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Virginia girl, 6, youngest ever in U.S. spelling bee (home-schooled)
Yahoo ^ | 3/13/12 | Ian Simpson - Reuters

Posted on 03/13/2012 11:56:34 AM PDT by NormsRevenge

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A 6-year-old U.S. girl will become the youngest contestant ever in the Scripps National Spelling Bee after winning a regional competition in Virginia.

Lori Anne Madison, of Woodbridge, Virginia, won the Prince William County spelling contest earlier this month, beating out 21 top elementary and middle school competitors. Her winning word: "vaquero," a word of Spanish origin meaning cowboy.

"My parents quiz me. I read lists and I have a really good memory," Madison, who is home-schooled, told Fox's WTTG-TV, a Washington-area station.

Madison was believed to be the youngest competitor ever, the Cincinnati-based National Spelling Bee said on Tuesday. Based on incomplete records, the previous youngest contestant was 8, it said.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Front Page News; Miscellaneous; US: Virginia; Your Opinion/Questions
KEYWORDS: homeschooled; spellingbee; virginia; youngestever
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To: NormsRevenge; 2Jedismom; 6amgelsmama; AAABEST; aberaussie; AccountantMom; adopt4Christ; ...

HOMESCHOOL PING

This ping list is for articles of interest to homeschoolers. I hold both the Homeschool Ping List and the Another Reason to Homeschool Ping List. Please freepmail me to let me know if you would like to be added or removed from either list, or both.

The keyword for the FREE REPUBLIC HOMESCHOOLERS’ FORUM is frhf.

41 posted on 03/13/2012 4:13:38 PM PDT by metmom (For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore & do not submit again to a yoke of slavery)
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To: brytlea
I was also an early reader and just generally “knew” how to spell words

Yeah, for me it was the reading, too. In fact, I can't think how it could be any different. I think the constant exposure to written words is crucial. The kids who didn't "get" spelling probably didn't read much, either (or, at least, not as much as we did.)

42 posted on 03/13/2012 4:13:43 PM PDT by BfloGuy (The final outcome of the credit expansion is general impoverishment.)
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To: dfwgator
Yeah, but I bet she can't solve differential equations like my 18 month-old can. ;)

Your baby was definitely good at those but he had a problem with the string theory my 12 month old was trying to teach him........... :)

43 posted on 03/13/2012 4:17:29 PM PDT by Hot Tabasco (The only solution to this primary is a shoot out! Last person standing picks the candidate)
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To: Ramius
I saw that interview this morning with this girl. It was really quite amazing. She had exceptional poise and confidence in front of the camera. There are teenagers (and adults, I’m sorry to say) that don’t have her vocabulary and command of the language. For a six year old, it’s really something.

That's what happens when you don't talk baby talk to your kids. Just talk to them as if they were adults and stretch them, and they will learn.

44 posted on 03/13/2012 4:21:35 PM PDT by metmom (For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore & do not submit again to a yoke of slavery)
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To: NormsRevenge
None of my friends were ever were interested in just the simple classroom Spelling Bee. Until one day in 6th grade the teacher said “first place is a six-pack of Pepsi, 2nd a large bag of Doritos, and third a bag of Hershey's kisses”. All of a sudden we could spell! We had a party that afternoon! The three of us that came from big families hardly ever had soda or an entire bag of Doritos!
45 posted on 03/13/2012 4:58:22 PM PDT by MacMattico
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To: christianhomeschoolmommaof3

“No, but I can see them from my house.”


46 posted on 03/13/2012 5:00:27 PM PDT by Erasmus (BHO: New supreme leader of the homey rollin' empire.)
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To: the_devils_advocate_666

What?! You subjected your kid to a CAVITY SEARCH???!


47 posted on 03/13/2012 5:02:26 PM PDT by Erasmus (BHO: New supreme leader of the homey rollin' empire.)
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To: christianhomeschoolmommaof3

LOL!


48 posted on 03/13/2012 5:05:55 PM PDT by rabidralph
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To: Trust but Verify

Big deal!:) When one of my sons was about 2, I could hold up a Matchbox NASCAR car and he could look at it and tell me the name of the driver. I’ve got a videa somewhere of him naming about 20 in a row.

At the end, my Mother in Law is heard to say “But can he count to ten?” at which point I said “who cares.”


49 posted on 03/13/2012 6:25:27 PM PDT by cyclotic (People who live within their means are increasingly being forced to pay for people who didn't.)
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To: metmom

Save the country, Home school your kids.


50 posted on 03/13/2012 7:48:15 PM PDT by Lets Roll NOW (A baby isn't a punishment, Obama is)
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To: SkyDancer

“Some government idiot will say she had an unfair advantage by being home schooled.”

You prejudiced ‘gainst idiots?

;-)


51 posted on 03/13/2012 7:56:02 PM PDT by GladesGuru (In a society predicated upon freedom, it is necessary to examine principles."...the public interest)
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To: EyeGuy

“At 53, I can find my ass with both hands.”

But, if you had been home schooled, you could do it in the dark.


52 posted on 03/13/2012 7:57:55 PM PDT by GladesGuru (In a society predicated upon freedom, it is necessary to examine principles."...the public interest)
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To: cripplecreek

” “gets out”” Is a common figure of speech around here.


53 posted on 03/13/2012 8:02:31 PM PDT by chooseascreennamepat (The response to 1984 is 1776.)
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To: metmom
That's what happens when you don't talk baby talk to your kids. Just talk to them as if they were adults and stretch them, and they will learn.

My parents belonged to that school of thought. They tell me that at three I was speaking in full sentences, and carrying on full conversations with adults. By kindergarten I was reading at middle school level. That's good advice.

54 posted on 03/13/2012 8:40:39 PM PDT by Ramius (Personally, I give us one chance in three. More tea anyone?)
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To: Ramius

Same with our kids. They were like you.

Interesting thing is, my son who is 19 months behind his sister, was just learning to talk when she was really taking off with it. EVERYTHING she said, he (tried to) imitate.

By the time he was 2, he was speaking in complete, grammatically correct sentences. You could carry on a conversation with him. I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, or rather heard it.

Both of them were reading by the time they were five. That kind of sealed the decision to homeschool for us.

I also noticed that my one daughter who loved to knit and crochet, learned at about five and boy was she ever good at it within a couple years.

I seriously doubt there are many adults around yet who give kids the benefit of the doubt in what they are really capable of. I’ve noticed that the younger kids learn something the quicker they become VERY proficient at it. It takes some time and patience to get them started young, but it is more than worth the time investment and if gives you some real quality time together.


55 posted on 03/13/2012 9:21:33 PM PDT by metmom (For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore & do not submit again to a yoke of slavery)
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To: NormsRevenge

it’s wonderful to see yet another brilliant madison from virginia. gives me hope for my kids.


56 posted on 03/13/2012 10:17:55 PM PDT by dadfly
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To: metmom

Yah. I wasn’t homeschooled, but my mom was a teacher, and she stayed home with me and my sister until we were both in school. I was however way ahead of my classmates and spent most of my time in the library whenever I could.


57 posted on 03/13/2012 10:53:13 PM PDT by Ramius (Personally, I give us one chance in three. More tea anyone?)
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To: NormsRevenge

she’s a little darling.....


58 posted on 03/13/2012 11:32:50 PM PDT by cherry
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To: brytlea
"Why do people always assume bright kids don’t have social skills?"

the same reason why they think all athletes are stupid...most are not...or that most poor people are really good people and rich people are really bad people....

59 posted on 03/13/2012 11:34:45 PM PDT by cherry
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To: MrB

They are gifts from God.


60 posted on 03/14/2012 4:16:36 AM PDT by Trust but Verify (I am Andrew Breitbart)
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