Spelling Bee

Jaco at 9 months intently studying a book

I knew I was in trouble with Jaco when he was just 2 years old and wanted to know what the word professional meant. He was never a child who asked why why why about everything. Instead, he has always wanted to know what this word or that word means. Can I tell you how hard it can be to define words to a 3 year old? Jaco has also LOVED books from day one. Before he could even walk he would sit for hours studying picture books. We would read the same books over and over until he basically had them memorized. "Horton Hears a Who" and "Horton Hatches an Egg" were two of his favorites as a toddler. His reading skills exploded in kindergarten and now as a 5th grader he reads at a 12th grade level.

Because of his obsession with words and reading, Jaco is an amazing speller. Not once have I practiced his spelling words with him yet he aces his tests every week. Frequently he gets a pass from taking the Friday spelling test because he earned a 100% on the Monday pre-test.

Down to Jaco and Lacy. These two are in a constant "smarts" competition!

Because of this, I was not surprised when he was chosen to compete in the school spelling bee. The first bee was a competition for 9 5th graders; 3 from each class. Jaco was the ONLY boy! There was a line of 8 girls and then... my son. He easily won this round and was especially happy to beat out his rival, Lacy. The next day was the school bee. Kids from all grades competed against each other in a written test. It came down to a tie between Jaco and Lacy so a sudden death match was set up. Jaco managed to beat her again and was chosen to represent his school in the district bee. He was frustrated to learn that Lacy was eligible for the district bee also.
5th grade spelling bee champion!


11 of the 12 finalists.

The finalists were given a long list of "possible" words to study in preparation for today's district bee. We had to look up lots of these words because we had never heard of them! 12 kids participated in the spelling bee, 2 from each elementary. The bee was given like a spelling test where the administrator said the word, used it in a sentence, and then repeated the word one more time and the competitors wrote the word down. After spelling 30 words (which only 8 of these words were from the list), we waited while the tests were graded to see who won. A 5th grade girl from another school won the bee and much to Jaco's dismay, Lacy took second and was the runner-up. Having a rival beat you can be a very bitter pill to swallow as Jaco learned today. I could not be more proud of my boy. To think that he was one of 12 out of about 2,000 that competed today truly humbled me. Jaco has a great head on his shoulders and I have no doubt that he will do amazing things in his life!