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Written by Ellen Barber, NCFCA Kansas State Rep   

The program I am about to introduce to you has the potential to be a tremendous blessing to your family. I can say this because I’ve seen what it’s done for my family and countless other home school families as well. The program is the National Christian Forensics and Communications Association (NCFCA).

You might be thinking, “I don’t have any experience with public speaking or debate. I could never teach my kids how to do that!” Or, “We’re already too busy with our schedule! We’ve decided not to take on anything new this year.” Or, “My kids are too young for that!” (We have Jr. tournaments, too.) Let me challenge you to keep reading and learn about the value and benefit NCFCA offers to you.

Formal speech and debate provides a means for home schooled students to learn and exercise analytical and oratorical skills, addressing life issues from a Biblical worldview in a manner that glorifies God. They can even learn to defend their faith to a diverse group of listeners.  To provide these opportunities to home schooled students, NCFCA facilitates qualifying tournaments throughout the country and the annual national tournament.

As parents, we have seen our timid children gain amazing confidence in social situations.  As this “socialization” criticism against home schooled kids is so prevalent, it has been great to see how this myth can be overcome.  It has given our outgoing son a great outlet for his creative energy.   Even in our community, after a lawyer in town heard our son speak, he told his group, “Homeschoolers are not backward anymore!  They are relaxed with other people, and are able to fit in.  We need to support them.”

As it gets harder to school the high school age, it has given them the desire to stay in a home schooling situation.  They know that being in a traditional school setting would not allow them to be in the NCFCA league, and they would miss their friends and the competition.  NCFCA has been a blessing as it helps keep our kids positive about being schooled in our home.

At these tournaments your child can choose to participate in one of eleven areas of public speaking. Two of these categories involve debate with Team Policy debate or a Lincoln Douglas values (you don’t need a partner in this type of debate). The remaining categories include persuasive, original oratory, expository, dramatic interp, humorous interp, open interp, duo interp and the categories of limited preparation time with impromptu, extemporaneous, and apologetics. You can log on the website of NCFCA for additional information about each of these categories and to catch a glimpse of the speech organization (www.ncfca.org).

Currently in the state of Kansas we have around 100 participants and 6-7 strong clubs.  If you are near one of the club, I can help you get “plugged in,” or if not, I can help you start your own speech club from your own home school group.

To participate in these tournaments, one needs to be twelve to eighteen years old. We have several junior tournaments for children ages nine to eleven.  They start in early fall, so you don’t want to wait to get started.  As we graduate 15-20 seniors out every year, we must grow up our younger ages for the clubs to continue strong.

If you have any questions about this program or would like to find out how you can join/start a speech and debate club in your area, please contact me soon. I would be happy to visit with you and answer any questions you might have.

As you begin to plan your school year, it’s not too early to begin thinking about how to make NCFCA part of your child’s school schedule. It will pay wonderful dividends in his or her life.

Ellen Barber can be contacted through the CHECK site here.
Last Updated ( Tuesday, 20 June 2006 )
 
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