S-P-E-L-L

Liam has always loved spelling.  Since Kindergarten this has consistently been named as one of his favorite school subjects.  So when I asked if he would be interested in doing the Omaha area Homeschool Spelling Bee, he was all in. 

I told him that if we were going to do this, that he would have to practice the words and put a little time and effort into it, and he was ready.  So for the last two weeks, we spent time going over around 450 second grade words that he might be asked to spell.  Only a few times did he or I have a little "mini meltdown" about how we didn't want to do this... *wink* But by the time the day came last week, he was ready to go!

I, on the other hand, wasn't so sure!  I am not a good speller.  I would have NEVER done this as a child in a million years, and even as an adult, this made me nervous.  New situations that I've never been to make me slightly nervous.  Add onto that the fact that I was nervous for him, I really wanted him to do his best, have a good time, and come away glad that he did this.

He is so much like his father in the fact that he wasn't nervous at all.  I didn't want to ask him too many times and make him nervous, but he was as calm as a cucumber!  I asked a few times that morning if he wanted to look over his words and practice a bit more, but I was met with a, "No mom, I'm good!" 

The woman who organizes the Spelling Bee said that for some reason registration was really low this year.  Usually there are 10-15 kids per grade that participate.  This year second grade had three.  But three was a good number for me for our first year of trying this!  *wink*

Liam did awesome!  All three of the second graders knew their words well.  They soon had to move up to the hard list and all three did great!  Soon the first misspelling took place, and a bit after that, Liam got the word, "anything" and forgot the "y".  I just had to smile because I had told him that even though we worked on all the hard words, it usually is a word you know well that ends up tripping you up! :)

Liam was so proud of himself... and we were super proud of him as well!  He got 2nd place and was thrilled about his medal!  Of course in true Liam fashion, he said, "I'm glad I got second place... because the gold metal really looked like a bronze one!" 

After the Spelling Bee, we picked up Ainsley and Kallan and headed to Pizza Hut for a celebration lunch!  It was a fun way to celebrate!

In the end I'm glad we did the Spelling Bee, and I learned so much about myself, myself as a mom, and myself as a teacher.  I also learned so much about my son... and that I love him so much!

 

We are proud of you Liam!  Good job Buddy!