swellmomma Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 Those of you that teach current events to your kids, how exactly do you approach it? Do you all just read an article together and discuss it? Do you have then write anything up about what they have read? I would like to start teaching current events to my kids, particularily the oldest 2. Ultimately I would like to have them compare 2 or more articles from different sources written about the same event so they can analyze the differences in reporting from a credible source vs a more tabloid-y source in addition to just knowing what is going on in the world around them. I fully admit to having my head in the sand since we moved. With no tv, spotty radio reception and a refusal to pay for a newspaper subscription the only news I get is if someone posts something on here or on facebook. So step one is to get my head out of the sand and actually seek out news. But then what is step 2? How exactly do you teach current events to your kids? And what is the progression from no news to my ultimate goal with them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mammy5 Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 There is God's World Magazine they have different issues for different age groups. www.gwnews.com This is a good conversation starter that could lead to deeper discussions. Grace and Peace, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yvonne Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 We watch CNN Student News M-Fri at lunch. It's only 10 minutes. It's thin, but they have some of the headline news. Wish I could find something more substantive, but still only 10-15 mins. When we were getting a print newspaper, I'd pull one thing out each day to show them or to talk about. Political cartoons were good. Haven't found a good substitute since we switched to online only. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperDad Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 We watch CNN Student News daily as a family. Additionally, the twins (age 7) have a 10-minute daily period on their checklist allotted to time on Youngzine. The older two (12 and 13) also have that checklist item but have a list of approved news websites they may visit. At the end of every week, two of those four children (we have a rotation schedule) work together and present summary of the week's news, as if they are TV anchors. We also discuss current events at the dinner table and such. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 We discuss current events on a regular basis as a family - it is just one of the many topics we talk about, without making it formal "school". Topics like credible source vs tabloid just come up naturally. DS reads Upfront, the teen magazine of the New York Times. http://upfront.scholastic.com/ He also actively seeks out news casts on the Internet. DD reads parts of the Economist for which we have a subscription. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
missmoe Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 We use this website http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/ You may wish to preview the pictures each day. We discuss, discuss, discuss. SuperDad, I love your idea to present the summary as an anchors. I think all my kids would want to join in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madlibs Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 I have my oldest dd read an article at scholastic news each week. She then writes a summary and presents it to me and the other children during their circle time. She loves the chance to share what she's learned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
*Jessica* Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 I'm so glad that you posted this thread! I've been looking for a news program that is age appropriate for my 6 & 8 year old boys. How appropriate is CNN Student News for the younger kids? It says it is for middle and high school students. I see a few of you that use it have 7 & 8 year old children. I don't care if they don't understand everything, but I don't want to expose them to things that will be really scary. Of course I'll go preview and see if I think it will work for my children, but I can't sit here for hours watching previous episodes to see if they've shown things I wouldn't be comfortable with my kids seeing (ie: dead bodies). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alte Veste Academy Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 DS reads Upfront, the teen magazine of the New York Times. http://upfront.scholastic.com/ Do you subscribe to this? If so, how? I tried subscribing to the elementary news magazines but it wants me to buy it in groups of 10. I wonder if the Homeschool Buyers Co-Op would be able to do a group buy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosmos Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 It doesn't look like anybody has mentioned Student News Daily yet. They offer a number of different features. The one we've used the most is the Daily News Article. It's published M-F during the school year. I like that they pull articles from a variety of sources (in the February archive, I see articles from the Washington Post, Yahoo News, Fox News, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, , and the Chicago Tribune). Each article is accompanied by discussion questions. They often include background information to give a context to the article and sometimes extra resources such as links or videos. In addition to the Daily News Article, they have weekly features on bias in the news, commentary, cartoons, and a few other things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 Do you subscribe to this? If so, how? I tried subscribing to the elementary news magazines but it wants me to buy it in groups of 10. I wonder if the Homeschool Buyers Co-Op would be able to do a group buy. Yes, we have a subscription. You can subscribe and get a single copy only - just be aware that they do not give you the same cheap rate that you would get for more than ten. I forget how much it was, somewhere around $20 I believe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alte Veste Academy Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 Yes, we have a subscription. You can subscribe and get a single copy only - just be aware that they do not give you the same cheap rate that you would get for more than ten. I forget how much it was, somewhere around $20 I believe. Thank you. That seems a reasonable amount to pay for 24 issues. I will call and subscribe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swellmomma Posted February 12, 2012 Author Share Posted February 12, 2012 Thanks for all the great ideas everyone. I am going to check out the links tonight and then I can get this started with the kids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murrayshire Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 http://hmcurrentevents.com/world-geography/ I came across this site for my dc.....I actually posted it today and then saw your post about current events. Hope this helps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaT Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 It doesn't look like anybody has mentioned Student News Daily yet. They offer a number of different features. The one we've used the most is the Daily News Article. It's published M-F during the school year. I like that they pull articles from a variety of sources (in the February archive, I see articles from the Washington Post, Yahoo News, Fox News, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, , and the Chicago Tribune). Each article is accompanied by discussion questions. They often include background information to give a context to the article and sometimes extra resources such as links or videos. In addition to the Daily News Article, they have weekly features on bias in the news, commentary, cartoons, and a few other things. We use Student News Daily, too, along with a few other pre-approved sites. I have the kids write a paragraph on what they consider the three most important news stories for the week on Friday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alte Veste Academy Posted February 14, 2012 Share Posted February 14, 2012 http://hmcurrentevents.com/world-geography/ I came across this site for my dc.....I actually posted it today and then saw your post about current events. Hope this helps! Thanks for posting this! I love it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angela Beshears Posted March 6, 2012 Share Posted March 6, 2012 Great thread! I was just thinking about this today and was so glad to read these ideas after searching the forum. Another I ran across is http://www.dogonews.com, an interactive newspaper for K-8, where kids can comment on the news stories. They also have a section called “Sites” which features reviewed web sites for kids and have recently added a new section called “Teachers” (http://www.dogonews.com/teachers) which enables Teachers/Homeschool Parents to create customized newspapers for their classroom. Might work better for younger kids... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jilly Posted March 6, 2012 Share Posted March 6, 2012 I'm so glad that you posted this thread! I've been looking for a news program that is age appropriate for my 6 & 8 year old boys. How appropriate is CNN Student News for the younger kids? It says it is for middle and high school students. I see a few of you that use it have 7 & 8 year old children. I don't care if they don't understand everything, but I don't want to expose them to things that will be really scary. Of course I'll go preview and see if I think it will work for my children, but I can't sit here for hours watching previous episodes to see if they've shown things I wouldn't be comfortable with my kids seeing (ie: dead bodies). I don't let my 8-year-old watch it. I don't think it is appropriate for younger kids, especially sensitive kids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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