[Momaw Nadon]

The article states that the runner up was home-schooled.

It is unclear whether the winner was home-schooled.

Does anyone have a definitive answer?

[chance33_98]

It is unclear whether the winner was home-schooled.

Perhaps not, but I would guess most of his studying for this he did at home....

[Dudoight]

The winner is not home schooled. He attends St. Mark's School in Dallas. My sons attended this school as do now my grandsons. It is a wonderful school. But this kid's talent belongs to him, in my opinion, not the school.

[babble-on]

do you ever wonder if maybe spelling bee success might not be the best guide to the quality of someone's education?

[eleni121]

I was runner up from my district twice (2nd and 3rd grades)and I still remember the words that tripped me up: granary---which I spelled "grainery" and independence which I spelled "independance".

I do not remember why I didn't try out again but I am still haunted by what might have been.

[tom h]

The winner was not homeschooled but he definitely comes from a traditional family -- father is an engineer, mother at home governing the day-to-day affairs of the family.

What is more telling is that you never hear that these children come from liberal families. Have you ever heard that the "winner's father is an environmental activist, and his mother is a feminist lawyer"?

[Allan]

The student's family are devotees of Sai Baba.
Hence the name.

[Flightdeck]

I was in the National Spelling Bee in eighth grade. I tied for 100th place, but I'm not saying what word I missed; it's too easy. The worst part was that my whole class was studying a certain chapter in biology that week while I was gone, and when they asked what I missed, everybody said "Man, that's a piece of cake, loser."

[Truthsayer20]

I don't understand the status folks give these spelling bees; it's just rote memorization. Sure, it's important to have a good vocabulary but dictionaries exist so that you don't have memorize every single word in the English language. I would rather see creative essay writing or applied science competitions have the same level of public interest.

[Rummyfan]

Evelyn Blacklock, a 14-year-old eighth-grader who is home-schooled in Tuxedo Park, N.Y., was the runner-up.

Hurray for home schoolers!