A 5-year-old won a regional spelling bee over the weekend.  5. Year. Old.  She is now the youngest ever to compete in the National Spelling Bee.  She beat out 50 kids, all older than her.  Is she a natural or have I failed as a father??

 

Edith Fuller (who sounds more like a 62-year-old accountant rather than a 5-year-old fantastic speller) spelled 37 words correctly, including her final word Jnana whose origin is Sanskrit.  She could have lost and this would still be an amazing story.  How do you even get your kid to spell like that?  I'm still trying to get my kids to flush the toilet.  Also, I have spelled at least 37 words wrong so far in this post that spell check has fixed!

 

Edith is a product of homeschooling so maybe that is the secret?  I'm personally not a fan of it but to each their own.  What do I know, their kid is in the National Spelling Bee at 5 and mine walks around the house acting like a horse! (Does anyone else's do that??)  I mean it's adorable but I think I need to refocus some energy back onto learning.

 

Look, I'm not picking on my kids, because lord knows I was a train wreck when I was 5. In fact, one would be hard pressed to find a picture where I didn't look like a weirdo.  I love my parents but they clearly didn't care about my haircuts.

 

Val Townsend and I discussed Edith's accomplishment today on our show ('Because I Said So' - weekdays 3-7pm) and talked about our own children's shortcomings.  Enjoy!

 

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