National Geography Bee Update

Remember I shared with you my slightly bragging post... about my sons finishing 1st and 2nd in our homeschool Geography Bee?  Here's an update on what happened next...


Luke was given the opportunity, as the winner, to take a written test.  The top 100 scores of these tests are invited to participate in the State level of the National Geography Bee.

Luke took the test...and we waited...and waited... and waited.  Finally, the call from our coordinator came - along with the letter inviting him to participate in the State Bee!! 

 

Next, the studying began in earnest.  He had about a month between finding out, and the big day.  He completely took charge of this on his own.  He did online questions at the National Geography Bee site (take the Geo bee daily quiz yourself), read some books, looked at maps and beat all of us at any geography trivia game we played (he actually got a little attitude after awhile...claiming we "weren't much competition")

 

 

 

 The big day arrived.  The top 100 of the state were divided up into 5 groups of 20 to compete in preliminary round.  We were not able to observe this, due to space.  I calmed my nerves with a coffee date with my wonderful husband...  They were each asked 8 different questions.  The competitors with the best overall scores would advance to the Top 10 Finalist round.

As they began to come back in,  I heard other children telling their parents how they thought they had done.  "I got 5 right out of 8",  "I think I got 6 right, mom".... 

Finally, Luke's group was returned.  I knew right away from his huge smile, he had done well!  He excitedly sat down and reported, "I only missed one!"

He was one of only 8 children (out of 100) to only miss 1 or less in the preliminary round!!

The Finalist Round was a variety of different types of questions.  Some multiple choice, some naming, some identifying a location on a map.  The most difficult (I thought) was identifying a city form a Google earth screen shot and a couple of clues. These kids are impressive!!

Luke made it through 6 rounds before being eliminated - finishing #6 in the State. We are so proud of him!! 

The AR winner won his unprecedented third win in a row, never missing a question. We are planning on watching the coverage of the National Geography Bee in late May.

 Who knows maybe next year...Luke will be there!