Bee

There are over 25,000 known species of bees world wide.

You have
Honey Bee
Bumble Bee
Ground Bee
Wasp
Hornet
Carpenter Bee
&
Yellow Jackets
in all their varieties and species.
(There are about 4000 species in the US and 250 in Britain. In case you didn’t know.)

Then there are the other types of bees.

You have
Quilting Bee
The Birds and the Bees
Busy as a Bee
The Bee’s Knees
Bees in your Bonnet
None of your Beeswax

Of course, you’ve all heard of the
Spelling Bee!

But have you ever heard of the
Geography Bee?

I hadn’t either.
Until Scooter won the top prize in his middle school.

I didn’t even know he was competing, until one day he came home from school and said he was in the semi-finals.
And then he came home and said he’d made it to the finals.

I was speechless.

I knew the kid liked geography.
He always liked playing with US map puzzles as a kid.
He could put the puzzle together without even thinking.
He knew the states and their capitals.
But that’s all I thought he knew.
I was surprised.

I wasn’t invited to view the semi-finals (because he didn’t invite me),
but I made sure that I knew when/where the finals were.
It was exciting to watch!

I videoed him answering one of the easier questions.
(You’ll have to click on the link. I can’t get the video to embed.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMAdFDWx7kg&feature=youtu.be

There were 10 kids from his school that made it to the finals.
It was neck and neck at the end.
Scooter was competing against a classmate and friend .
To my surprise and delight,
and with my heart stuck in my throat as I watched them answer question after question,
Scooter prevailed and won.

He won a trip to the State competition.
(It was held here in town at the University)
The winner of state goes on to compete in nationals.
It’s a big deal.

Here’s what National Geographic (who sponsors the bee) has to say about it:

”Each year thousands of schools in the United States participate in the National Geographic Bee
using materials prepared by the National Geographic Society.
The contest is designed to encourage teachers to include geography in their classrooms,
spark student interest in the subject, and increase public awareness about geography.
Schools with students in grades four through eight are eligible for this entertaining
and challenging test of geographic knowledge. “

To help him study, we bought books and study guides.
My house has huge maps pinned on the walls.
There’s a practice test online that he took every day
and then he’d go study the things he got wrong.

We spent hours each day reviewing potential questions.
Looking up answers to make sure they’re still correct and accurate.
Verifying facts.

Learning rivers, valleys, mountains, plateaus, ancient civilizations, history of languages
monetary systems, governments, rainfall amounts, geography terms, etc. etc.
You  name it, it’s included in the Bee.

Finally, the day of the state bee arrived.
Flynn was here for the big occasion and gave him a priesthood blessing
to help calm his nerves.
We felt like that no matter what,
Scooter had studied his heart out, so no matter where he placed
he could hold his head high and be proud of his accomplishment.

(Doesn’t he look handsome?)


In our state, only 79 kids qualified to attend.
Scooter beat 804 kids in his school.
Plus, he’s competing against kids as old as 14!! Gah!

One of the added benefits of the day was having his
most excellent school teacher be there as one of the judges.

Of course, Mr. D. couldn’t be Scooter’s judge,
but it was still nice having him there.

In the end, Scooter didn’t place in the top 10.
He felt pretty terrible.
We consoled him, dried his tears,
and stayed and watched the final round
(which he knew almost all the answers for!)
and began strategizing for next year’s bee.

Like I said, we’re pretty proud of our boy!
He’s smart, he’s cute and most importantly, he’s a nice kid.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Another added bonus for the day:

After the preliminary rounds were over, the contestants were given a candy bar.
Scooter says it was like a Nestle Crunch Bar,
only the bits in it were hard (I’m guessing toffee).

As soon as he took a bite, his tooth felt funny.

Upon closer inspection, we found out that his back molar
had split in half.

So we called the dentist,
and as soon as the bee was over,
he had his final baby tooth extracted.

Not every kid can walk away from a Geography Bee with a broken tooth as a prize!

Don’t let the drama of the photo fool you!
The laughing gas did it’s work!
The boy was giddy and as high as a kite.
It was an easy breezy extraction made funnier when Scooter asked to see the tool the dentist was going to use.
(He used his curiosity as a ruse.)
When the dentist showed the pliers to him, Scooter grabbed them and tried to take them away.
It took the dentist both hands to get them back.
Scooter laughed the whole time.
(Little stinker.)