The first round of the National Spelling Bee ended in tears for many of this year's home-schooled contestants. Fourth-grade Katie Hulmich toppled out of the competition after inadvertently swapping the vowels in 'friend,' while fifth-grade Derek Conley substituted an 'e' for the 'a' in 'secularism.'
Parent complains after fifth-grader is asked to spell 'sapphic'
By Deanna Swift,
WASHINGTON, DC—Ten-year old Katie Hulmich has spent most of the last year preparing for 79th National Spelling Bee, which finally got underway in the nation's capitol today. The pint-sized, tow-headed home-schooler has spent ten hours a day for the past eight months preparing for the spelling showdown, and can fire off twenty-five cent words from 'anastomosis' (the union or connection of branches) to 'zedoary' (the dried rhizome of a tropical Asian plant).
But the word that dashed Katie's dreams of spelling glory was a relatively simple one: 'friend.' While the Mulholland, MI, native was able to use the word in a sentence, she inadvertently confused the vowels in the noun meaning 'a person whom one knows, likes or trusts.'
"We thought we had all of the words covered, but then they pull one out of the blue like that," says Katie's mother—and full-time home spelling coach—Beverly Hulmich. "The real challenge for the kids is when they come across a word that they just don't ever use in their daily life."
'Play-mate' and other mystery words
Katie wasn't the only home-schooler to be sent, well, home after yesterday's early rounds of competition. Fourth-grader Holly Hamer of Cahokia, IL, stumbled on 'playmate,' (a companion in play or recreation); she mistakenly inserted a hyphen in the word that she admitted was unfamiliar. "I know I've seen it in a book but I just couldn't remember how to spell it," she explained.
Other home-bound casualties included Amanda Storch, a fifth grader from Nashville, TN who met her match with 'lavatory' (a room equipped with washing and toilet facilities); she mistakenly substituted an 'i' for the second 'a.' Derek Conley, a home-schooled fifth grader from Marindell, CA, saw his hopes dashed when he bungled 'secularism,' (the view that religious considerations should be excluded from public affairs and education).
Derek said that he's still kicking himself for misspelling a word that he hears his parents use so frequently. "It's one of those bad words, almost like a cuss word. I think that's why I messed it up."
Can you spell 'drrty'?
Not all of the 34 home-schoolers participating in this year's contest were bounced in the first rounds. Fifth-grader Justin Stewart of Dewey, OK, hung on till the third round before being felled by a word he'd never even heard before—let alone used in a sentence. After successfully spelling his way through 'consecrated' (made sacred or holy), 'intracutaneous' (within the skin) and 'acropetal' (developing upward toward the apex from the base), Justin met his match with 'sapphic,' meaning of or pertaining to homosexuality among women.
"I just couldn't believe it when they announced his word," says Justin's mother, Annabelle Stewart. "The whole reason we pulled him out of the public schools in the first place is so he wouldn't have to be exposed to a filthy word like that." Mrs. Stewart says that she and other mothers of home-schooled contestants are considering filing a suit against the contest's sponsor through the Home School Legal Defense Association, requiring that all words used in the contest be approved by a parents group.
"These kids work so hard to get here and then they're asked to spell words like 'sapphic' and 'secularism,'" Mrs. Stewart complains. "These are terms they shouldn't even have to see or hear, let alone spell."
Should contestants in the National Spelling Bee have to spell words that are offensive to parents with traditional values? Talk back to [email protected].
Haaaa!
The humor of it only barely makes up for the truth of it all... Keep your kids home. Away from the evil world and all that silly, s-i-l-l-y science. Teach them that the world was created by a god and it took "him" 6 days. Tell them that the world (and the universe) is 6,000 years old and that evolution is gosh-darned-evil. 75% of home schoolers are learning this. Pretty darned neat, huh?
Can you spell "future ignorant republicans?"
Posted by: Laughing Just a Little | December 07, 2006 at 04:39 PM
Can you say "brain-dead, humorless trolls?"
Posted by: Nemo | June 14, 2006 at 03:04 PM
S - A - T - I - R - E
Satire.
P - A - R - O - D - Y
Parody.
H - U - M - O - R
Humor.
Posted by: Mike | June 04, 2006 at 10:03 AM
Folks, this person thinks she is being funny by bashing homeschoolers. This is a really poor attempt at humor by an obvious liberal idiot. She obviously doesn't want to admit how well homeschoolers do in spelling, math, and geography competitions, because that would just make her small public-schooled brain explode.
Posted by: Theauthorisdumb | June 04, 2006 at 12:26 AM
Folks, this person thinks he is being funny by bashing homeschoolers. This is a really poor attempt at humor by an obvious liberal idiot. She obviously doesn't want to admit how well homeschoolers do in spelling, math, and geography competitions, because that would just make her small public-schooled brain explode.
Posted by: Theauthorisdumb | June 04, 2006 at 12:24 AM
Actually, clicking on the link, Jane will show you that it is indeed Scripps.
Yes, many children, even in a national spelling bee can make mistakes, and especially in a tense and stressful situation, I imagine many easy words were flubbed by children from a variety of educational situations.
Please don't assume that these homeschoolers are indicative of all homeschoolers. I too feel for children whose parents are willing to threaten legal proceedings over the content of a spelling bee.
I'm a fairly secular kind of fellow, not really what you might call religious, yet I homeschool. There are plenty of homeschoolers that come in all sorts of varieties. And lots of them can't spell. It's sad really, but the point is, we don't fit in the same shape/size whole regardless of you tainted views.
Posted by: sam | June 03, 2006 at 01:52 AM
It is quite sad that the implication is that the child doesn't use the word "friend" in her daily life. I realize that the child is homeschooled, but come on. Friend?? Very sad indeed.
Some of these parents need a real wake up call. Honestly. Secularism is most definitely not a bad word, let alone a curse word. How pathetic that the boy thinks it is. His parents would do better to have explained to him what it is instead of letting the poor kid be so ignorant.
And while I can understand some concern for "sapphic" (though I wouldn't care if my own child had it), it's just a word. It's not "filthy" or "bad". Get upset for words like "fellatio". Don't waste the energy, time and money fighting some stupid battle over a word like "sapphic".
Posted by: April | June 01, 2006 at 08:56 PM
What "National" spelling bee is this article referring to? Not Scripts, that's for sure! Is the whole thing a joke I missed? Playmate, friend, sapphic???? Is there a kindergarten spelling bee somewhere?
Posted by: Jane | June 01, 2006 at 09:06 AM
Okay, it was funny.
I homeschool my children and I've seen the research contradicting your intimation that homeschooled children are not as well socialized. That being said, I laughed :)
Posted by: Daniel | May 05, 2006 at 06:31 AM
This has got to be some sort of parody, right?
Posted by: Ryan | June 29, 2005 at 09:10 PM
Thank you Ben for showing that you still don't "get it."
Posted by: j | June 03, 2005 at 01:36 PM
Hehe, yes I spelled it gaul, sorry for that. I studied Latin for awhile so I always have a tendency to spell it like Gaul instead of gall*. Thanks for pointing it out, but my original statement still stands. You should at least know how to spell friend :)
Posted by: Ben | June 02, 2005 at 04:40 PM
Hey Ben --
She had the gaul to say what?
Why do you think that this homeschool mother is French?
This is an outrage. If Maurice Chevalier were here, he would beat you within an inch of your life.
And then sing a wonderful song.
You are a silly, silly man but I still like you.
Out of home schooling didn't do much for your spelling!!!
Your friend
Pepe LePew
Posted by: Pepe | June 02, 2005 at 04:34 PM
Thank you, Ben, for proving that schoolkids just don't get it.
Posted by: Vanitas | June 02, 2005 at 01:05 PM
Parents are upset that their well placed efforts to shelter their children from a word like "seculariam" were blown?! Give me a break! It's events like these that make me feel the whole home-school movement has been defended too vigorously by conservative groups eager to shelter children's experiences at the cost of raising ignorant citizens.
Secularism is niether a good or bad word, it's simply a term used to imply thoughts that run against intertwining religion and civil affairs.
As for the homeschooler missing the word "friend." I'm really impressed that the mother had the gaul to say "The real challenge for the kids is when they come across a word that they just don't ever use in their daily life." Friend is a challenge?! Perhaps for homeschooled kids, but many of the students at my school could spell it in a heartbeat, as it IS a common everyday word, unlike those the students had been trained to spell :P
Posted by: Ben | June 02, 2005 at 11:26 AM