Math Competition in Moses Lake

Last weekend I took Tyson to the State Championship math competition. Friday morning, he and I stopped on the way at Snoqualmie pass and did our first skiing of the year. The snow was good and the sun was shining. It was really a nice day for skiing. Although, I'm out of shape, and as I told Tyson, once or twice, my legs were "really tired". Tyson has outgrown his boots a bit and was wearing thick wool socks. So, we got him some of the ultra thin socks and that seemed to fix the problem. After a few hours on the slopes, we headed out to Moses Lake.

These math competitions are a hoot. The competitors are every bit as competitive as the folks I encountered in high school sports. Well, some of them are. I think our team just does it because it's "fun". At least, that's the sense I get from Tyson. It's just something fun to do to get out of the house. A lot of the teams do intense practicing and reviews for the competitions with coaches etc.. Tyson's team has done so in the past, but didn't this time. Anyway, it's a side of school extracurricular activities I never saw and is a new experience for me.

We stayed at a hotel that's situated right next to Moses Lake. In the morning, we ate breakfast and looked out on the lake. Tyson said that he wanted to throw some rocks out onto the lake because it was frozen and wanted to see how thick it was. I told him it must be pretty thick because there look to be some pretty big rocks out on the ice that someone had thrown out on it.


This is Tyson with his math comp. team. Apparently the ice was pretty thick...

The boys had a fun time. They didn't place this time around, but the competitions are extremely tough. In the past, they have done quite well, even placing in the top 4 or 5 teams in various competitions.


I'm frankly amazed at the difficulty level of the competitions. Some of the questions are quite advanced and the time limitations only increase the difficulty.

From my point of view... It's like taking a test.
And these kids enjoy it so much they drive 3 hours to do it!


I enjoyed it because I got to spend some quality 1:1 time with Tyson. Something that is becoming more and more rare.


This is the math team. Tyson, Ben, Shane, and Evan.











Here's the schedule :

9:30 – 9:50 Orientation in the Maroon Gym

9:50 – 9:55 Students go to testing rooms. Coaches go to the theater.

10:00 – 10:35 Individual Test (Fill in the blank 40 questions) <== Cool, 40 questions. 10:40 – 10:55 Individual Multiple Choice Test (9 questions) – counts toward team score 11:00 – 11:15 Team Fill in the Blank Test (10 questions) – counts toward team score 11:20 – 11:30 Pressure Round – counts toward team score <== Ooooh, fun! 11:35 – 11:50 Mental Math (4 questions per student) – counts toward team score LUNCH 1:10 – 1:35 College Bowl #1 (7 questions) – counts toward team score STUDENTS SWITCH ROOMS 1:35 – 1:55 College Bowl #2 (7questions) – counts toward team score STUDENTS SWITCH ROOMS 1:55 – 2:15 College Bowl #3 (7 questions) – counts toward team score 2:20 - 7th & 8th Awards Ceremony in the Maroon Gym 9th/10th & 11th/12th Awards Ceremony in the Theater

I'm proud of Ty. He does this stuff well, does his best, but doesn't get so wrapped around it that it gets him out of balance.