Showing posts with label my childhood. Show all posts
Showing posts with label my childhood. Show all posts

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Christmas in Korea (& giveaway!)

Congrats to Sherry Lauser and Kellie Watson for winning this giveaway!

Sung Tan Chuk Ha! Which is to say Happy/Merry Christmas!

Christmas Around the World with CurrClick has partnered with myself and nine other homeschool bloggers this week. Goodies will be given away during our bloggy event, so be sure to check the schedule and stop by each site to learn about Christmas in other countries, and maybe even make some new friends! You'll find the TWO Korea giveaways at the end of this post.


My early childhood was spent in South Korea living on a military base with my American father and Korean mother. I remember the beautifully decorated Christmas tree in the living room of our apartment. It was gigantic, all the way to the ceiling...



Okay, so it's not quite as big as I remember.
{I know y'all are diggin' the patchwork pj's, cool curtains and my awesome bike. Don't be jealous!}

SOUTH KOREA

The Republic of Korea (South Korea) has roots in Buddhism, so you will not find a Christmas celebration or tree in every house. But Christianity is growing and you will find many Christians (and non-Christians) celebrating Christmas in ways similar to Europe and the United States.

South Korea is the only East Asian country to recognize Christmas (Sung Tan Jul) as a national holiday.


Kids in Korea LOVE Santa Claus, whom they call Santa Harabuji 산타 할아버지 (Grandfather Santa) or Santa Claus (said with a Korean accent). Unlike the American Santa Claus, Santa Harabuji can be seen in the traditional red suit, as well as a different color-- blue!


When friends and family exchange gifts, the most popular gift is MONEY. (Insert cheers from my boys!). For a close friend or relative, it would be more traditional to give a single gift with much thought behind it than to give many gifts.

A formal dinner is a favorite way to celebrate the holiday with family members. The menu might include popular Korean dishes such as sweet potato noodles (japchae), rice cake soup (dukguk), barbecued beef (bulgogi), and a variety of kimchi.

Caroling parties are a fun activity for young Christians on Christmas Eve. It is traditional to invite carolers in for hot drinks and treats. Here's a cute starts-out-normal version of Jingle Bells that y'all might like. Would you like to invite this group in for a visit?



(That guy in the reindeer antlers makes me laugh.)



NORTH KOREA

Life in North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea), however, is dramatically different.

Christians there are imprisoned and even killed for having a Bible or simply being a Christian. They must meet and celebrate in secret. You can read more about the sacrifice and persecution of Christians in North Korea HERE.


*************************


HERE ARE THE GOODIES FOR MY GIVEAWAY!



{GIVEAWAY 1}

Christmas Copywork by Lilliput Station
Let your child learn the true story of Christmas as they practice their writing skills. This file contains fourteen different copywork pages with verses from the KJV Bible and one with a verse from a hymn. Each page is illustrated with black and white drawings and comes with both primary and straight lines.

Our Global Village - Korea by Milliken
Bring the world a little closer with these multicultural books. An excellent way for students to appreciate and learn cultural diversity in an exciting hands-on format. Each book explores the history, language, holidays, festivals, customs, legends, foods, creative arts, lifestyles, and games of the title country. A creative alternative to student research reports and a time-saver for teachers since the activities and resource material are contained in one book.

The Christmas Story as Told in The Bible by St Aiden's Homeschool
This 105 Page educational eBook focuses on the Story of the Birth of Christ as told in the KJV Bible. Included are fun exercises to take away any monotony that may arise (and often does) with copywork. Standard fonts have been used for general copywork, and Tracing Fonts have been used for the younger learner. Training lines and standard lines will be found throughout the book, which focuses on the entire passages of the Bible, but reinforces certain aspects of the birth which will already be familiar to your child when hearing the Sotry of the Birth of Christ. A Nativity Lapbook Craft is included in the book.

{GIVEAWAY 2}

Around-the-World Series, South Korea by Evan-Moor Educational Publishers
Learn about the people of Korea through their literature, music, food, art, games, and language. The folktale recounted in this unit, The Bird with the Broken Leg, brings Korean clothing and food, as well as Korean vocabulary, to the forefront and help students produce their own picture book of the story. Cut-out characters and a story mat are included. This unit also helps children learn by making Traditional Knotted Pendants called maedups, Trigrams (symbols formed by a group of three lines), and a Yut game board. There's also a recipe for Cooking San Jok, words and music to a traditional song about the Korean national flower, called Mugunghwa, and a rules for playing Yut, and much more!

Korea by Oakes Homeschool Consulting
A month-long unit study resource list on the country of Korea.

Globetrotting with Cinderella by Intellego Unit Studies
In this comprehensive and multisensory 174 page unit study, your children will explore much more than Cinderella stories! This unit study takes your children on a tour of 6 distinct global cultures, looking at history, music, art, food, and scientific contributions. Children will explore the literary genre of fairy tales while comparing the six Cinderella stories across the cultures. While on their journey, children will also explore chromatics and the use of color by the French Impressionists, the use of natural resources across cultures, the active volcano region of Russia, the history of kites in China, the fermentation process in the popular Korean dish kimchi, Egyptian math and pyramid building, culinary arts, literary devices, public speaking, listening skills, and so much more! Nations studied: France, Micmac Nation, Russia, China, Egypt and Korea.

TO ENTER:

Leave a comment telling me the most memorable Christmas present you have ever given or received, whether it was disappointing or spectacular.

The TWO giveaway winners will be randomly chosen when I wake up on Tuesday morning. (ha! It sounds like I plan on sleeping from now until then, doesn't it?)

Don't forget to INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS. You can even leave it as "yourname [at] whatever [dot] com" to foil the spammers!


I'll never forget the Christmas where my two other sisters, my brother and I put a cricket in a little box with a clear window. We wrapped it, wrote my sister Lele's name on it and placed it under the tree.

We tried to suppress our laughter when Lele began to unwrap her special present. As soon as she spied the cricket, still alive and safely contained behind the clear window, she jumped up screaming and hollering and being a spaz. That was the ill-fated year that we "took a break from Christmas" as my parents sent us to our rooms!

Although we were all mad at her for freaking out so much at the time, we laugh about it now. (Not sure Lele would categorize herself in the "we" yet!)

Sung Tan Chuk Ha!

Saturday, November 20, 2010

review and giveaway: JumpStart.com (and a fun Q for you)

CONGRATULATIONS TO CARRIE FROM LIVE, LEARN AND LOVE TOGETHER!

Y'all are such fun friends!


We have a token system in place for our video game and computer time. The boys must read 30 minutes to earn a token that awards them 30 minutes of game time.

However, there is one game that I don't mind bending the rules and giving them FREE time for--- the 3D virtual world created by the folks at JumpStart.com.

While I was familiar with the JumpStart computer games for toddlers and elementary aged kids, I was excited to find that they had launched a browser-based virtual world for kids 3-10 years old.

It's an online system that is safe, educational and FUN, even for my boys that are used to the excitement and gameplay of the Wii and Xbox 360.

Austin and Noah's favorite area is the shipwreck lagoon. You get to choose and customize your own boat, pick your track, and race against other people online. Nothing like a little competition to perk up your day! Especially when you get to compete with kids that are of the not-your-brother variety. :-)

My boys have also enjoyed creating their own Jumpee. A Jumpee is their own personal character that they have created to use on the site. They get to choose their Jumpee's facial features, clothing, accessories, artwork and even pets!

When I was little, we had Space Armada and Burgertime on our Intellivision System III. Technology has sure come a long way!

Austin and Noah are 11 and 9yo. JumpStart also has areas aimed at the younger set, such as StoryLand for 3-5 year olds, AdventureLand and MarineLand designed for K-2nd, and FutureLand which is geared towards 3rd-5th grade. You can see and read more about this at the JumpStart blog.





Now for the giveaway part.

JumpStart.com would like to give one of y'all a free three month membership!

To enter, leave me a comment telling me what your fave game as a child was. It can be a video game, board game or even chase-in-the-yard game! :)

I'll random.org a winner on Tuesday, November 23rd.



For the record:

Fave childhood board game: Candyland and Stratego (obviously at different ages!).

Video game: the aforementioned Burger Time and Pac-Man.

Yard game: definitely cartoon freeze tag! You get "unfrozen" when someone crawls under your legs and says the name of a cartoon... or was it that you say the name of the cartoon when you are tagged?...

My current favorites:

Facebook game: Scrabble
Phone game: Angry Birds
Card Game: Skip Bo
Board Game: Settlers of Cataan
Video Game: Don't have one.




Disclosure: I was provided with a JumpStart membership at no cost by Knowledge Adventure in order to test the products’ abilities and give my own personal opinions on it. The opinions I have given are mine and may differ from others but were not influenced by the company or the free product provided.

Saturday, November 6, 2010

what to do with bad dreams


Last night, Noah walked up to me, eyes pleading. I could tell that something was really bothering him. He seemed apprehensive and shaky. He wanted to talk to me about his bad dream.

And yet his dream was so bad, he couldn't bear to voice it, as if speaking the horrifying thoughts would cause them to make the jump from imagination to real life.

I was able to pull a few words from him-- in the yard, box with a bright light, a frightening note.

We hugged and he pulled up a chair so we could talk.

Who lives inside you, Noah? Jesus.
Whose child are you? God's.
Is there anything in the world that is greater than God? More powerful than God? No.
Does God love you? Yes.
Can you trust Him? Yes.

I began to tell him how I, too, was scared at night when I was a kid. How I would say my memory verses out loud because I knew that the devil didn't like to hear God's Word. The only problem was that I would always forget half the verse! In a panic, I would sing "Jesus Loves Me" until I fell asleep.




We talked about the power of Jesus' name.

"That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth." (Philippians 2:10)

"But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name." (John 20:31)

"For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." (Romans 10:13)

And what he needs to think upon.

"Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you." {Philippians 4:8-9}

Focusing on the TRUTH of God's Word, rather than our imagined fears and bad dreams, will give you peace.

We hugged again and I told him that it was okay to sleep on the floor of our room.

As he ran to get his blanket and pillow, an idea came to his mind, one that suddenly made things not-so-scary...



He determined (on his own!) that reading the Bible before bed would bring sweet peace.


And sweet dreams.


How do you handle scary dreams at your house?




Saturday, May 29, 2010

Remember these shows?

My sister Bobo is a TV... junkie? That's not quite the word I'm looking for but she does know her old school TV. When we were little, I was always amazed at her ability to remember things that I never noticed the first time around-- details like names of actors and words to theme songs. I guess that's something to be proud of?




And she still watches Golden Girls.

"You mean you miss out on the Saturday night lineup of 227, Amen, Golden Girls and Empty Nest?! They don't make TV like they used to. Oh, I forgot about Major Dad!"

My baby sister makes me happy. :) She's sitting next to me at my sister Coco's house listening to theme songs on YouTube.

In her lineup so far this evening:

- Rocky Road (I always wanted to have my own ice cream shop.)
- Just the Ten of Us (I loved this show!)
- Out of this World (I vaguely remember this.)
- Small Wonder (This totally made me talk like a robot back in the day.)
- Punky Brewster (Never really watched it bc it aired on Wed. nights and we were at church.)
- The Hogan Family (I watched it, but not sure if I cared much about it.)
- Silver Spoons (Wouldn't it have been cool to have all those arcade games in your living room?)
- Mr. Belvedere (Aw. I liked him!)
- Gimme a Break! (Nell Carter annoyed me but I watched it anyway.)
- Major Dad (Good one.)
- Night Court (I think I saw every episode. Marsha Warfield was intimidating.)

And they make fun of me for being a Trekkie.


What was your fav show from back in the day? With LOST and 24 gone, how do you plan to spend your TV time?

PS Coco admits to being hooked on Falcon Crest. I'm just sayin.

PPS And then we ventured into more serious TV like Tour of Duty, Airwolf, Hart to Hart,Scarecrow and Mrs. King, and Hunter. Okay, I seriously have to stop now!

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Sweet Shot: birthday boy


My friend's sweet boy was born on my birthday last year.

As he celebrates his first birthday in a couple of weeks, I will be celebrating my 35th!

Growing up, I shared a birthdate with this guy Ray from church. When I turned 13, he turned 27. I remembering looking at him and thinking "WOW, THAT IS REALLY OLD."

(Boy, did I have some feeling old issues when I turned 27!)

I wonder if know Baby C will think the same thing of me some day. And that's okay.

The thing about shared birthdays is that you have this super special bond that means you'll get a birthday present (on time!) every year, even if you speak your mind.

Unless your name is Marsha and the co-birthday-er is named Ray. Then you get zilch. Bummer. I was always jealous that my sister Bobo got $5 from her co-birthday-buddy. I learned early on that life is not fair.

Do you share a birthdate with anyone? What do/did you think about the whole thing? Is there a magical "I am an old person" age in your mind?


I'm linking up with Darcy@my3boybarians. We would love for you to join us for Sweet Shot Tuesday!

Sweet Shot Day

Friday, October 9, 2009

Field Trip: Pick Your Own

And I don't mean NOSE.

While those of you in the Pacific Northwest are picking apples, we have a different fruit in season here in Houston.

Can you guess what it is?


Nope, not oranges.

Look closer.


Sometimes called the fruit of the gods, these are persimmons! This particular variety is the Asian (Shizi) Persimmon found at the Matt Family Orchard.

It was a breezy, muggy, mosquito filled morning but worth it! They gave us gardening shears to cut the bright orange fruit from the branches.

With 1,100 persimmon trees, we had many a branch to choose from!





Talk about YUMMY loot!


When I was little, my mom would get these from Ko-Ko's market. I had a hard time distinguishing this deliciously sweet fruit from a tomato. (Hey, I said I was little!) I didn't learn the name of this fruit until I was an adult.

And now I can eat as many as I want! Because I'm a grown-up! Woohooo!

Even though I'm sure my mom would still tell me to eat only one so I don't get a tummy ache.

To find a pick-your-own farm or orchard in your area, visit www.pickyourown.org.


Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Off the record with Crazy Uncle Brother

My little brother is in town for a job interview. For being a punk brother, I sure do miss his mug.



He looks normal, I know.

But don't be fooled. He's not called Crazy Uncle Stephen for no reason!



I thought it would be fun to interview him for my blog.

(Ha! When I started "thinking" is precisely where I messed up.)

Anyhow, take the following with a grain of salt and consider the source. This information is from the same kid who tripped me ON PURPOSE in our parents' driveway when he was in high school and I was in college.

I had to have bandaid's y'all. It was that bad.

ME: Hey Stephen, I want to interview you for my blog. Just because.

BRO: 'kay.

ME: What do you think about when you think of us growing up together?

BRO: Honestly, you were the only sister I was scared of... the only one. That and you were the best farter.

ME: What?! I was the best burper! I could burp on demand and burp the alphabet. I didn’t fart.

BRO: Are you kidding? You were the worst by far.

ME: Okay, I’m ending this interview right now.


See what I mean? I was tormented by him! And HE LIES.





But I'll forgive him because he did give me a cutie-patootie nephew and all. That's gotta count for something, right?




Aaah... Who am I kidding? I'm going to miss him when he goes back to Washington tomorrow. He is funny, kind, intelligent and just plain fun to be around. I also give him points for being the only boy out of five siblings-- and living to tell about it.

Even if the telling sometimes includes lies and all.

(PS Are you offended that I used this "f" word? I hope not, though I will be the first to admit that it is quite an unladylike term.)


Friday, July 31, 2009

My (not always funny) father

I was in the third grade when I finally "got" what my dad meant whenever we had this conversation:

Kids: Daddy, we're hungry!
Dad: Nice to meet you Hungry, I'm dad.


Yup, hilarious.

Not.

He said this quite often so it truly was a lightbulb moment for me when it clicked in my head! When I explained the revelation to my younger siblings, only one of them "got" it too. Oh well. They all figured it out eventually (I'm assuming).


(I must have no shame in posting this picture. For the record, I was younger than this in the aforementioned trip down memory lane. Also, those are my pj's... not real clothes. It's embarrassing either way though.)


To carry on the sad tradition (and because it's a fact that you always end up saying things your parents said), I'll do that to my boys sometimes.

Mommy, I'm hungry.

Glad to meet you hungry, I'm mommy.

They haven't gotten it... yet. They just kind of tilt their heads and laugh at me. Because I am apparently so very silly. But one day, they will laugh (or groan) because they'll realize that I am so very clever.

Or not.


Edited to Add: See my brother Stephen up there? That is the exact thing he'd do (along with a sister or two) in the very back seat when my parents would yell "Straighten up back there!!!" Except his whole body would be completely straight. What a dork! Good times y'all, good times...

Friday, April 10, 2009

Poorly written randomness about shingles, brothers, Wii and shampoo


I have shingles.

There's a big stabbing pain in my neck... I'm okay though. Sure it hurts, but it's not debilitating or anything. I wonder if I just don't have a severe case of it? Or maybe I have a high tolerance for pain?


Could be the high tolerance thing. Speaking of high tolerance for pain and pains in the neck, that makes me think of my little brother Stephen (pronounced "steh-fun").


When we were little, my sisters were scared of my punk of a little brother. Scared of him because he was weird, mean and would hit really really really hard. But never fear, Marsha is here! I would go up to him and fight him even though I KNEW that it would really hurt me. It was just worth it and I learned to cope. Now that we're older and can talk about such things, I am happy to report that I also caused him much physical pain-- hooray for me! LOL


So I guess I should thank him for training me to be tough or something. Too bad he doesn't have a blog so I could send all of y'all there to harass him. I am very thankful that he turned out to be a pretty cool little brother-- although that didn't happen until he was almost 18 years old! Now he's a man and all-- husband to Terri AND father to my cutie-patootie nephew Caden (who is much fatter, rounder, noisier and busier now than he is in this picture).



You turned out pretty good for a punk of a little brother, Stephen! I guess I should cut you some slack though for being the only boy with 4 sisters. You can't exactly survive that and be completely "normal".


And my daddy up there? Yup, he is O-ficially re-tired! Congrats, daddy! My mom and dad have been spending their hours of free time on the Wii. They totally *heart* Wii Golf. So much so that my mom can use the terms par, bogey and birdy correctly! That's just weird, y'all.


On a final note, I have learned much and been quite encouraged from the A Woman Inspired Conference this week. But since I am not in a serious, self-reflecting mood, I would like to pose this particular question that I have been pondering since Shelly Ballestero's talk on beauty:

How do YOU choose a shampoo?


Are you swayed by commercials? Would you NOT buy a particular shampoo b/c the commercial or ad campaign is completely annoying a la Herbal Essences? Do you choose one strictly for its smell/scent? Do you still hold out hope that the claims on the packaging will be true? What is your favorite shampoo/conditioner of all time?

I'm just wondering.

Monday, March 9, 2009

Drawing the line at cow tongue

I have picky eaters in this house. They get it from their daddy. I have decided that each week, we will try to learn to like something new. This week, we are learning to like celery.



How did the boys respond to this today?

THEY LOVED IT, Y'ALL!!!

That was much easier than I anticipated. Now to think of what we'll work on for next week. Perhaps broccoflower might be pushing it... at least for now (and especially since I don't even know if *I* will like it!).

Did your parents make you learn to like certain foods when you were growing up? While my dad didn't exactly make us learn to like cow tongue when we were little, he did force us to try it! Blech!!! Although I do believe that my sister Lele threw a fit or maybe ran away or something to avoid having to eat it. She was always smart like that. There are definite drawbacks when grandma and grandpa have a farm and cows.

Friday, May 30, 2008

Snaggletooth


Snaggletooth.

That is what grandpa has been calling Tank. It's fitting, I suppose... although I thought snaggletooth was that weird tooth that grows up in the top of your gums. But I guess the definition doesn't really matter. What grandpa meant is this...


Isn't he cute?! :-)

There are worse things than being called Snaggletooth. Poor Tank could lose that second tooth (which is VERY loose, by the way) and then be tormented with the song All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth... over and over and over and over again. Trust me!

I speak from personal experience.

I was in the 3rd grade. Nope, I wasn't being teased by some meanies in public school... but by my dad and my older sister Coco. Yup, my own flesh and blood! (Coco, you are so fun to pick on! hehehee) The teasing was so bad and incessant, I refused to show my teeth when I smiled. I have a family picture to prove it too. Of course, I was then made fun of for my goofy smile in the aforementioned family picture... but I digress. Boo hoo. Poor me.

Anyhow, I actually like how they look and lisp when they lose their front teeth! It's waaay better than that super goofy smile they have when their giganto new front teeth come in and are too big for their still small mouth and smile. I don't know, which do you like better? No teeth or the too big rabbit looking teeth?

*update*

Well, Tank is very happy to report this!!!

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

My sibs

I have 3 sisters and 1 brother. Growing up, we were the "unusually large" family that people stared at.

It is kinda funny that now, in my church and amongst my friends, I "only" have three children. And even if I had five kids, we wouldn't exactly be turning heads or anything-- although if I had 5 BOYS, we might! But alas, I only have 3... sniff, sniff...

(I find it odd that just because I have three boys, people assume I am disappointed and that I should keep trying for that elusive girl. Ummm... yeah... no thank you, I am not anti-girl or anything, but there is room enough for only one QUEEN in this family, and that's ME! hehehe But that's a rant for another day...)


From left to right, Bobo (Debbie), Lele (Leah), Stephen (nickname varies according to mood-- hehe, j/k!), Marsha (no fun nickname, although I was called Nerd and Dragonlady a few times), and Coco (Christine). This was taken at my mom's 60th b-day party... hence the Korean dresses. It's not what you would normally find me wearing to Target or Kroger or something. And is it just me or do I look prego in that dress?! Agh!

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Jail Time



When I was little, my parents had this framed picture hanging on the wall. My siblings and I would gather around it and whisper the implications of such a thing.

Mom and dad-- in JAIL!!! Horse thieves! I didn't know they could ride a horse! And they robbed both a bank and a train?! I wonder how they escaped.

So many questions, such big imaginations. It all had to be true too. After all, we did live in Colorado for a short while and mom and dad never denied this actually happening.

I am also rather certain that the $4,000 reward must have crossed all of our minds... whether we'd admit it publicly or not. That is a lot of moolah to a 6 year old kid.

I think it is also safe to say that none of us were very good at math back in the day. Either that or we thought it fit in perfectly with the fact that mom and dad seemed very old. Did you see the date of pardon down at the bottom? Yup, that says 1896!

Good times, people. Good times...

I am still so tempted to get a picture like that made of David and me. Hmmm... I wonder if we'd be worth more reward than just $4,000.

Saturday, March 22, 2008

The truth, please?



I know I have shared this precious picture of Tank with y'all before. But have I shown you the rest of the story?

Do you believe what you see here?



Or is this the real truth?



Methinks he would make a great politician one day! I just need to teach him to not allow controversial pictures of himself to be taken...

This did make me do some thinking. Do my boys think I favor one of them over the other?


I am the second of five children... 3 girls, 1 boy, then 1 girl. My parents never really played favorites-- although I did feel that my brother got preferential treatment sometimes just because he was the only boy!

But the tradeoff for him having his own room, getting to go to grandma and grandpa's (just him, by himself with no other siblings!) and getting the easy job of taking out the trash (while I was on dishwashing duty-- every day, while trash is only twice a week) is that he did get stuck with the scary rooms in the house and he didn't have anyone to talk to at night. But I digress...


All three of my boys have very different personalities. Depending on the situation, some are easier to get along with than others. I do wonder how they'll look back on their childhood and wonder what kind of a mommy they think I was... or am...

Will they feel injustice about some things-- like who whined, who hit, who rubbed yogurt on the wall and who had to clean it up? Will they have selective memory? Will they think I have a favorite?


While I don't worry about this, I do wonder about it. Life isn't always fair and my children don't need to be coddled about their self-esteem (blah blah blah), but it is a good idea to consider and reevaluate the family dynamics every now and then. To stop looking at the kids as a group (brothers, 3 boys, my little men!) but as individuals. Very unique. Very loved.


So what was it like growing up in your house? What is it like today?

Saturday, January 12, 2008

To spell or not to spell

I tried to avoid thinking about it-- the "Just for Fun" Bee that is coming up in two weeks.

Then I ran across this post by Rocks in My Dryer.

Dash is uber excited about the Bee and absolutely loves spelling! Why? Because it comes naturally to him and is by far the easiest subject for him in our homeschool.

In fact, we usually do one word list a week (including the more difficult alternate words). Most weeks he gets 100% the first time around and, on a rare occasion, he might miss one word. Then the next day he spells that one word correctly. No problemo, easy-schmeasy.

So I worry about two things:

1. The disappointment he will feel if he does not make it past the first round.

2. The total anxiety and nervousness I will feel during the Bee-- as well as the time spent thinking about the Bee, preparing for it (like I have all the time in the world) and the actual event itself. It turns my stomach, y'all!

*sigh*

It makes me think back to my spelling bee days.

The spelling gene runs in the family... my DAD even won the spelling bee at his work! I know, who knew they had those things? He works in budgeting/finance at Lockheed, won the company Bee and then went on to the regional competition. Yup, you heard me right-- he moved on to the next level (it may have been called something different). It was essentially other companies sending their best spellers to compete. Just thinking about it totally makes me laugh! I love my daddy!

Anyhow, this "just for fun bee" makes me nervous. *I* really really really want to back out. My mom still quizzes me on "television"... the dreaded word that *I* missed in my school spelling bee in 2nd grade.

I got a really big second place trophy but have been haunted by that word ever since!

Oh, and in the 5th grade I missed "doornail." But I'm telling ya, I spelled it right!!! I just happen to mumble and go very quickly when I'm nervous and the judge did not hear me say the "i". Come on, who would ever spell doornail without the "i"?! Give me some credit here. The humiliation. The agony of defeat. Oi.

So, have any of you won the big tamale of spelling bees? I know y'all have spelling bee stories to share-- both good and bad. I want to hear them! Why? Because it's fun.

And I don't want to feel alone in my anxiety of the dreaded "just for fun" bee. See how I'm putting the "just for fun" in the :quote: :unquote:? Yup. I have no idea WHO it could possibly be fun for! Ack!

Oh and a couple of words that are on the list for this K-3rd grade "Just for Fun" Bee are minuend and docile. I hope he gets a couple of the other words on this same list... words like in and gut!