This post was supposed to be written yesterday, but I was without internet all morning and that just absolutely threw me into a tail-spin.

Ridiculous, no?

But I did want to share with you how we celebrate and “do” the Olympic games. This is how we studied them four years ago … a bit of what we did 2 years ago (altho none of us really seem to like the Summer Olympics as much as Winter Games) … and how we’ll do it this year:

We each pick a country for whom to cheer (understanding that we all will cheer for USA, of course):

• HotRod chose the home-team advantage: Russia
• Kit chose as close to home as you can get: Canada
• HamBone chose his all-time favorite: Germany
• Bunny chose her own country: China
• Dh chose our favorite country in Europe (and where our youngest was born): Austria
• I chose my the knitting capital of Northern Europe: NORWAY (who, interestingly enough didn’t have a single hand-knit in their uniform marching in last night … but most other countries sported Dale-of-Norway-ish items!)

We do data analysis on medals won, number of athletes, number of events … great math!
We do country studies and present a “report” to the family all about our country — including explaining flags, geography, economy, etc … social studies at its best!
We gather up as a family and watch the opening ceremony … even if it means staying up past “bedtime” … marveling at the sheer number of athletes from various countries, looking up where countries are located, and cheering for those countries who only send one or two athletes … family time with popcorn and snacks and lots of memory-making moments!

HotRod posted a tally-sheet for our countries, clearing the ‘frig front so that he could put it in a prominent place; a tally sheet where we count number of medals (and which kind) to determine who won “our” Olympic games. That said, we do put an emphasis on the athletes’ accomplishments of qualifying for the Olympics and the determination and God-given talents that got them there. Very teachable moments here.

We also allow the TV to be on whenever there is Olympic coverage of events (we never have the television on … except maybe during SEC football games). We don’t much care for the “NBC Morning Show” type of coverage … we want to see the ski jumps and the speed skating and the downhill and all the other events. Our family-favorite from our study of the 2010 games: curling (which we didn’t know much about until we watched … it’s a pretty cool sport with a long heritage!)

It’s such fun and such an excellent way to study geography, math, history, cultures, etc. I’ll post as the Games continue … if only to let you know who is “winning” in the great race for the medals. I’m sure I’ll be doing some “Olympic knitting”, too.

How are you “doing” the Olympics, if at all … please let us know in your comments below.