Our 2008 Homeschool Speech Day – Inventions

Our Homeschool Speech Day is over and went very well.  About 75 people attended (including those participating) so it was a good audience for the children.  We have a really nice group of hard-working parents.  Since we put so much effort into the day it’s nice to work with others who are like-minded.

This year I didn’t do much with the planning but left it up to another mom.  I told her it would be good for her; she’d be stretching her wings, trying new things.  I don’t think she was too convinced but she did a great job none-the-less.  There were a few things we could have did differently but that’s typical.  We now know for next time.

 These are the children that participated.

 The audience.

Here are Serenity, Justus and Audrey giving a speech on the pencil.  I was really proud of Serenity.  She wrote her speech all by herself with very little help from me.  She wanted to submit her speech to ENN (Everyday News Network – Vision Forum) but her speech was over 2 minutes long.

She started her speech by saying, "Hello, this is Serenity."  Justus said, "And this is Justus."  The microphone was passed to Audrey who said, "And this is Me."  It was so cute!  Then all of them together said, "Reporting for Everyday News."

At the end of her speech she said the same thing but when the microphone was passed to Audrey, Audrey said, "Serenity!"  She was wanting out of her little cardboard tube and was sending out a plea for help.  "Sereeenity!" 

This isn’t the best picture but it gives you an idea of how my son Wesley really gets into his speech.  He pretended he was a miner from Scotland and told about the invention of dynamite by Alfred Nobel and how it had made life easier.

After Wesley came intermission where we had a sno-cone machine, popcorn maker and cotton candy machine going as well as watermelon.  Mmmm, yum!

That little thing in my dh’s hands is a blasting cap and detonator cord for D-Y-N-A-M-I-T-E.  It takes 4000 psi (pounds per square inch) to ignite dynamite.  That’s what the blasting cap does.  The detonation cord is 6000 psi.  When ignited it burns faster than the speed of sound.   If you’re blasting a large area you would tie all the dynamite together with the detonation cord.

We had to settle for igniting this blasting cap since none of our acquaintances had a stick of dynamite on hand to give us.   We set this off during intermission just for a little added excitement.  It gives a very loud blast.  Hey, we live in the Wild West.  Normal stuff, you know.

In one speech we learned all about chewing gum and bubble gum.  Dubble Bubble was the first bubble gum produced.  It was colored pink the first time and is still the same today.

Seth’s speech was on the Trans-Atlantic Cable.  We gave him a card because this was his last year since he’s almost finished with high school.   I’m finding this stage a bit emotional for me.  More than a few tears have flowed thinking about it all.

Zachary did his speech on the Submarine.  Like Wesley, he’s also a natural on the stage – very comfortable and can ad lib if necessary.

I think Audrey had the most fun.  She ate junk all day long!  By the end of the day her shirt and face were very dirty.

It was a long day – our last guest left at midnight.  My house was demolished and I’m exhausted.  But hang on here, I have to finish… I can’t wait for the next one!  Sound pretty nutty?  

Ideas are already brewing in my head for our next speech day that I’m going to be mulling over the next little while.

Copyright 2008 Treasuring the Moments