NORMAL - Seven-and-a-half year old Katherine Delaney of Heyworth wore her much-liked rhinestone tiara Monday night to watch a sister and two brothers compete in a home-school student spelling bee.

She wasn't old enough to be in the bee, but was tickled to be at College Park Christian Church "because it's big and it's neat." The contest was for fourth- through eighth-graders.

"Everyone is nervous and excited," said her sister Megan Delaney, who pointed out her 11th birthday fell on the day of the spelling bee.

"I think it's going to be fun. I'm excited and nervous - but mostly excited," said Brian Delaney, 9. It was his first time competing.

The spelling bee was déjà vu in several ways - there were 11 students again this year, with seventh-grader Josh Miller coming in first again and Sean Delaney, Katherine's brother, coming in second again.

"It was a lot of practice, but it was worth it," said Miller, the son of Chad and Melissa Miller of Bloomington, as he held his trophy.

Josh will advance to The Pantagraph Grand Final Bee on March 8 at the Community Players Theatre in Bloomington, with that winner getting an all-expense paid trip to Washington D.C. "That'd be really cool - to go to D.C.," Josh said. Co-sponsor of the spelling bee is Busey Bank.

The home-school bee was organized by Paul and Cherie Schmidgall, Bloomington, of the Crossroads Area Home School Association.

Sean misspelled "wiseacre," leaving out the "e" in a word describing a person making annoyingly conceited claims to knowledge. Josh spelled "trajectory" and then "protocol" correctly to win.

Other contestants earlier misspelled such words as "scampie" instead of "scampi" and "nasel" instead of "nasal."

The Delaneys' dad, Ted, was at work, so their mom, Janeen, brought the six children, which also includes Kelly, 6, and Erin, 4.

"Next year I am going to win - and I am going to be taller than him," said Sean, 13, nodding at Josh.