Post by Charity on May 9, 2005 9:01:46 GMT -5
MARILYN HAGERTY COLUMN : Joan Due: Mother of 3 spelling champs
Joan Due goes over spelling words patiently with her daughters. She says learning the roots of words is more effective than just plain memorizing the spelling. She knows because she is the mother of three who have won the city and state spelling bees and gone on to national competition.
Joan Due is a single parent who home-schooled her daughters while going through UND herself. For the past couple of years, she has been employed as a physical therapist for Altru Health System - a job she says she loves.
And Joan Due is high on my list of outstanding mothers being honored today.
She's pretty low-key about the fact that Melanie, her youngest, will be representing North Dakota in this year's Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee on June 1-2 in Washington D.C. She's plenty excited about the fact that the whole family will be visiting Washington again.
"It's so much fun," she says. "We'll be there a week at the Grand Hyatt in the middle of Washington."
Each day, they are preparing for the National Spelling Bee in spite of concerts and musical recitals in May. Joan Due says Melanie will be prepared and do her best. That's all they ask.
There was pressure, of course, for Melanie, 13, and a seventh-grader, when she recently won the state title in Bismarck. But her mother reminded her she had lost out the year before and the spotlight would be on others expected to win. Her sisters, Karen, 19, and Hannah, 16, were there pulling for her. And they knew "the drill." They finished 13th and 12th, respectively, in national competition after they were state champions.
The Due girls have been friends as they have grown and learned together at home. Joan Due says she wanted an educational setting with "Godly principles" and chose to home-school them after the Christian school they attended was flooded in 1997. She relied on the strength she gets from Bible Baptist Church west of Grand Forks on U.S. Highway 2 and near the rural home where the Dues live.
Although she favors home-schooling, Joan Due has nothing against the public schools. Her daughters have been in music classes and religious classes outside home, and they mingle well with other children. Although they have learned at home, she feels sure they have developed social skills as they have moved along. And Karen now is attending UND.
When their home-schooling began, they lived in university housing while Joan Due also attended UND to become a physical therapist. She believes she could not have done it without the Lord's help. And her parents, who live in St. Cloud, always have been supportive.
When her daughters were younger, she had help from others. "We had to be very structured," Due says. "I made many lists."
As the girls grew older, Due worked part time, and she has worked full time for the past two years. With home-schooling, there are visits from monitors to make sure all state educational requirements are met. And the Due girls are very self-directed. They use video from the Abeka Video School in Florida for their coursework. Karen did well in her college entrance exams, and all three score well on national testing.
Joan Due has promoted a spelling bee among the 30 or 40 families in the area who home-school. For her daughters, she encouraged participation in orchestra and band in the public schools. They have taken voice lessons from Maria Williams.
Melanie plays viola. Karen plays violin and also teaches. Hannah, who plays flute, recently won a competition in the Twin Cities. This month is full of recitals for the Due family.
But they still are finding time to review words. When Joan Due gets home from work, she spends 45 minutes with Melanie. These days are as full and as rich as days can be for Joan Due. She sees her daughters spreading their wings.
There won't be time today to celebrate Mother's Day. Joan Due will be working and feels sure her daughters are self-directed and secure. She never chose to be a single parent, but she found the Lord was a great sustainer, and she goes to him in prayer.
www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/living/11593184.htm
Joan Due goes over spelling words patiently with her daughters. She says learning the roots of words is more effective than just plain memorizing the spelling. She knows because she is the mother of three who have won the city and state spelling bees and gone on to national competition.
Joan Due is a single parent who home-schooled her daughters while going through UND herself. For the past couple of years, she has been employed as a physical therapist for Altru Health System - a job she says she loves.
And Joan Due is high on my list of outstanding mothers being honored today.
She's pretty low-key about the fact that Melanie, her youngest, will be representing North Dakota in this year's Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee on June 1-2 in Washington D.C. She's plenty excited about the fact that the whole family will be visiting Washington again.
"It's so much fun," she says. "We'll be there a week at the Grand Hyatt in the middle of Washington."
Each day, they are preparing for the National Spelling Bee in spite of concerts and musical recitals in May. Joan Due says Melanie will be prepared and do her best. That's all they ask.
There was pressure, of course, for Melanie, 13, and a seventh-grader, when she recently won the state title in Bismarck. But her mother reminded her she had lost out the year before and the spotlight would be on others expected to win. Her sisters, Karen, 19, and Hannah, 16, were there pulling for her. And they knew "the drill." They finished 13th and 12th, respectively, in national competition after they were state champions.
The Due girls have been friends as they have grown and learned together at home. Joan Due says she wanted an educational setting with "Godly principles" and chose to home-school them after the Christian school they attended was flooded in 1997. She relied on the strength she gets from Bible Baptist Church west of Grand Forks on U.S. Highway 2 and near the rural home where the Dues live.
Although she favors home-schooling, Joan Due has nothing against the public schools. Her daughters have been in music classes and religious classes outside home, and they mingle well with other children. Although they have learned at home, she feels sure they have developed social skills as they have moved along. And Karen now is attending UND.
When their home-schooling began, they lived in university housing while Joan Due also attended UND to become a physical therapist. She believes she could not have done it without the Lord's help. And her parents, who live in St. Cloud, always have been supportive.
When her daughters were younger, she had help from others. "We had to be very structured," Due says. "I made many lists."
As the girls grew older, Due worked part time, and she has worked full time for the past two years. With home-schooling, there are visits from monitors to make sure all state educational requirements are met. And the Due girls are very self-directed. They use video from the Abeka Video School in Florida for their coursework. Karen did well in her college entrance exams, and all three score well on national testing.
Joan Due has promoted a spelling bee among the 30 or 40 families in the area who home-school. For her daughters, she encouraged participation in orchestra and band in the public schools. They have taken voice lessons from Maria Williams.
Melanie plays viola. Karen plays violin and also teaches. Hannah, who plays flute, recently won a competition in the Twin Cities. This month is full of recitals for the Due family.
But they still are finding time to review words. When Joan Due gets home from work, she spends 45 minutes with Melanie. These days are as full and as rich as days can be for Joan Due. She sees her daughters spreading their wings.
There won't be time today to celebrate Mother's Day. Joan Due will be working and feels sure her daughters are self-directed and secure. She never chose to be a single parent, but she found the Lord was a great sustainer, and she goes to him in prayer.
www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/living/11593184.htm