Here’s why your teen will thank you for Speech in homeschool high school.
Speech in Homeschool High School
I don’t know many teens who climb out of the bed on a summer morning and think, “Golly, I hope I get to do a Speech course this year!”
But then again, of all the many homeschool high schoolers that I have advised over the years to have a Speech course, not one of them who took me up on it EVER said, “I sure wish I hadn’t done that!” In fact, they usually thank me for the advice.
Here’s why they thank me: Speech (Public Speaking) is IMPORTANT life preparation!
When teens learn skills in public speaking, they are also gaining skills that will help them with their adulting. There are so many ways that teens appreciate gaining basic confidence in speech making.
Here are some examples of Speech as life preparation:
Assertiveness Skills Preparation:
All teens will someday need to stand up for themselves, or make a special request, or ask for help from someone important or intimidating, like:
- Bosses
- College Professors
- Customer Service Representatives at stores
When my daughter was in high school, she was taking her Speech class (she took Speech each year). She was also taking some Photography courses at the local community college. One day the head of the Visual Arts program called her to her office and said, “Come on, I need you to go with me to talk to the Board right now. They’re thinking about cutting our program.”
My daughter had a 5-minute walk to prepare a speech for the college’s Board. She pulled on her extemporaneous speech skills and helped save the program!
Most people will do public speaking sometime in their adult lives:
Therefore, teens are smart to learn speech making now. There’s really no escape. Somewhere in their adult life your teen will need to do something like:
- Speak on a missions trip
- Teach AWANA or Sunday School
- Coach Little League
- Give a report at a meeting at work (as a mental health counselor, I help LOTS of adults learn how to get over this particular fear- it can cripple a person’s career)
College Class Preparation:
Public speaking is part of college, your teen has to face and accept this. In almost every course your teen will experience things like:
- Class presentations
- Group work
There will also be occasional big projects like:
- Poster presentations at conferences
- Speaking to departmental committees
- Club or campus organization activities that require your teen’s voice
As a counselor, I spend a fair amount of time with college freshmen helping them over the fear of public speaking. (This is not just homeschoolers, but students from regular school settings who had managed to avoid public speaking until college.)
7Sisters’ Speech I curriculum is the curriculum that the local homeschool community has enjoyed for years. It is step-by-step, usable individually (here is a post by Kerry Ott who used Speech I with her daughter) or for groups (contact us for group rates), and FUN!
Click here to view an excerpt of Speech 1.
Note: Here are some Lesson Plans for Speech class teachers to help you get organized. Also, click here for information on ways to earn various amounts of Speech credit, along with a sample syllabus.
Save your homeschool highschooler some pain and suffering. Give them a Speech course while still at home!
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