Spelling Bees and other News

My parents graciously came down south to stay with us this week while my usual babysitter was off enjoying herself in Arizona. I was very glad to have them, as this week was unexpectedly busy. In addition to the usual school stuff, in the evenings I had Young Women, a resurgence of our book group (which hasn't met in about 9 months), and a writer's group meeting. Dan had his pinewood derby planned for Scouts this week--only the guy with the track never showed up.

And of course, there was the Spelling Bee. Andrew has been studying his word list for weeks now. (I don't think I've ever seen him work so hard). He aced his class spelling test to get to the school spelling bee, and then spent the weeks leading up to the bee reviewing his words. Last week, I think we went through the whole list (about 110 words for his age group) at least four times.

It did get a little tricky going into the bee--I'd been asked to be one of the judges well before we found out Andrew was going to the bee. I was concerned that some of the parents would be upset if I were judging and my kid competed, but the woman who organized it didn't seem to think it was an issue. Of course, then I wound up being the *main* judge who read all the words out loud. I think I was about as nervous as Andrew was--my hands were shaking nearly the entire time. Every so often I'd scan ahead to see what word Andrew was due to have (I went through the word list in order; the kids drew numbers to determine their order). Then I'd either hold my breath till he spelled it, or breathe (one of the words!) a sigh of relief to see it was one I knew he knew.

Waiting for the Spelling Bee to start

It was pretty obvious which kids had studied in Andrew's group. Within two or three rounds, we were down to a group of kids who had all memorized the entire list. There were still six kids (including Andrew) left when we ran out of words and went on to the challenge round, with words none of them had seen. That first challenge round eliminated four of the six--and then it was just Andrew and one other little girl. (He spelled "sushi" correctly). Since official rules say that a winner has to spell their opponent's misspelled word correctly as well as their own word, it took a while to determine a winner--they both misspelled several of the same words. But then she misspelled "floss," and Andrew was able to spell "floss" and "slave" to win. (I told him he was lucky--the word after "slave" was "discipline," which he surely would have missed).

He was sure thrilled to win. He pumped his fist right there on stage and insisted on carrying his newly won scooter to class with him afterward. And while there was certainly a dimension of luck involved, I was proud of him for wanting something badly enough to work hard at it.

The upper grades (4-5) bee was, oddly enough, much faster. Probably because their word list was so much longer, none of the kids had a chance to memorize the entire list. Within two rounds they were down to three girls; one round later there was a winner, and the other two girls had to compete for second place. I'm kind of relieved Andrew wasn't in this group as they now have to prepare for the district bee (which, not quite coincidentally, I'm also judging at. What can I say? I kind of love spelling bees.)

After a busy week, our Saturday was only marginally less so. Dan spent the morning on campus helping with the regional Science Olympiad and then took the two older kids to the women's basketball game; I stayed home with Oliver and then Evelyn and I went--once more--to see Frozen. I told her this is the last time we'll see it in theaters (four times for her is plenty!). She didn't seem worried. Then again, we do already have it on pre-order.

I haven't said much about Oliver here--he's still busy as ever and quite won over his grandparents. He's also busy adding words to his repertoire: sock, book, bird (maybe?), "need dat," cheese, and more.