Homeschooler Nathan Cornelius wins national geography bee

Star Tribune ^ | May 25, 2005 | Greg Gordon

[Cincinatus' Wife]

WASHINGTON -- Nathan Cornelius, a home schooled seventh grader from Cottonwood, Minn., won the 17th annual National Geographic Bee competition today, with a dazzling display of knowledge about places, cultures, cities, countries and rivers around the globe.

For winning the competition, which started with 5 million students nationwide, Nathan was awarded a $25,000 scholarship.

He bested nine other finalists during the taping of the event moderated by TV’s ''Jeopardy!'' host Alex Trebek.

He was one of two contestants to survive a double elimination first round that took 105 questions.

Then he outlasted Karan Takhar, 14, of Rhode Island,in an 11-question championship round.

The deciding question called on the contestants to identify the dammed river that forms artificial Lake Gatun in the Panama Canal system.

Nathan hardly hesitated before writing down his answer: the Chagres River. He couldn’t contain a big smile when Trebek noted that the two finalists had different answers.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Good luck to them.

[Van Jenerette]

...read.

[Born Conservative]

[Aquinasfan]

Thanks, I listened to Kreeft's tape series on "Ethics : a history of moral though" from the Modern Scholar Series. Very Good. It may be available at your library or it is also sold at Barnes and Nobel.

Thanks. I would really enjoy that. He's very easy to listen to.

[traviskicks]

http://www.neoperspectives.com/homeschooling.htm

On the homeschoolers undera ttack.

[traviskicks]

can i get on your homeschooling ping before you pass it off?

btw, I wish this reporter would have given the homeschooling pecentage of kids who were in the finals.

Thanks to whoever it was who posted those spelling B stats.

[nmh]

"What if he's Jewish? Should his parents not be proud if him?"

It's typically Christians that homeschool. He name sure doesn't sound very Jewish.

What if he is Jewish?

Do you think his parents shouldn't be proud of him?

It seems to me that you are alittle defensive.

[nmh]

"I was just going to point out that the kid looks an awful lot like the Jewish kids in my old neighborhood. A lot of Jewish families homeschool their kids!"

It would be interesting to know but any decent parent would be proud of a boy like that.

I'm surprised that Jewish families are doing this. It's typically those evil Christian families that homeschool. Hey, more power to anyone who homeschools!

[Serenissima Venezia]

Parents should google home schooling and their state name. They'll be astonished how much help there is for homeschooling - it's organized, enthusiastic and extensive.

I am looking for information about homeschooling high school, primarily any groups in my area that might share resources plus social time and information about meeting college entrance requirements, esp. labs. Sadly, I couldn't find anything much.

[don-o]

I had heard on the noon radio news that the champ had been crowned. Report did not mention the fact that he was HS. Went to the Nattional Geo Bee web site - two of the ten finalists were HS.

Do the math. When we have 20% of schoolers at home, then all the competition will belong to us!

[don-o]

My son is the State Spelling Bee champion for Colorado.

WHOO HOO!! Keep us posted, if you can. Tell your boy that we are very proud of his accomplishment.

[I'm ALL Right!]

My question:

What Curriculum has be been studying???

I'll buy it.

[don-o]

Homeschoolers: taking over the world, one kid at a time.

sshhh - (it's supposed to be a secret)

[JenB]

They don't believe us. We can shout it from the rooftops and they think we're joking. Don't worry, we're into the second generation, I don't think they can stop us.

[don-o]

Nope. No kids yet

If and when you are blessed with children, it will rock your world. It did mine. Lots of thing I thought I was sure about before, I had to re-think.

[ET(end tyranny)]

That is great. All of the kids that compete deserve a round of applause. They go through quite a bit of pressure in a short amount of time in these competitions.

Our son made it to the state level and finished 10th for our state, on April 1st. They had 15 perfect scores and the kids had to keep answering questions to eliminate 5 of them as the rules only allow for the top 10 to compete for the state representative.

[Osage Orange]

probably not been sleeping with his teacher either

Ah ha...good point!!

[ET(end tyranny)]

When I was in school, one did not stray from one's grade.

Not to worry. The 20th century took care of that! They mingled.

[WIladyconservative]

One day, all children will be home schooled. The Internet makes it possible now - in virtual classrooms. The potential for learning and development is staggering to imagine.

I agree - my child is enrolled in a home-based public school . . . but guess what - our State teacher's Union is suing the school to shut us down.

Doesn't matter that our students did better than most of the other students in the state on the State standardized tests. The teacher's union believes we are unfit to guide our student's learning because we don't have state teacher certification. Doesn't matter that my son HAS a state certified teacher who partners with me to guide him - they are suing their own teachers!

[Gatún(CraigIsaMangoTreeLawyer)]

Hey, knew the answer to that.

Regards,

Gatún