4th grade homeschooler wins county spelling bee
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ARLEE — Heidi Huber, a fourth grade homeschool student from Bigfork, took first place at the Lake County Spelling Bee by spelling “anthropology” and “liturgy” correctly.
Held in the old Arlee High School gym on Thursday, Feb. 6, the event marks the 60th Lake County Spelling Bee, and the 100th National Spelling Bee. Some 30 students, grades 4-8 gathered from all over the Valley to showcase their spelling skills in pursuit of victory.
Competition was fierce, as one-by-one, students stepped up to the microphone to spell words like “puniness,” “parroting,” and “onyx.” Twelve students were eliminated in the first round, and five more in the second.
Although Huber deservingly took first place, her homeschooling isn’t registered under the Scripts Institute, making her ineligible to compete at the state spelling bee in Bozeman. Second place winner, Apollonia Hall, a sixth grader from Charlo, will advance to state for the second year in a row. Hall won first place last year, in 2024 as a fifth grader and advanced to state competition. This year’s third and fourth place Lake County spelling bee winners had an impressive spell off, going many rounds, and ultimately ending in a tie.
Huber, this year’s champion, says she has been homeschooling almost her whole life, attending one year of public preschool. She said she prepared by studying a lot with her mom and using an app to practice.
“It sounded like a lot of fun,” she said. “I had never done a spelling bee before and I always like a challenge.”
