Online Learning: Kids Making News - A Model for Homeschoolers
By Mimi Rothschild At Ben Franklin Elementary School in Washington, kids make news. The Kids First weekly news program involves anchors, reporters and weather forecasters whose ages are only in the single digits. They are reporting on school, local, state and national events. This news show is viewed by many students all over the country, and is a good example of what kind of initiative kids can show when they are given the time and the freedom to create.
Projects such as this are the exception rather than the rule in conventional school systems. The advantage of homeschooling your children is that you can give them the time and the support they need to carry out projects such as this. Perhaps other homeschooling children in your neighborhood or town can get together to create a special news program for homeschoolers. Or perhaps they can produce a homeschooling publication with national circulation. Whereas projects such as Kids First make the news in the conventional schools, homeschoolers can develop their special talents and abilities without formal constraints and can create amazing things within the homeschooling framework.
Involving homeschoolers in joint projects is a great way of uniting homeschooling parents and students in a large support network. Perhaps homeschooling parents in your area can form a committee to put together, or make a community dramatic production using the talents of homeschoolers, or homeschoolers around the country can write and submit articles for a homeschooling publication. Perhaps homeschoolers in a particular state can get together for a state homeschool science fair or debate contest. The possibilities of activities for homeschoolers are endless.
The advantage of involving homeschoolers in joint activities is that it provides them with the social interaction which homeschoolers need. It counteracts the objection many have against homeschooling: that it isolates the students. Not only is this not the case, but the flexibility of the homeschooling schedule provides many kids with more time to engage in activities which develop their talents. In fact, many parents choose to homeschool their kids because it allows their children time to develop their athletic or artistic ability.
Although the idea to coordinate and organize an activity might begin among the parents who homeschool their children, kids have a remarkable ability to take charge of a situation and to apply their creative energies to following through on a project. This is especially true of homeschoolers, who have an independent initiative developed by their homeschooling experience.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mimi Rothschild is a homeschooling mother, writer, children's rights advocate, and Founder and C.E.O. of home education company Learning by Grace, Inc. She and her husband of 28 years reside with their 8 children right outside Philadelphia, PA.
Rothschild launched Learning By Grace, Inc. because she believed that our nation's public school system has failed parents and students. Learning By Grace, Inc. offers online education through a multimedia-rich curriculum to PreK-12 children across the country and throughout the world.
An accomplished author, Rothschild has written books regarding education published by McGraw Hill and others. Her Homeschooling News Café Blog consists of the most current and relevant education news.Electronic reproduction of this article is permitted if content is published unchanged, appropriate credit is given, and the article title links to corresponding article webpage.
