Spelling Bee

Andy's school had a spelling bee today for fourth through sixth graders.  They were given a spelling test and the top two people in each class automatically got into the bee and the next highest two were picked as alternates.  Andy got in.  Come to find out he was actually one of the alternates but one of the kids who got in declined to participate which bumped Andy into the bee, but we'll take it.

He's always been a really smart kid, so it doesn't surprise me that he did well on the entrance test.  But he's also a lazy kid.  In most respects that would mean he takes after me, but when it comes to school it actually means he takes after his father.  He didn't care to study for the spelling bee, and wasn't concerned about it at all.  He is never worried about tests, no matter how important they are perceived to be.  I would have studied for it not because I cared, but because I was supposed to care and I always (many times grudgingly) did what I was supposed to in regards to schoolwork.  Charlie claims that he never really knew how to study until he got to college, so I'm assuming he would have prepared for the bee the same way Andy did, by doing next to nothing.  It was Charlie, however, that tested him and made him study the small amount that he did.

The problem with Andy is that he reads a lot and has a fantastic vocabulary.  I think he's at a college reading level by now, if not then second semester twelfth grade.  But since his vocabulary is so good and he understands what most of the words mean, he also thinks that means he knows how to spell them.  He doesn't.

He did very well and made it to the seventh or eighth round, but came in 5th place.  Not too bad out of 30 kids.  But there was a huge difference between him and the kids that beat him.  They had to do a spell off between 3 and 4 to determine who got third place and even I didn't know how to spell half the words those kids got right.  Andy never would have made it.  Those kids were prepared and you knew that they studied, a lot.

Regardless of how he did, I'm proud of him for getting up in front of half of the school, as well as several teachers and parents, and making it as far as he did.  I'm hoping it gave him some incentive for next year to try a little harder and study more.

If not, I guess he'll eventually learn how to study in college, just like his dad.