Spelling Bee - ZIP!

This is Mazie, running - ZIP! - away from the camera. She's hard to pin down in number of ways.

Mazie won her class spelling bee. Now she has the opportunity to exercise her spelling prowess in the larger school-wide forum after winter break. Usually, this kid is uncompetitive. Usually, she'll drop out of a contest before she'll try to win. I know she can spell. To me, her win in the spelling bee must mean that she is drawing upon some well of confidence in spelling that I didn't know she had.  I wish I could have seen her...spelling.

The real reason I'm sharing this is that Mazie has seized on this opportunity to progress to the next spelling bee level by devouring words. When she hears a challenging word in conversation, she'll take a moment to shut her eyes and formally spell it out. Most recently (at breakfast) it was "Euphemism."(We looked up "crikey," which is a euphemism for "Christ.")

Mazie: Euphemism.  U-
Me: Upp, Nope, it's an eu- word.
Mazie: "Oh.  Okay.  Euphemism.  E-U-P-H...
Me: E
Mazie: E...S?
Me: You're at the '-mism' part.  M.
Mazie: M-I-S-M.  Euphemism.
Me: Great!  e-u-p-h-e-m-i-s-m.
Mazie:  E-u-p-h-e-m-i-s-m.

But the really great thing is that she's interested not just in spelling the words, but also what they mean.  I am super excited about this as a lover of words who eternally wants to share my enthusiasms with my children.

Again and again my children have shown me that I cannot simply barf enthusiasm on them and expect them to carry the torch. How many times have I gushed about a decaying log, an ant bed, or insect eyes to see them glaze over and turn away? I wish I could say, "Oh, yeah, my kids are just sponges, they can't get enough of learning. They just beg for more."  That would feel good.

Instead, their enthusiasms are their own. Vivian's enthusiasms generally relate to playing mama and baby lion and to food. She loves science and math on her own terms. More than anything, she loves to arrange things and make nests. She's a very cozy child.  Mazie is into magic tricks, film class, and clowning. She loves to read but loves to write less.  She's lukewarm about math.

Both kids adore science. If Mrs. Ryan, their English-accent science teacher were here right now I'd hug her neck.  She apparently has a knack of conveying both information and a sense of the utter coolness of it all. She makes them laugh, makes them think, and apparently makes science class better than Cats.  AMAZING! Thank you, Mrs. Ryan, for doing what you love and doing it well.

But words?  Mazie is finding her own way to words.  I got her a block of SAT flash cards last year to carry on a tradition that helped me, begun by the amazing Bootie Wood of St. Simons Island Challenge Class fame. She had a weekly, predictable vocabulary test over 5 "Challenge" words taken from an SAT prep book.  Those words, learned early and well, have served me amply since then.  Once you have a starter vocabulary, building is easier.

Last night I spied that block of flashcards, by themselves on top of a bookshelf, gathering dust. "Mazie," I said.  "I forgot about these!"  And I brought them down to display the box to her.

"Oh, YEAH, Mama! Those are GREAT!"

What? Okay, I'll take it...spelling bee, here we come! ZIP!