Every year the competition is steep and every year there is a winner, so what's so unusual about this group of kids besides their extraordinary spelling ability? Nearly 13% of the 286 contestants are home schooled. And your child can gain a competitive edge in spelling, too, whether public or home schooled. The benefits of interactive educational software from AllEducationalSoftware.com include learning systems that are created just for kids that reinforce and supplement school material in ways that make learning fun. Self-adjusting difficulty levels personalize learning to improve spelling skills and challenge even the best spellers.
Home Schooled Contestants
Only 3 percent of all students are home schooled, yet they comprise 10 percent to 15 percent of contestants in the national bee. Home schooled students garnered first, second and third place in 2000 and won the title in 2001. Home schoolers consistently place in the top 10 every year. Why? That fascinating study remains to be conducted, but it could be that home schooled kids spend more time studying the basics, learn better with lower student-to-teacher ratio, love to compete, want to show the world they are as well or better educated than their public school peers, benefit from lack of classroom distracters or any number of other reasons.
Inside The 80th National Spelling Bee
This year, a record 286 contestants, mostly from the United States and Canada, but including American Samoa, Bahamas, Europe, Guam, Jamaica, New Zealand, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, started the competition Wednesday. After completion of the Round One multiple-choice test (25 words) and the preliminary oral round, the field narrowed to 107 spellers. Further Rounds eliminated all but the 15 finalists, 4 of whom are home schooled.
The oral spelling competition rules are complicated and change depending on the round. Rounds Two and Three end after all spellers among those remaining in competition have spelled one new word for the judges. Beginning in Round Three, if a speller misspells a word, one of the judges will ring a bell after the misspelling and the word pronouncer will give the correct spelling. The speller is then escorted off-stage.
Spellers may ask questions about a word's language or country of origin, pronunciation, definition and part of speech. They may also ask for its use in a sentence. Once spellers have started to spell a word, the speller may start over, but the letters or sequence of letters already spoken may not be changed.
The source for words in the competition is the National Word List. Words for Round One and all rounds after Round Two are selected from Webster's Third New International Dictionary. Round Two words are chosen from the 2005 Paideia, the official study booklet.
The Winner
Evan was crowned champion in prime time on ABC. He will receive $35,000 cash, a $5,000 scholarship, a $2,500 savings bond and a complete set of reference works. Despite the perks of earning the title of 2007 Scripps National Spelling Bee champion, Evan told a reporter after the competition that his real loves are math and music. He enjoys creating music by combining sounds and delights in the relationship and organization of numbers.
The winner attributes his success in spelling to lots and lots of practice and memorization. And that is achievable at home through the use of educational software for any child who wants to improve his or her spelling skills.
About All Educational Software
AllEducationalSoftware.com is a trusted source for interactive educational software for learners of all ages. An extensive selection of over 600 software titles, a 100% satisfaction guarantee, personal service and special discount shipping make All Educational Software your best choice for learning software for toddlers, teens and adults. Many spelling software selections are offered, including Spelling Bee and Webster's New World Dictionary & Thesaurus Fourth Edition.
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