Spelling Bee Fun

Christa showing off the ribbon she won. She took second place in the second grade spelling bee competition at her school.

Well, Spelling Bee Mania has ended. Finally.
Christa started studying the lo-ong list of words right after Christmas break. She had a good attitude--most days. I had a good attitude--most days.
I tried to keep the mom-ego under control and let Christa go at this at her own pace, without a lot of parental peer pressure. I'm thankful she is naturally a good speller. That made things easier on all of us.


Christa and her Spelling Bee cohorts--the three second graders who advanced to district competition. This photo was taken after one of our practices.

I volunteered to coach Christa and the other two second-graders who advanced to the district spelling bee. Two half-hour practices a week--but just for the two weeks before the competition. I tried to think of silly sentences to make the practices fun. Ones like: "Jared has eighteen fingers." Meanwhile, we continued to study at home too. Words like: eaglet and migrate and icicle and one that tripped all three of the kiddos up--unbuttoned.


Christa, right at the beginning of the Spelling Bee, before they told all the parents to put away their cameras.

There were 12 competitors from 5 schools. After the competition, Christa told her dad and I she felt like fainting. But, she looked pretty calm to us. We'd told her everyone feels nervous--and we'd prayed with her and told her we were proud of her.
She did great and came in 5th place. Was taken down by the word "sincere." Got the tricky "c" right, but forgot the final "e." I don't even remember quizzing her on that word. Oh, well.


The Spelling Bee cohorts: Christa, Josiah, who took first place overall, and Jared.

And so ends the Spelling Bee. Christa was glad it was over. Me too. I have a confession to make, though. I didn't throw the word list away. Besides the second grade words, it had the third grade words too. Who knows? I just may add a word or two to her regular spelling words each week. Then she'll be ahead of the game next year ...

No competitors in this house.