I was bopping around the Internet this afternoon and stumbled across a site where the concern was raised that homeschool children aren’t introduced to the concept of speech and debate. Um, hello? Would this dude like to take on my twelve-year-old, or even my six-year-old? Kids come with a natural ability to debate. This is why parenting is so hard sometimes. And as far as speech-making goes, lemme tell ya … my kids could talk any professional debater into a corner and make them cry.
But the question did raise a good point, which is that there are some aspects of meeting together with a large group of people that lean toward certain types of educational opportunities. You don’t have to miss out on these opportunities just because you’re a school of two or four – you can create them in your own home.
First, put your children on opposing sides of an issue and ask them to prepare their thoughts, just like you would on a debate team. Siblings are already geared to argue with each other – this is just a more formal setting. You might even find this to be a good way to settle divisive issues in your home, by making your children deliver reasonable, well-constructed speeches about their feelings. You can act as the moderator and recreate the whole debate atmosphere.
If you would like a larger venue, invite kids in your neighborhood to come over and practice their debates with your family. They can give your kids pointers, and you and your kids can be good practice ground for them.
You can also meet together with other homeschool families and have whole tournaments.
So, do homeschooled children know how to debate? You bet your boots they do. They might need a little guidance in order to do it in a more structured manner, but you have all the tools you need at your fingertips in order to make it happen.
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