In America, there was a time when the idea of homeschooling raised eyebrows of concern and could result in a visit from social services. A lack of trust by the government and public in general in a parent’s ability to educate their own children made homeschooling a bit of a stigma.

Even today in some circles, there are still many “old school” thinkers that go so far as to say that homeschooling is tantamount to deliberate child abuse. As ridiculous as that sounds to most of us, overcoming such ignorance has been a problem for some parents looking into homeschooling.

Overseas, it can be much worse. Homeschooling is illegal in Germany, a law instituted under Hitler and still enforced today. German families who choose to home school must do so in secret and run the risk of arrest; or worse, having the state take their children away.

Performance of home schools versus public and private schools

It doesn’t take much effort or investigation to discover that homeschoolers excel above their public school counter parts in nearly every category. According to a study conducted by Dr. Lawrence Rudner:

• The average home schooled 8th grade student performs four grade levels above the national average.

• One in four home school students are enrolled in a grade level that is above their age level.

• In every grade and in every subject, home schooled students outperform both public and private school students.

Other studies confirm these findings, showing that home schooled students have a much higher college entry rate, score higher on SAT’s and ACT’s, have a higher rate of college graduation, and earn higher incomes in the workforce.

These numbers come despite the fact that about 25% of parents in America who choose to home school either never attended college, or attended but never received a degree. An additional 7-10% have only an Associate degree.

Why do homeschooled children perform so well?

The advantages to homeschooling are many, and are quite revealing as to why homeschooled children do so well.

One on one attention – Whenever a child needs assistance, the parent is there to give him or her full attention, whereas in public schools a teacher must divide their attention between dozens of children.

Ability to focus more time where needed – If a student excels in math, but flounders in science, then a parent can very easily devote as much time as is needed to teaching science. Public schools are regimented, with each subject receiving equal time regardless as to the performance of the student.

Homeschooled students move at their own pace – If a student excels in math then they can advance much quicker than students in a public school, where all students are required to move at the same pace.

Diminished distractions – The parents control the environment, and there is no peer pressure from other students trying to talk a homeschooled student into doing things other than school work or study.

Do parents need some kind of special training or certification?

Some states highly regulate home schools, requiring training and certification in some instances. However, studies show that there is virtually no difference in performance between homeschooled students in highly regulated states versus homeschooled students in states with little or no regulation.

The truth is that homeschooling is gaining in popularity and as such, more and more information and help materials are becoming available. The modern homeschooling parent can now effectively teach their children, regardless of the parent’s own education level, thanks to pre-developed curriculums such as those provided by Heritage Home School Academy.

Parents today can use these curriculums to guide their children. Some curriculums are so effective that parents can study ahead of their children in any subject for which they are lacking and effectively teach the same subject to their children. Furthermore, many children often “learn to learn,” reaching a point where they are able to teach themselves and follow a curriculum with little interaction required from the parent.

Each year more families choose to start homeschooling, spreading knowledge about its benefits, and erasing old stigmas along the way. For more information about homeschooling and home school curriculums, visit Heritage Home School Academy.

How do you speak naturally while all those people are watching you?

This document covers hints and tips on public speaking and presentation skill, dealing with public speaking nerves and anxiety, public speaking skills and public speaking techniques, public speaking training.

Common Fears of Public Speaking

What happens when you have to speak in public?

Did you know that public speaking tops the list of phobias for most people? Not spiders or heights – public speaking – speech in public!

Well, if you didn’t know that, we bet your body does. It will do all kinds of unpleasant things to you when you have to stand up and face a sea of faces with the hope of getting your message across in a compelling and interesting way.

Your hands may sweat and your mouth goes dry. Your knees may shake and a quaver affects your voice. Your heart may race and those well known butterflies invade your stomach.

When all that happens most people don’t think of getting their message across in a compelling and interesting way; they just think of getting off the ‘stage’ as quickly as possible!

Have we frightened you sufficiently yet?

It’s normal

We don’t really mean to frighten you, just remind you that your body reacts ‘in extremis’ when put under pressure, and for most people, public speaking is just about the worst pressure they can be put under.

It’s normal to be nervous and have a lot of anxiety when speaking in public. In a way, it’s less normal not to have nerves or anxiety; in fact, to feel you have a phobia about public speaking.

Why do we get Public Speaking anxiety?

Fight or flight

Our bodies are geared to fight or flight from ancient time – fight that mastodon or get the hell out of the way. We don’t have too many mastodons around these days, but the body still reacts as though we do. So, if we have to get up and speak in public, all that adrenalin and noradrenalin goes coursing through our bodies – way more than we need.

We can’t run away (well, we could, but we’d be out of job pretty quick if we did it too often), so our only option is to fight. But in terms of speaking in public, it can be hard to define just what we’re fighting.

Why does public speaking do this to us?

Good question. You’d think that for most people, being given the opportunity to impress their audience would be a fantastic one. There you are in front of a group of people, the spotlight is on you and for the length of time you’ve been give, the world is yours.

Or is it?

The very fact that the spotlight is you is enough to trigger every fear, anxiety and phobia you’ve ever had about public speaking.

Here’s why

You may be judged by all those people, and judged badly
You may feel like a fool
You might make mistakes and loose your way
You’ll be completely humiliated
You’ll never be as good as _________ (fill in the blank)
‘They’ won’t like you
‘They’ won’t ‘get’ what you’re trying to say

How to overcome fear of Public Speaking
What good are Nerves

Public speaking may not be comfortable, but take our word for it, nerves are good. Being ‘centre stage’ is not a good place to feel too comfortable.

Nerves will keep you awake and ensure you don’t get too complacent. Hard to feel complacent when your heart is beating so hard you’re sure everyone watching you can hear it.

If channelled well, nerves can make the difference between giving a humdrum presentation and giving one that keeps people listening.

Get your attention off yourself

It’s very tempting to keep focused on how you’re feeling, especially if you’re feeling really uncomfortable. You’ll start to notice every bead of sweat.

To make your nerves work for you, you need to focus on just about anything other than yourself. You can distract yourself by paying attention to the environment in which you’re speaking and seeing how you can make it work for you.

Once you’re actually in front of your audience, pay attention to them. If you can, notice how people are dressed, who’s wearing glasses, who has on bright colours. There will be dozens and dozens of things you can pay attention to help you trick your mind into not noticing what’s going on with you.

Anything will do and you will find that the less you concentrate on how you are feeling and the more you concentrate on other things, the more confident you will feel.

How to build confidence in Public Speaking

Your audience can be your friend

Unless you know you’re absolutely facing a hostile group of people, human nature is such that your audience wants you succeed. They’re on your side!

Therefore, rather than assuming they don’t like you, give them the benefit of the doubt that they do.

They aren’t an anonymous sea of faces, but real people. So to help you gain more confidence when speaking in public, think of ways to engage your audience. Remember, even if they aren’t speaking, you can still have a two-way conversation.

When you make an important point pay attention to the people who are nodding in agreement and the ones who are frowning in disagreement. As long as you are creating a reaction in your audience you are in charge.

Keep them awake

The one thing you don’t want is for them to fall asleep! But make no mistake public speaking arenas are designed to do just that: dim lights, cushy chairs, not having to open their mouths – a perfect invitation to catch up on those zzzzs.

Ways to keep them away include

Ask rhetorical questions
Maintain eye contact for a second or two with as many people as possible
Be provocative
Be challenging
Change the pace of your delivery
Change the volume of your voice

Public Speaking Training

Get a coach

Whatever the presentation public speaking is tough, so get help.

Since there are about a zillion companies out there all ready to offer you public speaking training and courses, here are some things to look for when deciding the training that’s right for you.

Focus on positives not negatives

Any training you do to become more effective at public speaking should always focus on the positive aspects of what you already do well.

Nothing can undermine confidence more than telling someone what they aren’t doing well.

You already do lots of things well good public speaking training should develop those instead of telling you what you shouldn’t do.

Turn your back on too many rules

If you find a public speaking course that looks as though it’s going to give you lots of dos and don’ts, walk away! Your brain is going to be so full of whatever it is you’re going to be talking about that to try to cram it full of a whole bunch of rules will just be counterproductive.

As far as we’re concerned, aside from physical violence or inappropriately taking off your clothes, there are no hard and fast rules about public speaking.

You are an individual not a clone

Most importantly, good public speaking training should treat you as a unique individual, with your own quirks and idiosyncrasies. You aren’t like anybody else and your training course should help you bring out your individuality, not try to turn you into someone you’re not.

Hints and Tips for Effective Public Speaking

Here are just a few hints, public speaking tips and techniques to help you develop your skills and become far more effective as a public speaker.

Mistakes

Mistakes are all right.

Recovering from mistakes makes you appear more human.
Good recovery puts your audience at ease – they identify with you more.

Humour

Tell jokes if you’re good at telling jokes.
If you aren’t good, best to leave the jokes behind.
There’s nothing worse than a punch line that has no punch.
Gentle humour is good in place of jokes.
Self-deprecation is good, but try not to lay it on too thick.

Tell stories

Stories make you a real person not just a deliverer of information.
Use personal experiences to bring your material to life.
No matter how dry your material is, you can always find a way to humanise it.

How to use the public speaking environment

Try not to get stuck in one place.
Use all the space that’s available to you.
Move around.
One way to do this is to leave your notes in one place and move to another.
If your space is confined (say a meeting room or even presenting at a table) use stronger body language to convey your message.

Technology

Speak to your audience not your slides.
Your slides are there to support you not the other way around.
Ideally, slides should be graphics and not words (people read faster than they hear and will be impatient for you to get to the next point).
If all the technology on offer fails, it’s still you they’ve come to hear.

You can learn to enjoy public speaking and become far more effective at standing in front of a group of people and delivering a potent message.

When it comes to improving your public speaking skills we have three words:

practise, practise, practise!

Today, public speaking is more about the conveying of ideas and less about the speaker. The attention of the audience is caught by the information and ideas rather than the elocution and performance of the speaker.

If you are new to public speaking and presenting it is an anxiety inducing prospect. This is an entirely normal response. Conquering the “barrier of public speaking anxiety” is an important step in career and business advancement – many an opportunity is lost because of a hesitancy to start.

The ideas expressed here will get you on the first steps towards public speaking and presenting to groups mastery, so that you can obtain the benefits of being an effective speaker at your workplace and business or even as a professional speaker.

Proper Preparation and Presentation Necessary

Master the subject you are to present, be as knowledgeable as you can. It is important that you are convinced about your ideas and information so that you can presently forthrightly and with enthusiasm. If you have not mastered your subject you can not hope to master your audience and speak with conviction.

The material you present should be thoroughly prepared but also personal, because to present it effectively at a management meeting or to present to a group convincingly it is important to put yourself into your talk.

Fighting Your Fright

The first real lesson in public speaking is gathering up the confidence to try. A speaker must realise that it is not the audience he fears but themselves. Your listeners will typically want you to succeed and will be supportive towards you.

It is a normal human anxiety that is faced by most speakers when they first start. Experienced speakers can still suffer with “nerves” but they may refer to it as anticipation and use it as motivation to deliver an effective speech. By careful preparation and practice you will add to your self-confidence. The better prepared you are the more self-confident you will be when delivering your speech.

Persistence Pays Off

Public speaking and presenting, more than any other human activity is learned by doing and improved with practice.

Any normal person can become a successful public speaker by being natural and working at it on a consistent and regular basis.

Be Brief

Your first appearance need only be brief – it may only involve stating your name and occupation. Use something like “This is my maiden appearance before an audience and frankly I’m scared stiff. My name is….and my business is……..

Invite Feedback

Find someone of experience to evaluate your speech and ask for feedback. Their observations if implemented will greatly help in improving your public speaking skills.

Public speaking today is in the grasp of people who are prepared to take the first step. It is about the effective conveying of ideas not about a polished performance with little or nothing to say. The advantages of confident speaking are many and are in the grasp of those willing to take that first step.