Last Tuesday’s meeting began with worship and prayer, followed by a mixer. All newcomers were congregated to one side of the room, while the 2nd+ yearers each found a newcomer to introduce to the group. It was an excellent way to be reminded of names without the use of name-tags. I (Alexa) introduced Tianna Strom, a 16 year-old ballet student from my church, who is in Mr. Sleadd’s speech class.
Following this mixer was announcements:
Aaron gave a website update: there is now is list posted on-line of recommended books for apologetics
On November 11th, there will be no Clarion meeting at the highschool. However, families are encouraged to find ways to fellowship with each other informally on that day.
Reminder: Don’t run in the hallway, Don’t use the stairs, use your indoor voices, stay off the courtyard grass, and clean up after yourself.
At 6:55, the gathering was dismissed, and students and parents each went to different rooms according to category. I attended the Apologetics meeting coached by Mr. Brad McMurray in the hallway corner during the first session, where Lacey Scott and I each delivered cards.
At 7:45, the session ended and I headed over to the impromptu room. The group was very large (yay!!!) so Jachin Scott, an alumni, took a few of the students including me, to an empty room down the hall. We were all apologetics students, I being the only one who had presented that night, so they got a chance to give apologetics cards rather than impromptus during that session.
After half an hour of “fellowshipping” indoors, we stampeded outdoors for more “fellowshipping”. We sang a hearty “Happy Birthday” to Jachin Scott, and then chanted “Speech! Speech! Speech!” He obliged and told us that he’d had cookies and ice cream for his birthday rather than cake.
It was, all in all, and fabulous evening. I look forward to next Tuesday.
Junior Tournament will be held on Saturday, November 15th and we’d love to have all of our “under 12’s” participate.
This tournament will be open to children 2 to 11 year olds. We will open registration on October 21st, and it will close November 4th . If there are any questions please direct them to the Tournament director, Bretton Howard.
We will have the following events:
1.Scripture memorization.
2.Poem recitation. (not written by student)
3.Expository speech. Remember that this category and #4 and #5 should be written by the student. Mom and Dad’s role is to draw out the speech, as necessary, by asking the student questions. Example, “What are 3 reasons why raising tadpoles for fun and profit is a good idea?” Really make them develop and write the speech. If they need to dictate the speech to you then that’s okay. The point is originality by the student.
4.Persuasive speech. Ditto for #3.
5.Original Oratory. Ditto for #3
6. Humorous Interpretation.
7. Dramatic Interpretation.
8. Duo Interpretation.
9. Open Interpretation.
10.Apologetics. We are excited to offer this event so get out your Bibles and get studying! I have listed the 10 topics below.
11.Impromptu. This is also a new event which will test the students’ ability to think on his or her feet. I have listed some sample questions below.
Apologetics Topics
1.Explain the meaning and Significance of Eternality of God
2.Explain the meaning and Significance of Grace of God
3.Explain the meaning and Significance of Holiness of God
4.Explain the meaning and Significance of Divine Inspiration of the Bible
5.Explain the meaning and Significance of Original Sin
6.Explain the meaning and Significance of Repentance
7.Explain the meaning and Significance of Redemption
8.Explain the meaning and Significance of Atonement
9.Explain the meaning and Significance of Incarnation
10.Explain the meaning and Significance of Jesus as the “Lamb of God”
Impromptu Questions (Samples)
The goal of the impromptu questions is to reveal the child’s moral foundation. After doing several test questions on some of the younger students we found that posing the topics in question form brought the most response. All the topics will be questions. Here are some practice questions:
1.Is it better to tell the truth and be disciplined, or hide a lie? Why?
2.Is it ok to tease someone? Why or why not?
3.How can you encourage people?
4.When do you know you did a good job?
5.How do you like to help your parents?
Rules and expectations:
1) After the Nov. 4th deadline there will be no switching of categories. You will have to compete in the category you signed up for.
2) Students are encouraged to dress up.
3) The rounds will be judged and timed by the Clarion Club students
4) The tournament usually runs through lunch ( approximately 8 am to 2pm) each family will be responsible to bring their own food.
5) No parent or student is allowed in the tab room besides the tab room director and assistant, tournament director and his assistant and the Adult supervisor of the tournament.
The meeting began at 6:30 pm, with Christina, Victoria and Stephanie Emmons leading the club with the singing of “Come Thou Fount.” Mr. Owen then opened the meeting with prayer. Several announcements were made by the following people: Mr. McMurray, Aaron Sleadd, Ruth Owen, Brett Howard, and Carla Deems.
At 7 pm we broke off into rooms to practice different speech categories: Impromptu, Platform, Interpretive, Apologetics, and debate. At 7:45 pm, session two began and students went to another room to practice the speech of their choice.
The meeting adjourned at 8:30 pm, with fellowship time till about 9:30 pm, which included singing happy birthday to Tessa and Emily.
Junior Tournament will be held on Saturday, November 15th and we’d love to have all of our “under 12’s” participate.
This tournament will be open to children 2 to 11 year olds. We will open registration on October 21st, and it will close November 4th . If there are any questions please direct them to the Tournament director, Bretton Howard.
We will have the following events:
1.Scripture memorization.
2.Poem recitation. (not written by student)
3.Expository speech. Remember that this category and #4 and #5 should be written by the student. Mom and Dad’s role is to draw out the speech, as necessary, by asking the student questions. Example, “What are 3 reasons why raising tadpoles for fun and profit is a good idea?” Really make them develop and write the speech. If they need to dictate the speech to you then that’s okay. The point is originality by the student.
4.Persuasive speech. Ditto for #3.
5.Original Oratory. Ditto for #3
6. Humorous Interpretation.
7. Dramatic Interpretation.
8. Duo Interpretation.
9. Open Interpretation.
10.Apologetics. We are excited to offer this event so get out your Bibles and get studying! I have listed the 10 topics below.
11.Impromptu. This is also a new event which will test the students’ ability to think on his or her feet. I have listed some sample questions below.
Apologetics Topics
1.Explain the meaning and Significance of Eternality of God
2.Explain the meaning and Significance of Grace of God
3.Explain the meaning and Significance of Holiness of God
4.Explain the meaning and Significance of Divine Inspiration of the Bible
5.Explain the meaning and Significance of Original Sin
6.Explain the meaning and Significance of Repentance
7.Explain the meaning and Significance of Redemption
8.Explain the meaning and Significance of Atonement
9.Explain the meaning and Significance of Incarnation
10.Explain the meaning and Significance of Jesus as the “Lamb of God”
Impromptu Questions (Samples)
The goal of the impromptu questions is to reveal the child’s moral foundation. After doing several test questions on some of the younger students we found that posing the topics in question form brought the most response. All the topics will be questions. Here are some practice questions:
1.Is it better to tell the truth and be disciplined, or hide a lie? Why?
2.Is it ok to tease someone? Why or why not?
3.How can you encourage people?
4.When do you know you did a good job?
5.How do you like to help your parents?
Rules and exspectations:
1) After the Nov. 4th deadline there will be no swicthing of catagories. You will have to compete in the catagory you signed up for.
2) Students are encouraged to dress up.
3) The rounds will be judged and timed by the Clarion Culd students
4) The tournament usually runs through lunch ( approximately 8 am to 2pm) each family will be responsible to bring their own food.
5) No parent or student is allowed in the tab room besides the tab room director and assistant, tournament director and his assistant and the Adult supervisor of the tournament.
Basic Theology, Charles C. Ryrie
Systematic Theology, Wayne Grudem
Institutes of the Christian Religion, John Calvin
Theological Dictionary
Theological Encyclopedia
Commentaries
Matthew Henry
Other resources
Sermons/Collections of Essays
The Weight of Glory, C.S. Lewis
The Everlasting Righteousness, Horatius Bonar
Catechisms
Westminster
Belgic Confession
Heidelburg
Devotions
Of the Imitation of Christ, Thomas A’ Kempis
Daily Readings from C.S. Lewis, C.S. Lewis
My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers
Morning and Evening, Charles H. Spurgeon
Other books
New Evidence that Demands a Verdict, Josh McDowell
McHenry’s Quips, Quotes and Other Notes, Raymond McHenry
The Knowledge of the Holy, A.W. Tozer
Seven Men who Rule the World from the Grave, David Breese
The Universe Next Door, James W. Sire
The Fallacy Detective, Nathaniel and Hans Bluedorn
C.H. Spurgeon
C. S. Lewis
Thomas a Kempis
R.C. Sproul
J.I Packer
Greg Koukl
Lee Strobel
John Calvin
Wayne Grudem
Jonathan Edwards
John Bunyan
A.W. Tozer
Martin Luther
Oswald Chambers
Greg Bahnsen
For those of that missed it or forgot this week was a lot of fun.
This week we practiced our Platform and Interpretive speech skills.For example, we tried to isolate our vocal characteristics from our body movements.We also wrote little persuasive speeches, in fifteen minutes, that we presented to our groups.The topics varied from chipotle curds (a kind of cheese) to what kind of car you should drive.
After the meeting was over, my personal favorite part (talking in the parking lot) began.This week I was surprised to see quite a few families fellowshipping well after nine o’ clock.
All in all, another very enjoyable speech club meeting.
Last Tuesday, following worship and an opening prayer, the Clarion Speech Club meeting began an evening of sharing from Mr. Emmons, Tait Deems, Dylan Deems and Carla Deems on the different aspects of debate. Differences between “LD” and “PD”
Tait gave a biased review of the distinctions between Team Policy Debate and Lincoln Douglas Debate, and Mr. Emmons called him on it. Bretton teamed up with him against Tait, and they had an informal debate over whether LD more valuable/applicable to life than PD. Tait differentiated LD from PD as a more value-centered debate, containing more philosophy, and logical reason, than its counterpart. He claimed that learning to debate metaphysics and philosophy is a much more valuable skill than to debate over diplomatic and political policies. Mr. Emmons begged to differ. Tait claimed that having one’s club as a debate partner is far superior to just one Team policy partner.
Encouragement to parents Carla Deems shared encouraging words with parents, explaining how judging a typical debate round works.
Overview of the LD resolution This year’s resolution “Resolved: When in conflict, idealism ought to be valued above pragmatism.” was stated, defined and explained. A guest speaker from the past (Karl Marx) made a special appearance, and gave his opinion on the value pragmatism (played by Tait). Dylan gave an expository speech on the philosophical definitions of the resolution in contrast with the normal, everyday definitions. He used the concept of death to help us understand. A philosophical pragmatist believes that death is merely a phase of life, there is no afterlife. A philosophical idealist’s perspective on death and the afterlife are greatly affected by his religion. A common pragmatist may have views of the afterlife, but does not let it affect him. He functions daily in a realm of practicality. A common idealist has a set of boundaries, goals, and principles that influence his every action and decision.
Overview of the PD resolution
Mr. Emmons introduced this year’s resolution to the club. “Resolved: that the United States Federal Government should significantly change its policy toward India.” He showed a copy of the Blue Book, and spoke about case-writing, and researching for evidence. Team policy is a two-on-two debate, that requires a lot of research, in this case, regarding the US’ current policy toward India. Debaters must have a thorough knowledge of this policy, and need to write a solid case advocating its reform. They must also aquire a great amount of evidence to support the status quo, should they be required to defend it as the Negative team.
Club participation time Students divided into two groups: LD in one, PD in the other. Both categories divided into sub-groups, who spread out to each have a mini-debate. LDers debated whether ground travel ought to be valued over air travel in the case of long distance, and the Team Policy students debated about parents determining if their children are ready to drive, rather than the State.
Assignments Mr. McMurray announced that the next club meeting would be focused on platform speeches and interpretive speeches. He encouraged us to return next week with a memorized poem.