This year's Homeschool Spelling Bee, open to all homeschooled students living in the Times Union newspaper circulation area, will take place on Saturday Dec 5, 2015. This is the 22st annual homeschool bee for this area. For the past few years, our homeschool bee has also been honored to include Augustine Academy students. Our two spelling bee winners (i.e., the highest finishing homeschool speller and the highest finishing Augustine Academy speller) will both advance to represent homeschoolers and Augustine Academy, respectively, at the Times Union/BOCES bee at Proctor's Theater on February. The regional champion of the Times Union/BOCES bee in Proctor's will win an all-expenses paid trip to spell in the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington DC in late May.
The homeschool bee will take place at Calvary Church 1230 Rugby Road in Schenectady at 10 a.m. Spellers should arrive by 9:45 to register and get preliminary instructions.
Spellers do NOT need to register in advance. We ask that parents of spellers contribute $2 per speller (maximum of $5 per family) to contribute towards the cost of heating the building for the bee and to provide a small prize for our winner and runner-up.
Excellent free study materials from the Scripps Spelling Bee are available here.
Answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about our homeschool spelling bee are available here.
The FAQ will answer many of your questions about your students' eligibility to participate, how to prepare, and what happens next for the winner of our homeschool bee.
If you have additional questions after reading our FAQ, please feel free to contact me.
Mary O'Keeffe
mathcircle@gmail.com
Home School Bee Organizer
Thursday, September 17, 2015
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Spelling bee news
1) Congratulations to our 2012-2013 homeschool spelling bee winner, Adam Roy, a sixth grader from Saratoga Springs, who won our homeschool bee in December, and did a fine job of representing homeschoolers at the Times Union regional spelling bee held at Proctor's Theater in March, spelling in a field of 118 students representing ten counties. Adam was onstage under the spotlights for four hours and spelled "insidious" and "vainglory" successfully in the first two rounds. Forty five students remained at the beginning of the third round, when the words got considerably harder, and only about 20 students survived that round. The word that tripped Adam up was "schottische." This is a word that would flummox most adults as well!
Here is a video clip from the second round of the Times Union bee at Proctor's. Adam is somewhere in the middle of the seated group waiting his turn. (Spellers are ordered alphabetically with homeschoolers sitting near the students from Hebrew Academy of the Capital District and Hoosick Falls School District.) Source (with additional coverage and photos): Times Union.
Congratulations as well and best of luck to eighth grader Ryan Devanandan, a three time contestant from Sand Creek Middle School, who ultimately won the bee with "prevaricate" and will represent our region at the Scripps National Bee in late May. More coverage of Ryan is here.
2) The Scripps spelling bee officials announced today that this year's national bee will have a vocabulary as well as a spelling component. I applaud this change as it formally recognizes something that has always been a central value of the bee. The strongest spellers always develop great vocabularies in the course of preparing for spelling bees, because a knowledge of meanings, word etymologies, and linguistic roots can often be very helpful in attacking unfamiliar words.
Bee officials have also announced plans to offer additional vocabulary materials to local bee organizers for optional use in next year's preliminary local bees. I intend to review those materials as soon as they are released in August and will post more information about the format of next year's homeschool bee on this blog at that time so that all homeschool spellers have the information they need to prepare for next year's homeschool bee.
Here is a video clip from the second round of the Times Union bee at Proctor's. Adam is somewhere in the middle of the seated group waiting his turn. (Spellers are ordered alphabetically with homeschoolers sitting near the students from Hebrew Academy of the Capital District and Hoosick Falls School District.) Source (with additional coverage and photos): Times Union.
Congratulations as well and best of luck to eighth grader Ryan Devanandan, a three time contestant from Sand Creek Middle School, who ultimately won the bee with "prevaricate" and will represent our region at the Scripps National Bee in late May. More coverage of Ryan is here.
2) The Scripps spelling bee officials announced today that this year's national bee will have a vocabulary as well as a spelling component. I applaud this change as it formally recognizes something that has always been a central value of the bee. The strongest spellers always develop great vocabularies in the course of preparing for spelling bees, because a knowledge of meanings, word etymologies, and linguistic roots can often be very helpful in attacking unfamiliar words.
Bee officials have also announced plans to offer additional vocabulary materials to local bee organizers for optional use in next year's preliminary local bees. I intend to review those materials as soon as they are released in August and will post more information about the format of next year's homeschool bee on this blog at that time so that all homeschool spellers have the information they need to prepare for next year's homeschool bee.
Saturday, October 13, 2012
When and where will this year's homeschool spelling bee take place?
UPDATE for 2012-2013 year:
This year's Homeschool Spelling Bee open to all homeschooled students living in the Times Union newspaper circulation area will take place on Saturday December 1, 2012.
The homeschool bee will take place at Calvary Church 1230 Rugby Road in Schenectady at 10 a.m. Spellers should arrive by 9:45 to register and get preliminary instructions.
Spellers do NOT need to register in advance. We ask that parents of spellers contribute $2 per speller (maximum of $5 per family) to contribute towards the cost of heating the building for the bee and to provide a small prize for our winner and runner-up.
Excellent free study materials from the Scripps Spelling Bee are available here.
Answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about our homeschool spelling bee are available here.
The FAQ will answer many of your questions about your students' eligibility to participate, how to prepare, and what happens next for the winner of our homeschool bee.
If you have additional questions after reading our FAQ, please feel free to contact me.
Mary O'Keeffe
mathcircle@gmail.com
Home School Bee Organizer
This year's Homeschool Spelling Bee open to all homeschooled students living in the Times Union newspaper circulation area will take place on Saturday December 1, 2012.
The homeschool bee will take place at Calvary Church 1230 Rugby Road in Schenectady at 10 a.m. Spellers should arrive by 9:45 to register and get preliminary instructions.
Spellers do NOT need to register in advance. We ask that parents of spellers contribute $2 per speller (maximum of $5 per family) to contribute towards the cost of heating the building for the bee and to provide a small prize for our winner and runner-up.
Excellent free study materials from the Scripps Spelling Bee are available here.
Answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about our homeschool spelling bee are available here.
The FAQ will answer many of your questions about your students' eligibility to participate, how to prepare, and what happens next for the winner of our homeschool bee.
If you have additional questions after reading our FAQ, please feel free to contact me.
Mary O'Keeffe
mathcircle@gmail.com
Home School Bee Organizer
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Frequently Asked Questions about the homeschool bee
We generally hold a spelling bee for homeschoolers on a Saturday in early December or January each year. The exact date, time, location, and directions will be posted on this site in mid-fall.
Here are some frequently asked questions.
Click on each question to go to the answer.
Suppose I win the homeschool bee? What happens next?
Who is eligible to spell in the bee?
What kind of weird words will I have to spell at the bee?
How do I prepare for the bee?
What are the rules for the bee?
What's the history of the local homeschool bee? How long has it been going?
Here are some frequently asked questions.
Click on each question to go to the answer.
Suppose I win the homeschool bee? What happens next?
Who is eligible to spell in the bee?
What kind of weird words will I have to spell at the bee?
How do I prepare for the bee?
What are the rules for the bee?
What's the history of the local homeschool bee? How long has it been going?
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Congratulations and Good Luck to Paul and Zarin!
We will have two homeschool spellers representing us in this year's Capital District Regional Spelling on February 7. The winner of our 2010-2011 homeschool bee, Paul Capuano, placed among the top five contestants at last year's Capital District bee, so he automatically returns to the Capital District bee without needing to participate in our homeschool preliminary bee this year. The winner of our 2011-2012 homeschool bee, Zarin Tuten, will join Paul onstage at Proctors Theater, along with about 100 other students from public and private schools in the greater Capital District.
The February 7 bee at Proctor's Theater is free and open to the public, with free parking available in the Proctor's parking lots. The bee begins at 5 p.m. and can easily run until 9 p.m. It will also be televised on local cable.
Friday, September 24, 2010
When & where will this year's spelling bee take place?
UPDATE for 2011-2012 year:
This year's Homeschool Spelling Bee will take place on Saturday December 3, 2011.
Homeschool bee held at Calvary Church 1230 Rugby Road in Schenectady at 10 a.m. Spellers should arrive by 9:45 to register and get preliminary instructions.
Spellers do NOT need to register in advance. We ask that parents of spellers contribute $2 per speller (maximum of $5 per family) to contribute towards the cost of heating the building for the bee and to provide a small prize for our winner and runner-up.
This year's bee schedule has been moved earlier in the year due to the scheduling of the Times Union/Capital District BOCES bee deadlines.
Excellent free study materials from the Scripps Spelling Bee are available here.
Answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about our homeschool spelling bee are available here.
The FAQ will answer many of your questions about eligibility to participate, how to prepare, and what happens next for the winner of our homeschool bee.
If you have additional questions after reading our FAQ, please feel free to contact me.
Mary O'Keeffe
mathcircle@gmail.com
Home School Bee Organizer
This year's Homeschool Spelling Bee will take place on Saturday December 3, 2011.
Homeschool bee held at Calvary Church 1230 Rugby Road in Schenectady at 10 a.m. Spellers should arrive by 9:45 to register and get preliminary instructions.
Spellers do NOT need to register in advance. We ask that parents of spellers contribute $2 per speller (maximum of $5 per family) to contribute towards the cost of heating the building for the bee and to provide a small prize for our winner and runner-up.
This year's bee schedule has been moved earlier in the year due to the scheduling of the Times Union/Capital District BOCES bee deadlines.
Excellent free study materials from the Scripps Spelling Bee are available here.
Answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about our homeschool spelling bee are available here.
The FAQ will answer many of your questions about eligibility to participate, how to prepare, and what happens next for the winner of our homeschool bee.
If you have additional questions after reading our FAQ, please feel free to contact me.
Mary O'Keeffe
mathcircle@gmail.com
Home School Bee Organizer
Frequently Asked Questions about the Spelling Bee
Click on each question to go to the answer.
When and where is the bee for homeschoolers in our area?
Suppose I win the homeschool bee? What happens next?
Who is eligible to spell in the bee?
What kind of weird words will I have to spell at the bee?
How do I prepare for the bee?
What are the rules for the bee?
What's the history of the local homeschool bee? How long has it been going?
We don't live in your area. How can my child participate in a spelling bee?
I have a question about the bee not answered above. Who can I contact for more information?
Please email the bee organizer, Mary O'Keeffe, at mathcircle@yahoo.com.
When and where is the bee for homeschoolers in our area?
Suppose I win the homeschool bee? What happens next?
Who is eligible to spell in the bee?
What kind of weird words will I have to spell at the bee?
How do I prepare for the bee?
What are the rules for the bee?
What's the history of the local homeschool bee? How long has it been going?
We don't live in your area. How can my child participate in a spelling bee?
I have a question about the bee not answered above. Who can I contact for more information?
Please email the bee organizer, Mary O'Keeffe, at mathcircle@yahoo.com.
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Noah Webster, author of America's First Dictionary
