As a home schooler, I didn't have as many as some kids do, but I did have a few competitions I was involved in. So, sit back and read the story of my "glory days".
Academic Bowl
A man named Jack Murphy, created a unique event for homeschoolers, called the AAA Convention. There we participated in events that tested our mind, body, and imagination.
My favorite was the academic bowl. If you've never seen one, two teams compete in a test of knowledge and intelligence. The way this bowl was ran is that twenty-five toss-up questions were asked and that after each toss-up was asked, the team that won the toss-up was given a twenty point bonus question. You could lose five points if incorrectly answering a toss-up but no points if answering the bonus incorrectly. I was chosen as the team captain because I wanted the job.
In our first match, we were totally blown away by Jack Murphy's Mission Valley team by a 3:1 margin, but then managed to win our next two games to finish second in the First Academic Bowl.
We had to wait one year for our next chance, but I was ready. We had practives every week for eight weeks. When we got Polson for the second Academic Bowl, we were prepared. Yet, in the first round, we found ourselves trailing our first opponent 140-90 with three questions to go. I nailed two toss-ups and we answered both bonus questions on Questions 23 and 24 to take a 150-140. Then I answered Question 25, but we missed the bonus question. Still, we came back to win 160-140. The next match, we defeated Whitehall to claim the State Championship.
That year I was absolutely on fire in the Academic Bowl, I answered 90% of the team's questions and won my first and only trophy. (Shown below.)
I played two years of Basketball at the AAA Convention. The first year, if it had been up to the team captain who was acting in place of his father, the coach as his dad couldn't make it, I wouldn't have played at all the first year.
I had worked hard and practiced for weeks. Still, I never was much of a basketball player it was decided that I wouldn't be allowed to play. After weeks of practice, they told me before our last game that they wouldn't let me come into the last game at all. The first game we won by forfeit, and the second I sat on the bench as we got destroyed. At the tender age of 12, I found a quiet place to cry.
One of my best memories of my dad was on that day. He walked over to the captain and quietly reminded him that this wasn't the NBA and that even though I wasn't a great player, I'd worked hard to be here. The captain relented and I got to play, even for just a few minutes.
The second year of the AAA Convention, Dad was the coach. I worked hard and I found myself on not one but two teams as players were allowed to play on both the Junior and Senior Basketball teams. The first day, I played for the Junior Team, and I scored my six points in the course of two games including half a game I sat out because of ankle issues. Of course, at 13 years of age and more than six foot tall, I towered over the other players. If I'd been faster, I could have done better, but still I scored points.
While watching the Junior Academic Bowl where my brother Joshua captained the Junior team, I twisted my ankle on a desk. We were driving back and forth between Kalispell and Polson rather than staying in Polson for the whole shabang. Before leaving the house that morning, I slammed the door on my finger. My ankles were sore, my finger had a blister on it, but I played in both Senior games that year.
I believe I got a rebound or two, but didn't score another basket. My dad watched as I inexplicably stopped running several times. He asked me later why. I explained that I kept hearing a whistle, thinking it was the referee. It turned out that Josh had been blowing a whistle from the bench off and on during the course of the game, thus confusing our players. As I recall, Joshua was severely punished by "Coach Dad".
In the first year of the AAA convention, I also competed in Track and Field events. I didn't impress anyone with my performance in the Soccer Kick or the Softball Throw, and I finished dead last in the 100-yard dash. My dad still said he was proud of me because I tried and I finished the race.
In 1994, Flathead Pro-Life decided to sponsor a speech contest apart from the National Right to Life Contest for High School Juniors and Seniors, with one for Freshman and Sophomores. Only myself, and the Secretary of Teens for Life, Marcy participated.
I didn't deliver a great speech that year. It was too verbose and nebulous, too focused on political minutiae of Senate procedure, but I won because Marcy forgot to include a closing in her speech and I did.
The second year (in the NRTL contest) I was a legitimate winner. I faced a determined field and bested them all with a speech that challenged people to be courageous and take a stand for Life. I went to Helena for the State Oratory Contest in Helena. While in Helena, I testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in favor of a Parental Notification bill. In the speech contest, I took 3rd place, winning $50 to go along with the $50 County prize.
My third year was awesome. Each and every method of abortion was hit upon in my speech, with a personalized description of what the experience was like and emphasizing that if not for the grace of God, any one of us could have suffered this cruel fate. I quoted John Donne and included a clarion call for pro-lifers to stand against this evil and save our Republic.
Just before the event, I learned that Montana Right-to-Life was suing the Christian Coalition of Montana, thus creating an unnecessary and embarrassing public spectacle. In addition, the Committee chose to endorse Moderately-Pro-life Governor Marc Rasicot over Pro-Life Stalwart Rob Natelson in the GOP primary, while declaring their support for Bob Dole for President. Such actions by the committee made me want to skip the contest altogether. I, however, added another line to my speech about the importance of unity, and delivered that line while looking directly at the then-Executive Director of Montana Right-to-Life. I finished 2nd at the Contest, but many thought I should have won it. Unfortunately for me, they weren't the judges.
After this, I was inelligible for any future speech contests.
In addition to what I discussed here, I also participated in two spelling bees and two geography bees. They just weren't interesting enough to warrant writing much about. (Mostly because I finished 2nd each time.) :)
All of these events were enjoyable and helped me socialize and experience the things that opponents of homeschooling say are "missing" for homeschoolers. I really think that homeschooling can be good for children. But, it is important for their parents to seek out activities where their children can use their God-given talents and abilities to create memorable childhood experiences.