Our Hands-On Learning columnist, Kathy Ceceri, brought up the idea last month of doing something to help families who are either pushed into homeschooling by a disaster like last year’s Gulf Coast hurricanes, or – heaven forbid – a full-blown pandemic like the increasingly alarming Bird Flu, because, as Kathy noted, “the government is proposing quarantine measures that include closing schools, possibly for as long as a year. They’re also asking businesses to plan for allowing employees to work from home. And homeschoolers are in a unique position to help parents who want to continue their children’s education at home for the duration of the crisis.”
Kathy continued: “When Hurricane Katrina forced families from their homes, the news carried stories of parents being provided with school books in an attempt to help their children keep up while they were displaced. Here again, homeschoolers could have been an invaluable resource to help these families educationally. It would make sense for schools to approach homeschoolers for advice, but I sincerely doubt that is likely to occur. Still, homeschoolers can help parents directly, with suggestions for setting up an ‘emergency homeschool.’ How about soliciting HEM writers and readers for a list of basic supplies (Internet access, reference material, good books, math ‘tools,’ etc.) families can be stocking up on along with canned goods and batteries? Keep in mind that everyone is going to want to avoid going out in public if the pandemic hits as threatened, so information on how to homeschool at home will be useful to full-timers as well.”
We took Kathy’s suggestion to heart and have been compiling material for a book to be released this fall. We’re planning to keep the overall tone of the book upbeat and helpful, and we’ll be including resources for families who don’t necessarily want to continue homeschooling after the crisis has passed.
Anyone interested in contributing to Emergency Homeschooling, or who has suggestions on resources and helpful information which should be included, please contact me directly.
Helen
mark
david