Amarillo Amazing Race!

Last week during Spring Break, our friends (the Clement family) challenged us to race them in their version of the Amarillo Amazing Race. My friend Eliza put it all together -- she came up with several clues for places around the city and then placed the clues in each location (there were 6 locations; each team went to the same places but in a different order). The idea was that the kids would have to figure out the clues (she and I each had a master list of each place) and then direct us as the drivers where to go. (iPhone help was allowed by the older kids.) We had a blast!

Getting ready to race! Team C and Team H! Yes, it was St. Patrick's Day. (Team C would normally have a boy about McKay's age, but he was off visiting cousins for the week; instead they had one of their other cousins there visiting them --poor McKay was greatly outnumbered!)

Our first stop led us to the local library branch where the kids had to go in and ask the ladies at the desk for our next clue.

Then we were directed to a McDonald's with a play area. However, we didn't know where any such McDonald's existed, so McKay put the iPhone to work and found it (believe it or not, there is only one McDonald's with a play area in all of Amarillo). The clue also contained a dollar with the instructions to buy the driver her favorite drink while there.

Then we were sent to find the "sea horse" on Coulter St. My kids knew right where this was because it stands in front of our pediatrician's office. (This turned out to be the clue that stumped the other team because while the mom knew of it; it turned out the kids weren't very familiar with it.)

Our 4th clue sent us to a local business called Juliette's Closet (my friend knows someone who works here). The kids figured out it was something to do with the name Juliette and that it was a clothing store so we put the iPhone to work again (and I ended up having to use my little cheat sheet and give them the "Closet" part of the name to look it up).

Next we were sent to the drive-in theatre. The kids figured it out right off from the clue that it was a drive-in, but I had never been there so I didn't know where it was. Turns out McKay remembered seeing it and knew the general area so he was able to look it up on the trusty iPhone map again.

Our last clue was the hardest one for us. It directed us to the "heart of downtown" Amarillo. Hmmm. McKay searched and searched on the iPhone but wasn't coming up with much. I wasn't familiar with it either. So in the end I had to pull out the cheat sheet and find the intersection, which McKay then plotted a course for. It was a big red heart statue in downtown:

We ended up being the first team back by a few minutes. Yay!

Time for the prizes! We had a grand prize and a runner-up prize, but my kids decided that since we had to use our cheat sheet a little they would share the grand prize with their friends.

It ended up being a super fun activity and a great thing to do during Spring Break! Thanks to the Clements for putting it all together and challenging us!

Geo Answers

Okay, so I admit I tried to pick out some of the really hard sample geography questions in my last post. I just asked McKay the questions and he ended up getting 5 of them right, although he guessed on several of them -- but I think making educated guesses is a great skill!

And in case you were curious, here are the answers:

United States
Which of the following states was included as part of the Louisiana Purchase -- Iowa or Illinois?
Iowa

World
Zero degrees longitude passes through which African country -- Mali or Burundi?
Mali

Physical Geography
Sand ridges that connect an offshore island to the mainland are called what?
Tombolos

Historical Geography
Which Mesoamerican civilization followed the Olmec?
The Mayan

Cultural Geography
The combination of trade, colonial conquest, and indigenous people developed what East African language?
Swahili

Economic Geography
Half the world's emeralds come from a mine in Muzo in what South American country?
Colombia

Political Geography
Which type of government can be found in Saudi Arabia?
Monarchy

The Environment
Around which sea has a region of more than 150,000 square miles been offically recognized as an Ecological Disaster Zone due to an 80 percent decrease in water volume caused by diversion of water?
The Aral Sea

Current Events (these sample questions are from several years ago)
In June 2001, dozens were killed and hundreds were injured when a passenger train plunged into the Kadalundi River, which flows from the Kerala state to the Arabian Sea, in which country?
India

Today he and I went over country capitals of the 50 most populous countries (also touching on the official languages and predominant religions in the countries) -- I'm definitely learning a lot as we go!

In the Spotlight -- and a Geo Quiz!

(I seem to be falling behind on my blog posts lately...)

Back in January, I reported that McKay had won his school's National Geographic Bee competition. The next step in the competition is at the state level, however, they only take 100 kids from the entire state. So McKay (along with all the other school winners) had to take a written test. We got word a week or so ago that he qualified for the state competition!

(Sorry for the blurry picture -- I only had my phone camera with me)

Needless to say, we're all very excited for him (especially his teacher that sponsors the school Geography Club and is tutoring him for the competition). It's hard to tell, however, how excited McKay is. As to be expected, he is quite nervous about it and is putting a lot of pressure on himself. He's worried that he'll fail on the first round (although the competition doesn't work that way). And most of all, he's really uncomfortable with all the attention he's getting! Poor kid.

The day his teacher got the news at school, she pulled him out of class to tell him and let him call us at home (she had been waiting anxiously for the letter to come). Then she had the principal make a big announcement to the middle school and several other teachers also said something to him. He gets mad when he hears me telling people about it -- "Why is everyone making such a big deal?" he asks. I tell him it IS a big deal and we're proud of him but at the same time just want him to enjoy the experience and not feel pressured to win. I hope he is able to enjoy it!

The competition is going to be on Friday, April 1 in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area. We decided to make a fun family weekend to celebrate -- we're going to take the family to Six Flags Over Texas on Saturday and then come back home on Sunday. The biggest disappointment we just learned about the format of the competition is that parents or teachers are not allowed to watch the preliminary rounds. They divide the kids into groups of 20 and put them in a room with 3 judges -- no one else allowed. After the 8 preliminary rounds, they total the scores and take the top 10 (using a tiebreaker round if needed) to the final round, which everyone can watch. So there's a good chance we won't get to see him in action since we're not holding our breath that he'll make it to the final round. But you never know!

So for now we keep studying (he and I have been going over sample questions as well as going through maps of each continent and labeling countries, rivers, etc.) and trying to make it fun. I know I am definitely learning a lot as I study with him!

Here are a few sample questions from a prep book his teacher had. The early rounds give you a choice of two answers while the later rounds you just have to know on your own! How much geography do you know?

United States
Which of the following states was included as part of the Louisiana Purchase -- Iowa or Illinois?

World
Zero degrees longitude passes through which African country -- Mali or Burundi?

Physical Geography
Sand ridges that connect an offshore island to the mainland are called what?

Historical Geography
Which Mesoamerican civilization followed the Olmec?

Cultural Geography
The combination of trade, colonial conquest, and indigenous people developed what East African language?

Economic Geography
Half the world's emeralds come from a mine in Muzo in what South American country?

Political Geography
Which type of government can be found in Saudi Arabia?

The Environment
Around which sea has a region of more than 150,000 square miles been offically recognized as an Ecological Disaster Zone due to an 80 percent decrease in water volume caused by diversion of water?

Current Events (these sample questions are from several years ago)
In June 2001, dozens were killed and hundreds were injured when a passenger train plunged into the Kadalundi River, which flows from the Kerala state to the Arabian Sea, in which country?

As you can see, there are lots of aspects to geography! There is also a map reading category where the students are given a map and then asked questions about it, although I don't know if they have this category at the state level. How many answers do you know? Post your guesses in a comment for fun -- I'll post the answers in a day or two!