First, we set up a training schedule -- 1x per week for about 3 months or so. You have to have at least 1 adult to lead this who has had some training. In our case, I had the training at the "Art of Teaching Grade 5," at Rudolf Steiner College (with Edmund Knighton) during the preceding summer. It helped SO much that the instructor e-mailed a lovely, HUGE packet of info so we would not forget all that we had learned!
The children (and their parents) MUST commit to the training. There are a number of safety issues involved and proper training is paramount.
Younger children who want to participate? This is tricky. In Waldorf schools (and most schools), age segregation is such a "norm," that many do not think outside of that box. In home education, however, everything is 'out of the box'! Some folks come to Waldorf after a long foundation of home education which tends to value family and doing things together over any designated curriculum. We had one family with an older girl (about 12) and a very active and enthusiastic younger brother (about 9). In this case, the family was not supportive of the sister participating without her younger brother who very much wanted to participate. So we agreed that he could do so if he went to all the training, etc. He did great and was really quite capable, even with the more challenging events like the discus!
Another boy about the same age wanted to participate as well. He did not make it to the initial trainings for the discus or the Greek wrestling, and it was impossible to 'catch him up,' so he did not participate in those events.
As we got closer to the date, we recruited 2 parents of younger children and 1 whose daughter had returned to school, to be our judges: the gods! Below is pictured Zeus, to his right, his "wife" Hera, and to his left, Aphrodite. These also arrived to the Games with their cherubs in tow -- dressed for the occasion. In addition, anyone with younger children was invited to have them dress as cherubs, too.
Again, my handouts from Edmund Knighton proved to be invaluable in training the judges! The handouts included all the information on exactly WHAT to look for in the judging of each event. I think I somehow made score sheets for them as well -- I don't exactly remember! Also, a key part of the judging is to award not only the fastest or the one who threw the furthest, but also the athlete who demonstrated the most BEAUTY and GRACE in each event.
Here are the athletes relaxing before the games with plates of grapes and nuts for nourishment.
The athletes listen to Zeus's address before the games begin.
We borrowed discuses (disci?) from a nearby school teacher. If you can get at least 2.
Getting ready to throw. This event takes a lot of practice and you have to break it down into several steps.
Watching it fly. The mom in the background was one of the ones who helped with the training. She and I did most of the measuring, etc., and then reported to the judges. You don't want your judges to have to run around measuring. Just let them watch for the beauty and grace. They will record the numbers as you tell them.
You can have the kids make their own javelins (or buy them but they can be quite expensive). We found very nice dowels at Home Depot. The children carved the points and sanded them down. You can experiment with adding a weight if you'd like, although I think we ended up NOT using the weights. Pieces of copper tubing might work. You can use some felt if they are too loose and maybe a glue gun.
"Draw back & aim."
"Fire when ready!"
The Greek wrestling was definitely the highlight of our Games! We designed an elaborate Tournament schedule, where each person was matched with every other person for Round 1. (It was truly a mathematical feat for me!) But do whatever works for your group.
The circles that you see on the grass we made from flour! It looks like that chalk dust they use on baseball fields, but flour works well, too! We used the flour anywhere we needed lines on the grass.
Always shake your opponent's hand before beginning!
Recruit one or two parents to be the time keepers. I don't remember how long each round was -- maybe 30-60 seconds. For the semi- finals and final rounds, they were longer.
Hardly anyone stepped out of the ring (an automatic loss), so the judges had to really focus on form and beauty to determine who made it to the semi- and final rounds. Lots of girls did!
Location: find a park with lots of green grass. We also looked for one with a big sand pit. In this case, it was a sand volleyball court. This is great for the running long jump. You want them to land in sand! (The sand pit was also a great place for the younger children to play if they got tired of watching the big kids at the different events. I brought some buckets and shovels to keep them busy.)
The mom on the left did the measuring. The dad on the right raked (or swept?) the sand smooth after each jumper.
Little kids! ALL children love to run and jump, so we allowed all of them to participate (even without training! it's something they just DO anyhow, right?) in these 2 events. It helped them to feel included and part of the festivities.
At the end, we had an awards ceremony. You can find lots of interesting things for medals at your local craft supply store.
Oh, the athletes wore white t-shirts and light colored shorts. One family had a great idea of slipping a piece of string or yarn through each sleeve and up through the neck and tying it; it shirred up the sleeves and made it look very "Greek."
Of course, we finished off with a fabulous Greek Feast (potluck!). We continued the day into the afternoon with lots of fun relay races for all of the children, some with water balloons and a fun water balloon fight.
