Speech & Debate

Does your homeschool support group offer speech & debate classes?  Mine does, but I've never had my children participate in them until the 2011-12 school year.  My son, Noah, is 14 years old and will be 15 soon, so my husband and I felt like it was time for him to do speech & debate classes in order to help him be a better speaker (and hopefully a better leader) as he grows up and when he is an adult.  Men and women need to be able to stand up for themselves and their families.  They need to be well-spoken.  They need to be confident speakers and leaders.  They need to be able to stand up for their beliefs and to tell others about God.

We had a practice speech & debate tournament a few weeks ago, and it was great!  It was so much fun and so interesting!  I was absolutely amazed at the poise and confidence shown by the students.  I could tell that most of them had prepared really well ahead of time by looking up information, writing speeches, memorizing speeches, making visual aids, and reading their speeches and debate information over and over to friends and relatives until it felt natural. 

The students were of various ages.  The youngest one was about 8 years old, and the oldest was probably 17.  It was so much fun listening to these students talk to each other about their information and negative or positive evidence.  I heard lots of good-natured teasing (especially among the boys!), but I also heard the students support and encourage each other.  I was really proud of all of them!

It was neat to see how the older students helped the younger ones know where to go and what to do.  I also loved watching the younger children who weren't in speech & debate serve as timers.  That made the younger children feel so important and needed, and they really were performing important jobs!  By serving as timers they were also being exposed to the other students' speeches and debates, so they were learning what they will need to do when they participate in the future. 

Right now my son really does not appreciate being in the class.  He enjoys being around the other kids in our homeschool group, but he's not thrilled about the "extra" work.  (By "extra," I mean the work that he would not have to be doing if he wasn't taking the class.)  I can see improvements in him, though, since the class first started in September.  He has learned to do better research, to organize his thoughts in an orderly way, to enunciate more clearly, and to speak with confidence in front of others.  Of course he still has a lot to learn and much room for improvement, but I'm thankful to be seeing regular progress. 

I'm very grateful to the moms, dads, and teens who are helping to teach the class too!  They are all doing an impressive job, but I've been particularly impressed with the maturity that the teenage teachers have shown!  Sometimes there are activities and commitments that I wish we hadn't signed up for, but I'm very glad to have been a part of our group's speech & debate class so far this year, and I'm looking forward to the remainder of the year!