acurtis75 Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 I remember that someone on the board has a child close to my dd's age (she'll be 7 next week) who does spelling bees but I can't remember who it is. I am letting dd try her first "just for fun" bee this weekend and wondered if you had any tips. We're just trying it out on short notice and didn't do much prep work so I've managed her expectations but when I quiz her on the practice lists they provided us she gets about 98 percent right on the first try without practice or study. I told dh I wouldn't be surprised if she gets out on the first word or if she wins...it could go either way:lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nynyny Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 Concentrate on the word. Ignore the audience. Many kids who know the words go out due to nerves. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nova147 Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 My oldest is 7 and has done 3 spelling bees (none of them serious). We've never prepped much, just looked over the list, is one was provided, a few times. The biggest thing we've done (as parents) is to emphasize that it doesn't matter how well he does. The home school group we are part of has a spelling bee and they give awards of courage to everyone who participates in the bee. I'm not generally a fan of giving every kid an award, but I think this is a good way to do it -- doing a spelling bee can be scary for kids, and it is brave of them to do so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3Blessings Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 I think it is dmmetler whose dc do spelling bees . . . My ds8 has done two years of spelling bees and he has managed to make it to the final round both times. I was blown away when he didn't flat out refuse to do it. I thought there would be no way that he would go for standing up in front of a crowd. Dd6 is going this year. She is worried about spelling a word wrong, but I don't care if she is out during the first round . . . it is good for kids to give it a try! I did spelling bees when I was younger, too. I found the best thing to do was go over spelling rules and exceptions. Hope it goes well with you and your dc! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmmetler Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 (edited) My DD has won our homeschool regional one for the last two years. She'll have one more year in primary before she's eligible for the elementary one-which is where there's a city-wide bee between school winners, with the homeschool regional counting as a "School". Her goal is to be Akeelah and win the national bee. At ours, the primary grade one is very low key and the judges/presenters are quite relaxed. The kids face the judges/presenters, not the audience. The word lists have never made it out of fairly simple (IMO) phonetically regular words, with a lot of kids being eliminated on things like long vowels, silent e, blends like ph and gh, doubled consonants, and so on, so I'd say if you're going to review anything, review those basic phonics rules up to about a year over the level where your DC is going to be competing. We have mostly prepped by making sure she's aware of the format and the procedure, as opposed to prepping words, but she often will prep words on her own and will go around with her decks of cards for weeks before, annoying everyone in getting them to prep with her (another thing she learned from Akeelah and the Bee). She also, before the last one, found the book "Painless Spelling", which is a book designed for middle/high school students to review rules, and I swear she memorized it. I don't think the prep she does is at ALL needed at her age level, but I think it makes her feel good to do it. I get the distinct impression that, at least for the little ones, DD is atypical because she's emotionally invested in the bee and actually prepares and tries to win on her own. I got the feeling, the last two years, that most of the kids didn't particularly want to be there. Edited February 17, 2012 by dmmetler Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acurtis75 Posted February 17, 2012 Author Share Posted February 17, 2012 Thanks for all the tips. The bee is Saturday and I didn't know about it (or remember that I knew about it:confused:) until last week so we really don't have prep time. I've focused on reminding her about the format, not to worry about results, enjoy the process because this is fun, etc. She is coming out of her shell a bit lately. Normally she doesn't want to try something unless she's sure she will win but she seem sexcited about trying this out. She told me she didn't need to be in the "little kid" bee that she wants to do the one that allows her to win and go to the national bee. We recently watched the documentary about that so she decided she wants to go straight to the "big" bee. I told her that requires study and hard work and she said, "okay, I'll do the work". Fortunately she's not old enough and I know better. I did think the word lists provided were pretty simple but I also know that I have no perspective on what a normal K-3rd grader can spell easily since dd is an only child and seems to just know how to spell anything I throw her way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Wife Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 Don't overthink the word in the early rounds! My DD got out on an early round one bee because she got thrown by being told by the judges that the word "hula" was of Polynesian origin. She didn't realize that Hawaii was considered part of Polynesia and so she thought the word must have some trick spelling. :banghead: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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