My first play took place in the Garden of Eden. I was one of the animals. The costume ladies were kind enough to let us pick what kind of animal we wanted to be. Fantastic!
And, of course, the coolest animal in the world is the condor. So I was going to be a condor in the church play. Me. I was going to be a bird with a six foot wing span. It was going to be awesome.
Until the dress rehearsal.
The condor costume had proven to be a tad ambitious. Instead, the nice church ladies had made me a different kind of bird: A rooster.
I went from condor to chicken with a single glimpse of the felt feathers.
Luke as a Condor Rooster
I was devastated.
Thankfully, with 20 years of life experience--two of which involved weekly counseling--behind me, I have been able to recover.
...mostly.
Yesterday, I got to play the self-assured, smug, "come to Jesus" guy in the Christmas musical at my church. It was fun. I still get nervous when I have to remember lines, but I'm happy to be on stage. I don't mind public presentations. And this time, I put together my own costume, thank-you-very-much.
I've heard people voice concerns that homeschoolers don't have opportunities to practice public speaking. This is about as ridiculous as a boy in a rooster costume.
But if you'd like an excellent resource on public speaking to further enhance your homeschooling, check out Secrets of Great Communicators. And next time you're on stage in front of a bunch of people, just imagine them all in a rooster costume.
~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Empty Nester
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