Heading to the 2023 National Spelling Bee?
For 2023 National Spelling Bee participants only.
Please notify us of your interest to reserve your space.
National Spelling Bee CHAMPIONS and many runners-up have used Hexco's annual Spelling Crash Course program to practice and hone their skills and feel more relaxed and confident at the National Spelling Bee.
Weekly 45-Minute Sessions | 5 Sessions plus one-on-one feedback!
- WHEN: Sundays, April 16, 23, 30 and May 7, and 14
- TIME: 5-5:45 pm EST / 4-4:45 pm CST / 3-3:45 pm MST / 2-2:45 pm PST
- TUITION: $1550
- PLUS ... weekly 15 min. individual feedback for each student!
'Study Smarter' and experience synchronous learning with Hexco's 25+ year head coach. Michelle Horton has coached over 200 National Spelling Bee participants and has piloted one-third of National Spelling Bee finalists since 2008.
- Weekly comprehensive assignments and personalized feedback
- Selected words are all scopious so that learning about each teaches other words and ties languages and roots together
- Difficult unassigned words are given to teach skills in fielding unknown selections
- Weekly live spelling bees are conducted to prepare for the format at the National Bee and test your mettle
Utilize Hexco's intelligent eLearning software and time-tested study lists
- Videos or list of rules for spelling words from different languages weekly with lists of words to reinforce the rules and test your abilities
- Difficult to impossible to spell words not obviated by etymology, as eponyms, trademarks, words from imitative origins and unknown origins
- Latin and Greek roots to "collect" words from each and solidify the meaning and spelling of each root
- Prior National Bee words that are extremely hard to spell!
The National Spelling Bee is approaching FAST, and Hexco's Spelling Crash Course can help you make the best of the remaining time to study.
Sessions are prepared in advance and adapted for each small "class." Students are all given the same assignments, and they meet via Skype for the quizzing/coaching sessions. This works in a round-robin format with one speller fielding a word orally while all others enter their spelling in their own file. Spellers also gain invaluable experience by taking written practice tests that are available only to Crash Course students. Participants in this course learn how to optimize their study time while developing spelling skills, and they are guided on techniques for fielding unknown words.
QUIZZING/COACHING SESSIONS
- 45 minutes per week for 5 weeks
- Classes are held via Zoom or Skype
- Spellers must have Merriam Webster's Unabridged Online Dictionary (subscription, not free version).
- There are no make-ups. If students cannot attend a class, all words, instructions, and comments will be emailed to all parents and put into the speller's Google sheet for studying
- All correspondence will take place via email and Google sheets. Mrs. Horton does not have enough time for personal "updates" by phone with individual students/parents
- No additional resources are REQUIRED for the class, but we do recommend New Nat's eMentor or New Nat's Notes, Verbomania eMentor or Verbomania, Spelling Rules Book, Blitz eMentor or Blitz List(s), Webster Detector, etc. for studying. These are not provided with the class
INDIVIDUALIZED COACHING/FEEDBACK
- 15 minutes per week for 5 weeks
- Times are set between speller and coach at a predetermined hour
- Individual coaching will be geared to your speller's level of experience
- Additional work may be assigned during this time
Interested? Please fill out our interest form, and we will contact you within 48 hours with a coaching agreement and a link for payment. Already filled out our inquiry form and waiting for a reply? Call 830-367-3825 or email hexco@hexco.com
Get immediate access to our spelling eMentor demo samples. This app is used in our Spelling Crash Course!
Head coach, Michelle Horton, has coached nearly 100 spellers in our Spelling Crash Course, totaling over 200 students in our other coaching programs. Beginning with coaching her own children to the 5th and 6th places in the National finals, Michelle has worked for Hexco for 15+ years. She has served as our coach since 2008 and she's worked closely with Hexco to edit words and compile new word collections for our eMentor platform.
Michelle guides spellers on skills needed to field unfamiliar words during a bee by using ‘language of origin’ skills, asking the right questions, reviewing Latin and Greek elements, relating words to other words and using time at the microphone to dissect words expediently.
Our goal for spellers is excitement about language and mastery of words, not just rote memorization!
Michelle is an incredibly skilled coach and educator with a Bachelor's degree in Secondary Education, and her positive attitude helps build excellent rapport with students. She continues to receive stellar reviews from spellers and parents who have had the opportunity to benefit from her coaching, many of whom have made it to the higher rungs of the National Spelling Bee.