Students of all ages are publishing their stories, personal narratives, poems, essays, and thoughts in online journals known as blogs. What’s more, they’re having a blast doing it.
Basically, blog entries only differ from a written essay in that they offer students a culturally relevant way to publish their thoughts and be heard. Most importantly, blogs allow homeschoolers to see their writing in a fun and polished setting. This confidence boost can offer incentive to strive for a higher standard in all areas of the curriculum.
Start a Homeschool Blog for Free
There are four really good places when it comes to setting up a blog. WordPress.com, Blogger.com, Windows Live, and 21classes.com. To get a free blog, all a person has to do is visit one of these sites and sign up for an account.
Start a Homeschool Blog on Blogger, WordPress, or Windows Live
Windows Live, WordPress, and Blogger are great because they have professional templates and are easy to use. There are dozens of widgets homeschoolers can have fun adding to these blogs, such as video bars, slideshows, calendars, links, book lists, new words of the day, quotes, or foreign language vocab. Once a person types content into one of these blogs, it really looks professional and polished.
Start a Homeschool Blog on 21Classes
21classes.com is perfect for teachers and homeschool co-ops because the teacher gets a blog site that comes with 20 other free blog pages embedded in it. Each student gets his or her own page, but the teacher has total control over all the blogs if necessary. This system is reliable, blocks out spam, and can be as private or as public as the teacher wants.
Publishing a Homeschooler’s Blog
Usually a homeschooler has the option to type content directly into a blog site and click to publish. However, if a student is typing in a blog site and the internet connection falters, he or she will lose all their hard work. Generally it is a better idea to type a blog post into a word processing program, copy it, and paste it into an online blog post.
One fun aspect to blogging is the comment box. Homeschoolers will quickly develop a following of subscribers to their blog composed of interested family members, other homeschool bloggers, and friends. Encouragement and constructive feedback from these supporters will be the biggest key in spurring students to write regularly. Not to mention the fun and educational value they’ll get from reading and critiquing other bloggers’ entries.
Parents can check out related articles covering creative ideas for blogging in a homeschool curriculum, tips for making polished blog entries, and more fun ways to include technology in a homeschooler’s education such as wikis, and audio or video podcasts.
