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Destination Imagination - anyone been to Globals?


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Warning, brag alert and then a question.

 

My sons' team placed second at States in Destination Imagination. This is their sixth year doing DI and their second trip to States. They're so thrilled. And they qualify for Globals, which is just amazing. We are completely floored. We thought they did well, but we had no idea they'd do that well.

 

And the question...

 

I don't think I realized the price tag attached was so much money. A lot of school districts around here apparently send their teams for free or for very little. But obviously as a homeschool team we don't have that option. Has anyone here been? Is it as amazing as they say? Worth the price tag? Worth putting off with the hope that they could go another time (they're only in 5th grade) or is that too big a risk?

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Oh, congrats! What a hard decision. On one hand, no, I don't think you can count on going another year. On the other hand, I know that we wouldn't have been able to go if my team moved on from State (we do OM).

 

Can you do some quick fundraising? How much money are we talking? Maybe a Go Fund Me?

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How much is more than $700 per kid, though that includes all food and housing. Plus transportation (though we'd drive, so that's not a crazy amount). I feel really weird about it. Realizing that it wouldn't cost us maybe $100 a kid and then we could all go in on a vbro rental and drive together was a surprise. I had just never looked at the registration and how they set it up. We could potentially make it work but it's a lot. We'd need to put things off to do it, though, we're blessed, we probably could. I'm sure family could help if I asked. But it's also on the rest of the team members. There's a lot of logistics. I'm not sure what we'll do, though we have to decide super fast.

 

Supposedly though, it's amazing - they have tons of workshops and big experiences set up for the kids. I think it's like a big four day educational party.

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  • 6 months later...

Did you go?  

 

 

How was it?

 

We DID go!

 

We did a GoFundMe and asked family to chip in a little. Some great local homeschool families chipped in a little for us too. It really helped defray some of the costs.

 

The experience was overwhelming. The kids didn't place that well... they were so stressed from just being there! But there were a million things to do. It was really cool to meet so many people from all over the country and the world. We saw a ton of other kids perform, which was super interesting and cool. Just walking through the prop storage rooms was amazing. And it's a serious party. I mean, there were constantly things going on. My kids both feel like the opening ceremony, where the entire enormous UT arena was packed and everyone was screaming was a highlight of their lives. There was a Duct Tape Ball where everyone was in costumes made totally of duct tape. The final party was crazy too - free climbing walls and bounce houses and giant inflatable balls and pizza everywhere. There was a premiere of a cool robot documentary outside with free popcorn and a huge snack table where you could fill up bowls with a million kinds of candy. Plus, all the pin trading - each affiliate makes a set of pins, you buy a bunch of those, bring them to Globals and trade for the pins from the other places. There were huge tents filled with kids doing this everywhere all the time. It was crazy. But also great for meeting other kids and making friends. It was a blast.

 

While the kids still talk about it like they talk about our Disney trip or our Africa trip, it's bittersweet for me. Our team broke up as a result of that trip. The kids are all still friends, but the team manager, who had been a dear friend, was just relentlessly horrible to me and my kids for no apparent reason throughout the entire trip. By the end, my kids weren't willing to do DI with her ever again and I wasn't willing to let them anyway. Plus, my close friendship with her was clearly over. This was a huge surprise. I'd even taken short trips with her and her kids before. I was floored that this was such a disaster for us and I still don't understand what happened. I have to see her a lot so I'm trying to just move on, though it's clear she's a bit done with me too. Sigh. So, a great experience, but tinged with weirdness.

 

Our new team has started up for this year. They chose to do the fine arts challenge, which is totally new to them. This new team has a totally different vibe and now we're middle school level, which is super intimidating, but we're excited to be getting started again.

 

DI forever!

 

PS to anyone else... I'm a huge proponent of DI in general. Ask me any questions.

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It is great to hear that a homeschool team has made it to Globals. My only experience with DI has been through DH's work buddy. The work buddy's son is on a team that got 4th place in one of the (middle school) categories at Global's last year. They are huge DI people and the entire family accompanies the kids to their competitions.

 

Congrats on your team & GL to the new team this year!

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