Jenny

Julie,
Can you tell me the site for the forum for astronomy? My 10 year old likes
physics and astronomy (you may remember him from one of your classes,
Alan. He wrote on black holes.)

Jenny

>Message: 7
> Date: Fri, 04 Jul 2003 18:26:33 -0000
> From: "Julie Bogart" <julie@...>
>Subject: Re: unschooling moment/writing online
>
> >>>Now three years later (on his own with no input from me -
>other than I found out he was doing this when he asked me to
>proofread some of his stuff) he has built a web site and writes
>about his reptiles and his trips. He answers questions online
>every day from people who want help with their pets. He writes to
>other people with his own questions etc. So...
> > >
>
>The most incredible thing has happened in the last ten years.
>We have kids who are dying to write... they just don't want to write
>for school. There is a ready-made audience of literally multiplied
>millions online wiating to hear from our kids.
>
>Last month, my son's visual basic friends who gather on a forum
>were discussing the merits of The Matrix Reloaded and debating
>some of the finer points in the script. My son was so thrilled with
>the dialog, he spent quite a bit of time refuting one person's point
>of view and then asked me to listen to it before posting to be
>sure he'd expressed himself well enough. This is my oldest who
>"doesn't" like to write. Of course, he keeps a journal for
>"significant events" so he won't forget them, but he doesn't like to
>write. He discovered "Live Journal" online and has been
>recording all his feelings, thoughts, ideas there, but he doesn't
>like to write. He read the story of Gilgamesh online, saw a
>screenplay emerge in his head, wrote it out (32 pages) but,
>doesn't like to write. The Internet has been key to his interest in
>writing.
>
>My daughter is involved in fanfix, posts regularly to an internet
>board and is on IM most days (apparently writing poetry and
>stories to each other, besides sorting out teen angst and
>gossip).
>
>My next in line (11) subscribes to a discussion group for
>astronomy and reads there regularly. He asks questions of sites
>when he has them. He definitely doesn't like to write. <g>
>
>I just joined Harry Potter for grown-ups and discovered that there
>are literally hundreds of discussion boards and groups for kids.
>
>Now this is real writing! This is the kind of writing that makes you
>hone your arguments, gives you real life feedback and creates
>the writing impulse. Thank God for the Internet!
>
>Julie B