One thing all kids need is confident public speaking. The ability to persuade, inform and entertain is a priceless ability, and homeschooled kids have many terrific opportunities to hone their skills–and tools to help them do it better.

photo courtesy rick

TED talks are very popular, and with good reason. If you aren’t aware of TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) then visit their archives for public speakers and topics that run the gamut. They are interesting to watch, especially when looking with a speaker’s eye. Older kids and high schoolers can glean a lot from a TED talk. Things to watch for: the choice and use of visuals, the length, the manner of speaking. YouTube is another place for tons of terrific videos of speakers on any subject you can think of.

To gain public experience, there are opportunities everywhere. Home, church, clubs, nursing homes, teams–there are lots of places to get in some speaking times. Maybe you could head over to the local retirement home or homeless shelter. Or create a video on a topic you enjoy and teach someone something. Create a need and fill it with a speech.

What do you want to talk about? Maybe a poetry reading, an original story or reciting memory work. Almost anything you can think of would make a good topic. Sermons and great speeches from the past are great practice for unsure speakers.

Even speaking at home can be helpful for shy speakers. An audience that is familiar, loving and supportive can go a long way to boosting the confidence of a kid who is apprehensive about public speaking. If it would help, practice with an audience of stuffed animals.

I hope you’ll give your kids many opportunities to speak publicly. It’s a necessary skill that will take them far in life.

Vocabulary words (and dictionary skills) can sometimes be the thing to fall through the cracks of a busy homeschool day. We all want our kid to have a wide and varied word list to draw from, if for no other reason than to banish “um” and “like” from the verbal atmosphere. Here are some games to make that task a little more fun. They don’t have to be competitive but I don’t know a kid who doesn’t like a friendly competition, especially if there is a small prize on the line.

photo courtesy liza31337

Fake It. Each person has a turn being the Word Master. Read the word, but not the definition, aloud. All other players make up a definition for that word and everyone writes theirs down. The Word Master reads all the definitions aloud, including the real definition. Everyone votes on which they think is real. Each vote for your definition earns a point.

Charades. Choose a word from the dictionary at random. Act it out.

Random Poetry. Give the kids a set of two numbers. The first one is a page number and the second is a word number on that page. Give a list of 10 or so sets of numbers and have them write all the words down. Then have them assemble the words in a poem. They key is they must use all the words.

Guess the Word. Read the definition and offer multiple choice answers. Three points for first right guess, two for two tries and one for three. First one to 20 points wins.

Scavenger Hunt. Have them look for words in the dictionary like “a word with three syllables” “The word that comes after homogenous” or “A word from a latin root” first one to finish wins.

Dictionary Drill. You need more than one of the same dictionary for this one. Each kid has a dictionary closed in their hands. When you give the word, they look it up. First one to find and correctly read the definition wins that  round.

Definition Scramble. Put the words on index cards and the definitions on separate cards. Spread them out on the floor and have the kids jump on the cards from the definition to the answer.

Dictionary Twist-up. Write your chosen words on a plastic tablecloth from the dollar store (write each word in three different places). Write the definitions on index cards. Use a die to decide which body part to use. (1 is left leg, two is right leg, three is left arm, four is right arm, five is your choice, six is roll again). Roll the dice and then read the definition aloud. The players must put the arm or leg on the word that was defined.

I’m extending a challenge for the summer. I don’t know about you, but I find myself reading only things r/t home education. I would like to read for my own enjoyment once in a while.  Here’s the challenge:

Books must be new to you (that is, you haven’t read them before)

1) 3 non-fiction books on a subject you are interested in that are NOT r/t school

2) 1 fiction work that is not on your list for next year

3) 1 book from your bookshelf you haven’t read yet (fiction or non-fiction)

Please comment here with your book list. And you will have two months to read your list. Let’s have fun reading up this summer!

 My list

1) The Federalist Papers, How to Write and Illustrate Children’s Books, Biblical Womanhood

2) Mother Carey’s Chickens

3) The Screwtape Letters

I am reading this terrific book about children and writing. I literally stumbled across it at a used bookstore and instantly fell in love. One thing jumped out at me right off the bat. I am not teaching writing, I am teaching writers. That little semantic shift made all the difference to me. The Lord has been dealing with me about adding more writing to our home education. Well this book will show you how to spark a passion for writing in any child. We all long to be understood, and good writing will satify that need.

My English goals for this year are to start a writing portfolio and to write something every day. And not only my children, but me. We are going to play with words every day–definitions, poetry, essays, read-alouds, word games, lots of good literature and more. They must not only learn to reason, but to articulate their postition intelligently. And I wnat them to enjoy the process. I think my renewed excitement for language will do just that.

Princess G (7 yo) is doing a great job of reasoning from the scriptures. She was reading the story in McGuffey’s second reader about the stars. It goes into detail about their beauty and how they point to God. We know that because we reasoned from scripture that all of creation reveals God’s character and nature.

She then looked up the scripture that she remembered a part of:

She reasoned she, like the stars, was a light. She then said according to this scripture she should be obedient and do things without complaining so she can be like a piece of glass and not a piece of cardboard, letting God’s light shine. She said the light is God revealing His character to her. Wow! I don’t think I would see that. God is so good!