It takes a flow chart to explain how kids advance or are disqualified from the National Spelling Bee. We remember spelling bees as kids spelling until they misspell a word or drop from exhaustion. Remember when the other kid misspelled a word you considered easy, and all you had to do was to spell that word correctly, and then spell your own, unknown, word correctly to win? Those days are long gone at this level.

When you have 285 great spellers and a national television schedule to keep, it's impossible to keep spelling, and keep spelling, and keep spelling . Here's how it works at the national level this year. I've met some great repeat parents, and they tell me the format is changing every year.

All the kids take a Scantron test at the same time. This is called the Preliminaries Test. They have twelve spelling words (multiple choice--how easy is that!?!?) and twelve vocabulary words (again--are we making this too simple for the kids!?!?!?) Any word in the Merriam-Webster International Dictionary is fair game, and they have had no hints pointing them toward certain words. Liam took this test this morning along with all the other spellers. I knew with certainty five of the twelve spelling words and six of the twelve round one vocabulary words. I would be laughed out of the room if I were competing. Kindly, but still . . . 

The kids have been able to study particular words for rounds two and three--there are 1,100+ words in the round two list (and they will be asked one spelling word, and one vocabulary word) and another 600 'study' words for the third round . Liam got both of these vocabulary words correct. Those points apply to his rounds two and three.

Next, all kids go on stage for oral spelling the next morning. They get to spell one word on stage. Misspell that word, and it's automatic elimination. Spell that word correctly, and they could still be eliminated if the score from the rounds one, two, and three written test isn't high enough to be in the top 50 spellers. In the afternoon, each kid gets to spell one more word on stage. Again, automatic elimination if the word is misspelled.

Finally, at the end of the three rounds, the kids all gather on stage to hear who made it to the semifinals. The combined score from rounds one, two, and three spelling and vocabulary have to be sufficiently high to be among the top 50 spellers. There are 285 spellers in the preliminary rounds this year, so that means almost five of every six kids are out after the preliminary rounds.

I feel like a Las Vegas oddsmaker after figuring all this stuff out. I think the old days of spelling until exhaustion were much simpler.