Furthering the Homeschool Project Idea

I heard from the professor about our homeschool project (see HERE). It's a great idea. I wonder if I should develop this sucker further and try and find some funding to help move it forward into reality. 

Dr. K brought up Social Media Fueled Communities of Practice (SM-F-COP). I really liked what he wrote about SM-F-COPs, and he knows about my challenges I have faced in creating those in the past. Another student brought up a great point in her post about having synchronous and asynchronous aspects of our community that help spur interest and to move subjects in a positive direction. 

I think that saying "here you go, have at it" is not a worthwhile plan of attack. There may be some people out there who will take up the baton and run with it, but many more, based on my experience with SM-F-COPs it will take moderation and content. One thing that we should include is worthwhile content that the users can view, use, discuss and build off of. 

Much like you have done by providing books, content, moderation, and a building ground for our work here in Canvas. Some of the thoughts that Catherine inspired in her post was the idea of having homeschooling experts on to help parents, or have kids who have been homeschooled in the past help homeschool kids through the community. This might be enough to help move the COP into something that is self-propelled in the long run. 

Just as we want to provide a community page for interaction for parents and for students, much like our discussion sites in my classes. I can imagine a series of pre-recorded videos that parents can access, as well as live sessions that parents can log into as well. Just as we as students like to come to canvas to discuss and interact with others, we also hear from Dr. K, and in some classes have set aside time for live meetings. 

We should offer the same . . . I can see "talk with experts" from different states, or "hear from someone who's done it" and also guest speakers who are teachers who can help home school parents become better teachers. 

We can also do the same for kiddos and students. We could host pre-recorded sessions with kids who have been through homeschool and gotten the most out of it, we could have guest speakers and live events to help bring home school kiddos together. I really like that you've challenged us in this regard and if we have a version 2 of this innovation it would definitely include a component like this.