The anticipation of the district speaking contest was ripe at this moment. They were waiting for their turns and wondering how it would go. There was a new venue for the contest this year, our local LDA church. The kids were subdued and respectful I appreciate that. The rooms were bigger and thus nice to spread out in. Mark spoke in Advanced public speaking, Addie Sophomore prepared, and John in Extemporaneous. Addie was also the Advanced parliamentary chair, and Mark took the Co-op Quiz. That's a lot for one day.
After watching a majority of each contest we waited too. Greg was able to come and watch, it was so nice to sit beside him and share comments with him. I really love sharing this with him. We enjoyed visiting with judges and FFA kids. Lunch was catered by Brian Wolfe it was nice to have a meal hot and ready to go.
Addie's friend Hazel. Hazel has great enthusiasm and is willing to try. She is also very creative.
The results Mark got 2nd in Advanced and will go on. Addie presented his banner as a new district officer.
Addie got first in Sophomore speaking.
Second in Parli Pro. Even though her team is very reluctant to participate they did show up and did well. Addie even gave the shoes off her feet moments before competing so they would all meet the strict dress code.
John got first in Extemp! We heard him speak and he had facts and figures and besides one misstep on a question he was convincingly knowledgeable. We are so thrilled with the accomplishment for him.
Mark also got 2nd on the CoopQuiz.
And then after weeks and days of work, we were all exhausted. John came home and slept for a while. His siblings covered him up with some clothes. We always have clothes in process either wearing them, washing them, or waiting to be put away to cycle again. We were all very tired that evening.
Mark was the sole attendee to mutual and on a last spectacular dodgeball move did this to his jeans. I'm not fixing that.
Addie had worked dutifully with the girls pictured for the parliamentary contest to prepare thank-yous for the judges. She is really alert to the responsibility of being grateful to those who provide the contest. She had a big stack written and signed and then asked a teammate to get them to the school. The thank you's disappeared. All that work was lost. So Addie started again to re-do the thank yous.
And Andrea.
Then solo. She has so much energy.
And mom. She's a budding family historian.
We ate some pizza my dad had brought earlier and just snuggled and stayed awake until bed time that night. Lia demanded a picture with Addie.
The speech season is intense. There is so much that is just plain work. I love to learn with my kids. I spend my days listening to podcasts and seminars searching for information. I also read books and magazines and newspapers so I can point them to what they should read. We discuss and demand practice. We write and write and edit. This weekend we interviewed and questioned others on their thoughts. We have spent a lot of hours well over 60 hours on the learning and writing for Mark's speech. Addie I have been less involved with but easily 40 hours on hers and that's not counting practice time. But we have expanded our understanding and are teaching them to think deeper and know more.
John we listen to most nights as he shares what he knows about a topic from his extemp question list. Life is good. It is full and challenging and that's good. We are so blessed.
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