Spelling Bee Lessons

So awhile ago, Christian came home announcing that he had won his Class Spelling Bee and would therefore be a representative in the School Spelling Bee.  We were pretty proud of him though to be honest when he shared his news, the first thing that went through my mind was seeing my son standing next to those crazy smart kids that you see on the National Spelling Bee and wondering if he even knew what it mean to ask for the latin origins.  I pushed those thoughts aside though and gave my now as tall as me son a big hug and told him to just do his very best.

He studied his Spelling sheet here and there, but nothing really could prepare him for how he would do on the actual day of the School Spelling Bee.

Jeremy and I joined other parents and all of the 4th through 6th graders to cheer on the competitors.  Our excitement for our son coupled with nerves as we sat anxiously waiting for the Spelling Bee to start.

Which it did after a thorough explanation from our school’s Principal.

It was pretty awesome to see how seriously they take everything and by the end of his speech we were all well informed at how the Spelling Bee would go.

We enjoyed cheering for the other students that we knew who had won their class competitions as well.

And my heart stopped just a bit watching Christian walk up to the desk for his first word.

I could tell he was nervous, but he did a great job and we all cheered for him when he got his word right.

We watched more friends compete.  We cheered as they also spelled their first few rounds of words correctly.

They were all so serious and focused.  After all, there was a $50 Amazon gift card on the line as well as title of school champion.

Christian continued to do well through a few rounds of the Spelling Bee.  I’d nervously spell along with him and was so proud when he continued to get his words right.

And I have to be honest.  Some of the words were crazy hard.  It was fun to watch parents and sibling looking up some of the words that were questionable.  Thank goodness for Google.

It was probably the fifth round or so, when Christian walked up to hear that his word would be “Olfactory.”  My heart dropped.  Because I would consider myself a relatively smart person but I had never really heart this word before.  He asked for a definition.  But then proceeded to spell it with an “A” instead of the “O.”  The moderator sadly told him that he was incorrect and thus ended his pursuit of School Spelling Bee champion.

He walked quietly over to his seat.  And my Mom’s heart was a bit sad that his streak was done.  I was pretty proud that he made it into the top eleven though.

We continued to watch for awhile so that we could cheer on remaining Spelling Bee friends.  This cute kid made it all the way to the final five, which was quite impressive since he was one of the youngest.

And if I were to sit and think of a few lessons that I learned from Christian’s School Spelling Bee, they would include:

1.  It’s good for kids to be challenged and to try new things.  To be honest, I had no idea Christian was Spelling Bee material, if that makes sense.  He’s always been a very bright and very good student.  It was good to see him challenge himself in something new and we were proud of the work that he put in.

2.  Competition is good for kids.  It’s good for them to know that sometimes they will win, but sometimes they won’t, and it’s okay.

3.  Sometimes, life will hand you a word like “olfactory.”  And it might not seem fair, but it is what it is.  So you do your best, and worst case scenario, you now know how to spell a word that you didn’t know before.

I’m super proud of Christian and of everyone who participated in the Spelling Bee.  It was a fun event to participate in and everyone did a great job.  Also, a big Congrats to Joey B, who went another 26 rounds or so to take home the gift card and the championship for the year.