Saturday, February 8, 2014

Olympics!

We've been watching the Olympics most of the afternoon. I imagine we'll watch more TV in the next two weeks than we watch for the rest of the next three months. We like watching the Olympics. It's a great conversation starter for a lot of topics. Many of my friends are doing Unit Studies about the Olympics. We're just watching and talking about topics as they come up.

Last night the girls watched a good part of the opening ceremonies while kid-sitting. They told me about what they watched, and how the countries were introduced in the parade of nations. I found it unusual, but appropriate, that the countries marched in in order that they come in the Russian Alphabet. So instead of coming in the U's, we entered in the C's. (I looked it up, here is Google's translation of 'United States of America' in Russian: Соединенные Штаты Америки

Yeah, I think I'll stick with English spelling!

So what other topics have we covered so far? Training schedules, sportsmanship, country flags, geography, fashion and uniforms, wind drag, impact (physics), pacing, breath control, types of ice skates, and disappointment.

What will your kids remember from this Olympics? While the pageantry can be awesome to watch, the real learning happens while you discuss everything else. One of the local news reporters shared this morning that he had already walked 46 miles this week. Because in Sochi, walking is the main form of transportation. I can see why he was ecstatic to take a bus ride back to town!


If you're watching the Olympics with your children, know that you're not alone, and yes, it IS normal to discuss Putin's politics, Tchaikovsky's music, and why the Netherlands' Olympians are wearing  orange all in the same hour. :)

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