to do it all, it's true, but they have proven to me that they are willing to do the work, too.  This means that I have many more years of pure craziness in my future.

--End of Tangent

So, back to the Geography Bowl. The 4th Graders were first and Jenna was a member of "The Firebolts."  Jenna scored the most points of anyone on her team and lead them to a 1st place finish.

 

Next up were the 5th graders.  Britton's team, The Map Maniacs, were trailing by 4 points at the half.  It was a close race, but in the end they came from behind and won!

 

 

Britton wasn't about to be upstaged by his little sister so he also scored the most points on his team. I'm sure you can imagine how well Jameson did during the 2 hours of Geography in the school gym.  Yeah, it wasn't his favorite.  I had to take him out in the hall several times, but somehow we both survived the experience (barely).



Here they are with their 1st place king size candy bars
 

Congrats to both Britton and Jenna!