by K. Russell

Created on: February 06, 2009   Last Updated: June 17, 2010

Kids' magazines are a powerful resource for the home schooling curriculum. There are many other magazines that can also be used for this purpose. Magazines offer a wide range of information and learning opportunities. One major advantage to using kids' magazines is that they are designed to appeal to children. The articles are relevant to your child's interests and abilities.

Aside from building reading skills, magazines geared toward children often include games and puzzles that are educational as well as entertaining. Children are far more likely to apply themselves to their studies if they are interested in the material being presented.

Articles in children's magazines can be used to develop critical reading and comprehension skills by discussing what was read and comparing it to similar readings. Words that present difficulty can be looked up in the dictionary or thesaurus. Home schooling parents can challenge their children to rewrite articles that interest them or to create artwork that expresses something they learned. They can also learn to use the table of contents and how to identify the authors and illustrators of each article.

Home schooled students can use magazines to build math and science skills, as well. For the younger child, simply understanding the consecutiveness of page numbers is useful. Many articles in children's magazines offer simple, straight forward lessons in science, biology, botany, the environment and society. Often, hands-on activities are included, providing parents with ideas and material lists for simple experiments.

Many children's magazines provide a forum in which children can submit and receive recognition for their work. Essays, art work, opinions and accomplishments become more important to many children (and adults) when they are seen in print, where they can be viewed by others. Children's magazines also include contests for subjects such as technical and creative writing, gardening project ideas and community service concepts. Often, the chance to win a prize is all the motivation a child needs to get over a stumbling block.

The fact that kids' magazines are written to, for and often by children makes them invaluable as a home schooling resource. The photography, art work and written words are geared toward the interests and developmental levels of children. This makes them attractive to children and more likely to be used. The home schooling parent is well advised to subscribe to a wide variety of kids' magazines to take advantage of the skills and resources of the contributors.

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