On 13 Nov, Miss B discovered a simple truth...

That she is a good speller.

But not that good.

She went head to head with 19 others in the Junior Division of Spellmasters 2011.

She got knocked out at "drunkenness", forgetting the double "n". That left 7 standing. I was hoping she'd at least make it to the top 3.

In the Seniors, she was up against 22 other super spellers. She made a premature exit at Word #2: "pious". She spelled it as "pias"!!

I couldn't believe it. Surely she must KNOW that word after all the books she's devoured?

Hubby's question: "When have you ever seen a word that ends with "ias"??"

I straightaway thought "bias", but I can't think of any other words of that ilk.

As we analyzed it afterwards, she would have sailed through if she had only ASKED the judge the meaning of the word. It was one of those cases where the speller knows the word but isn't 100% sure, and knowing the meaning and context would have resolved the uncertainty instantly.

Miss B has resolved to do better next year.

I gently suggested that it might be a good idea to actually READ the dictionaries she has accumulated (and start memorizing the spellings of words) instead of only referring to them by the by.

The learning and character building continues.