Try it! Speech I: Public Speaking and Practical Life Skills!
Speech I: Public Speaking and Practical Life Skills
Everyone is going to have to do public speaking someday. Your homeschool high schoolers cannot escape.
At some time in life, they will:
- go to college and give presentations in class
- teach Sunday school
- give announcements at meetings
- SOMETHING will happen that requires them to speak in front of others!
But what if your teens aren’t afraid of public speaking? What if they have learned skills and confidence in speaking in front of others? Imagine if they had FUN while learning SPEECH!
Many years ago, we started working with our homeschool high schoolers to give them public speaking skills. Then started a speech and debate team that is still ongoing in our local support group.
My homeschool graduates have told me that it was the most important class they took in high school.
Over time, they have used their skills in college presentations and in spontaneous things that have come up (like a professor asking my daughter to come with her to speak to the Board about the benefits of keeping the photography program).
They have also used their skills in high school by participating in:
- Local ACSI Regional Speech Meets
- American Legion Speech Events (for scholarships)
- Shakespeare monologue contests with the English Speaking Union
- Poetry Out Loud
- And other local competitions and events
These experiences are all POWERFUL transcript building events, by the way!
So, by request, we released our curriculum! Speech I: Public Speaking and Practical Life Skills in our ebookstore gets you a full YEAR of Speech curriculum. Not only that but we include lots of material for making happy memories!
This thirty-week curriculum has fifteen lessons. Each lesson has a section for:

- research
- warming up
- practicing independently and with a partner
- instructions for presenting
- evaluation forms (for students and parents)
- and a fun “take-away” idea
Throughout the curriculum, the friendly style of instruction includes paragraphs aimed at the students themselves. Not only that but lesson-by-lesson information for the parents to make facilitating the group easy.
Some topics are an all-in-one-session format; some spread over two weeks, and some topics with more complex content come in this format:
- First week: Have fun experiences with the topic being presented, a teaching from the textbook, individual or group practice
- Second week: Practice what you learned, develop material or memorize as needed
- Third week: Present and the next lesson
- (The format, of course, is adaptable to group needs- can be easily spread out over more weeks or contracted into fewer.)
We have learned over time that we cannot just throw homeschool high schoolers into composing and presenting speeches. Actually, they will NEVER learn to love public speaking that way!

Instead, we ease them into public speaking with non-threatening, familiar, low-preparation-energy experiences and build up to speech writing. We also throw in practical, use-it-in-life material like interview skills and Bible lesson presentations.
That way, the format includes fun and laughter (which makes any kind of learning better.)
Here are the lesson topics in Speech I: Public Speaking and Practical Life Skills. Check out Lessons:
- 1: Presenting Kid Lit (Interpretation of Children’s Literature)
- 2: Presenting a Bible Reading
- 3: Presenting Spoken-Word Poetry
- 4: Presenting a Humorous Monologue
- 5: Organizing & Writing a “Visual Aid How-to” Speech (Expository Speech)
- 6: Gathering Materials & Practicing a “Visual Aid How-to” Speech (Expository Speech)
- 7: Presenting a “Visual Aid How-To” Speech (Expository Speech)
- 8: Organizing & Researching a Biographical Report (Expository Speech)
- 9: Writing & Practicing a Biographical Report (Expository Speech)
- 10: Presenting a Biographical Report (Expository Speech)
- 11: Creating & Presenting an Elevator Pitch
- 12: Creating & Presenting a Sales Pitch
- 13: Presenting an Infomercial (Group Project)
- 14: Practicing Beginning Interview Skills
- 15: Presenting a Children’s Bible Lesson
Also, click here for information on ways to earn various amounts of Speech credit, along with a sample syllabus.
For more on teaching public speaking skills to your teens, check out this post in our Authoritative Guide series and this list of additional helpful resources for Speech class.
Can I purchase and receive a physical copy of the curriculum, both teachers guide and student workbooks?
Hi Ashley!
All 7Sisters curriculum is only available in PDF ebook format, but many of our families print out the pages and put them in a binder if they prefer paper.
Is there a way to see a sample lesson and worksheet before I decide whether this would work for our co op?
Hi Jami,
Here’s a sample excerpt: https://www.7sistershomeschool.com/speech-i-excerpts/
and some free lesson plans for the teacher: https://www.7sistershomeschool.com/speech-1-lesson-plans-for-teachers/
Hi, Looking to download the Speech I public speaking curriculum, but the links aren’t working. Can you assist?
Hi Stefanie! So sorry…our website had some tech issues yesterday that temporarily disabled the e-bookstore. We are back in good form now. Please give it another shot, and let us know if you have any difficulty finding what you need. 🙂
Hello,
This curriculum looks so great 🙂 Public speaking was one of my most useful college courses. Is it possible to use this curriculum with a single student or is it only for groups? Thank you.
Hi Jessica,
I agree. My kids tell me that their high school public speaking course was the most useful course in prep for college. Yes, if your student is working singly, just get the teacher’s edition (it has links to videos that they need).
Can this course be adapted to fit middle schoolers? I will be teaching a 26 week class to 6-8 graders.
Good question, Connie. If you are working with middle schoolers you could adapt a number of the lessons, however, instead of spending one week per lesson, you might want to spend several weeks. You might also find that some lessons are above their level (many middle schoolers may not find usefulness in interview skills, elevator pitches or humorous monologues). You might also want to leave off any grading and just make it fun so that they loose the fear of public speaking.
It is a beginning high school course, but there is much that could be adapted for younger students.
Would this satisfy as an English Elective? My son wants to graduate early, but will need 4 English credits to do so.
Kristina,
This will depend on your state requirements. If he logs enough hours in Speech to count it as an English elective, that would be good on the transcript. The questions is: Will your state accept an English elective as one of the 4 English credits required. Many states require an English program for those basic 4 credits that looks more like the information in this post: https://www.7sistershomeschool.com/language-arts-huge-credit/
Do you have anything for middle school kids or could I use this for my middle schooler ?
Hi Regan,
Some older middle schoolers have used Speech 1 but it is a fun curriculum for high school.
Hi,
None of the links to buy the ebook are working for me
Christina, Thanks for bringing this to our attention!
Here are links to the curriculum (teacher’s edition): https://www.7sistershomeschool.com/product/speech-i-public-speaking-and-practical-life-skills/
Student workbook: https://www.7sistershomeschool.com/product/speech-student-workbook/
Is there an assessment tool included in your curriculum for Speech 1, whether it’s a rubric to grade by or test of some sort? Thank you!
Hi Christine! There are Evaluation Sheets included in the Teacher’s Guide to help you give your students specific feedback. These can also be used to determine a grade if you are offering the class with grading.
Approximately how many pages are the student speech and the teacher’s guides? Thanks
Hi Tarra! The Teacher’s Guide is 86 pages and the Student Workbook is 66.
Please how can I get practical materials from you to build my high school children on public speaking? Thanks
Here are links to our Public Speaking course.
This is the Teacher’s Guide with lots of step by step instructions for activities:
https://www.7sistershomeschool.com/product/speech-i-public-speaking-and-practical-life-skills/
Here is the student guide:
https://www.7sistershomeschool.com/product/speech-student-workbook/
Is there a way to order workbooks for students or is it just a Downloaded pdf file to print after purchase?
Hi Jennifer, Good question! All 7Sisters materials are downloadable pdfs.