Spelldown.

Anna was one of two 4th graders from her school to compete in the school district spelling bee.  Though proud at being recognized for her natural talent at spelling, she was terrified at the prospect of competing at the district level with an audience of unfamiliar faces.  She hates being on the spot.  I told her she would regret not participating, that we didn't care whether or not she made it to the next level, and that it would be a valuable learning experience to add to her repertoire.  She bought it.  I took her three sisters to watch her compete.  Anna was phenomenal.  (Now that I'm blogging about a spelling bee, I'm instantly self-conscious at my own ability to spell words like phenomenal.  And yes, I just looked it up.)

Anna breezed through the first few rounds and then they decided to kick it up a notch (or one hundred).  Ten of the twelve kids remaining misspelled their words.  Including Anna.  I'm not sure if she was disappointed or relieved.  In any case, I'm proud of her for doing something uncomfortable, and, as predicted, she learned from the experience.  Like that studying pays off (go figure).  She's gearing up for next years spelldown.

By the way, I personally think that more scary than the friendly audience behind Anna was the severe-looking woman conducting the whole affair.  I'm kidding - she was a perfectly lovely person.