A chapter ends
Yesterday I sat in our homeschool teen public speaking class, checking off kids' names as they did their presentations and marveling at what God has done in them over the years they've been in this class.
One young lady did an amazing dramatic interpretation of four different poems; another, a riveting persuasive speech on the power of media's influence on a teen's mind and heart. One young man presented a colorful and intriguing story of the pyramids of Egypt (some amazing writing), and his brother gave a clear and compelling case for "one race" in humankind based on genetic and Biblical evidence. And for a lovely ending, we enjoyed a young lady's mini-musical on her pedal harp, and her fascinating information about it. I was so proud of them all!
I've helped moderate or teach this class since my daughter was six years old...nine years of fun and blessing as my friend Yvette and I have coached and challenged these kids how to become great communicators. (The picture above is SweetPea giving a report on China a few years ago.) God sure has his own sense of humor; with my own fears, the one thing I would never have dreamed I'd be involved in was public speaking! But as is true so often with teaching, I've learned just as much as the kids. And truly, it's been wonderful to see them conquer their fears and learn to speak with confidence.
I wish I had a video record of the amazing variety of presentations we've had over the years--everything from fencing to debate, little ones reciting their Awana verses, and skits that brought the house down. Truly, it's been one of the richest highlights of our own homeschooling journey. If your kids have an opportunity to do this, I'd highly recommend it! I'm thinking a great project would be to compile an e-book with all the good information we used over the years to help out other homeschoolers (you know, one of those when-we're-done-homeschooling projects).
Our support group is, of course, mom-run as are all such homeschool groups, and I have felt that this year was my last in Oral Reports class. Time to move on into some other areas, help out elsewhere.
Thank you, Yvette--thank You, Lord!
Oh, that sound like it was so wonderful. Moving on is hard, but when it is time, it is time.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like a great class, you are blessed to have a group like that. :)
ReplyDeleteJoAnn
Oh, what a sweet reflection. It really sounds like you had a wonderful class of students. I think that would have been interesting to sit in on.
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to move on...I retired from our co-op's board 3 or 4 years ago, and cried; but I really needed a break after wearing about 6 different hats all at one time...and now, the girls are older and we just don't need what our co-op currently offers. Things change.
On the vinegar "conditioner", I have a spray bottle I use to spritz it on, spraying the most on the back of my neck area where I use to get the most tangles, leave it on while I wash, and then just rinse it out like I would any other conditioner, but I don't scrub my hair for fear I might put tangles in - just lightly flip my hair with my fingertips. I added lavender essential oil with this bottle of vinegar water, but I don't know if it helped any. The lavender doesn't hide the vinegar, it just makes a rather odd scent - next time I'll leave out the lavender. Yes, my hair smells like vinegar while washing, but I don't smell it any more on me or the girls once our hair dries so I don't know why it would retain it's smell for you...do you have any dyes in your hair or anything? Just wondering if maybe it would adhere to that???