Latin Olympika

Last Saturday we hosted our first ever Latin Olympika at Cedar Tree.  It required a tremendous amount of organization and preparation... thankfully not mine.  Kathy H. built the structure of the program in a way we could use again in future years.  I came up with the Level 1 certamen and the individual subject tests... content work that I enjoy, but is fiddly and time-consuming.  I was so pleased that the event came off without major glitches and everyone seemed to have a fun time.

The spirit of competition was lively but friendly.  Especially with the light-up buzzers.

The weather was beautiful, which helps foster a happy day.

Cedar Tree teams won at both levels, but the three other schools made us work for it.  We used upper level students and a graduate to supply the Certamen proctors.  It is fun to read these competition questions!  And a good learning experience for the next generation of leaders.

Then yesterday, the 5th-8th graders took the National Latin Exam.  Now we wait for the results to be processed and returned to us.  Tomorrow is the school's spring program; next week we have parent-teacher conferences, and I have to prep students for the final exam the following week.  It's the time of year that exhausts teachers on every possible level.  Last year this time I was developing a terrible case of walking pneumonia... so far, it seems like just garden variety upper respiratory stuff this year for me, and I hope sincerely that it stays that way.  The students, of course, are going to be fine.  They're much more resilient and capable than their parents may think.

Looking forward to a bit of Spring break in a few more weeks.  Maybe I'll even blog about other things than school.  In the meantime, the plum tree is blossoming and looking beautiful.