Pee Wee Bee

He thinks it's ridiculous, waiting for a group of kids to spell words. Just sitting there and waiting for the whole thing to be over appears to him as a waste of time. That's what my husband's opinion on spelling bee is.

As for me, it's not about the spelling bee per se, it's about the experience and exposure to different kind of socialization for home-schooled kids. We had good humoredly argued about the importance of knowing how to spell when I told him I was going to enter our daughter in an upcoming spelling bee. Me and my 'you can't rely on the spell checker because you can totally spell a word correctly but it wouldn't make cents in your sentence at all' and him with his 'so what is you know how to spell, and oh yeah, there's the spell checker, why not use it?'.

Nevertheless, I completely ignored his 'protests' over the spelling bee and enrolled S and N anyway. He was not 100% serious anyway, though he might be, but it doesn't really matter since I'm the one in charge anyway.

So Feb 27, 2006, Tuesday, yesterday, we all (Hubby, Jidda, Ummi, S, N , H) drove to Linworth Baptist Church for the Spelling Bee. Unfortunately it was in a church, and I have to say it's my first time. I told the kids when we were going in.

The pews were very well padded and underneath every pew were bibles, to which the kids kept asking,

"What's that?"

"The bible," I said.

"If it were the Quran, we won't be putting it way down there near our feet. What does that show?" I asked.

"That it's special," said S.

Critical thinking there.

"N, don't just keep quiet okay. Just spell the word," I told them before the bee started.

My children are naturally diffident, since I am not that outgoing either by nature. Neither is my husband, at least relatively. People were always commenting on how shy our children are, and they're right. It's the one thing that bothers me, especially since I'm homeschooling, but whenever I rehashed my priorities and the reason why I homeschool, their shyness always takes a back seat. There was someone who gave me unsolicited advice pertaining to their shyness, which hackled me for quite a while, due to the implication that extrovertism is the only 'in thing' right now. I guess if we're all extroverts, there would be no listeners. Harrrumph!

The bee started for the 1-3rd graders and they all stood in line on the stage. Only Allah knows how my heart beat with anxiety as my two girls ascended the stage. S was extremely shy, even when I sent her to preschool. The school even held a meeting to which I was hailed, because they wanted to determine if she has a speech problem. However, she seems to have gotten over the shyness. I can still remember the sessions we had, just the two of us, talking about how she can battle her shyness. She was reduced to crying even in trying to figure out a way to overcome it. Again, only Allah knows how it worried me to no end. I don't want my girl to grow up to be a wanton, no-shame kind of woman, but I don't want her to be such a hermit either.

As for N, she is not naturally shy, but I think she's going through that stage where the shyness kicks in more times than I want to see. That's why it's so important for me to keep exposing them to different kinds of settings so as to give them the experiences that would eventually train them to overcome their diffidence.

I didn't really expect them to be bold and speak in the mic like the other kids, so when the practice round started, I left it all to Allah. Worst case would be me bringing them back home without ever participating in the bee at all. Though I hoped I wouldn't have to.

To my ULTIMATE surprise, S and N both performed rather amazingly in the pee wee spelling bee. Alhamdulillah, before they started, a kid cried out,

"Nervous!"

"You're nervous?" said the the teacher in charge, and laughter erupted from the audience.

"Who's nervous, raise your hand," she said, and I saw S's hand shoot up, and followed by a hesitant N.

"Okay, let's loosen up then."

I'm so glad that brilliant kid mentioned nerves, because I saw S loosen up a bit with a smile.

Well, I never thought the outcome would be what did happen. S remained among the last three, then the last two and finally, the only one. She was the CHAMPION! N, remained in the last 6 before she spelled 'calf' instead of 'cough'.

While the bee was going on I had asked H, who was sitting beside me, watching his sisters,

"H, do you think S and N can win this?"

He nodded, but then added,

"But I think N will get out."

After it was all over, he said to me,

"See, I told you N would get out."

I made sure N didn't hear that. She on the other hand, was elated, and whispered to me,

"I did it."

I knew what it about. I had told her to abandon her shyness and just speak lest she attracts more attention by making people wait for her to speak. By overcoming that hurdle, and I must say she did more than overcome it, she flew over it with brilliant blinding colors!

Yes, N. You did it. You're a champion too. Masyaallah.

Insyaallah, up numerous rungs of the ladder of self esteem. Alhamdulillah.