Started a new unschooling site for kids

[jerritt]

You'll remember awhile back I was lamenting not being able to find such a site. I have created one. It's for unschooling kids, and has a chat and forum component. I hope this works out, and that it is helpful for some of you guys. This is my first attempt at this. Let me know if you have any questions. Check it out.

http://unschoolingkids.ning.com/

[Joyce Fetteroll]

One thing you may want to factor in is that while we parents share an interest in unschooling, the absence of school in unschooling kids' lives isn't a common interest. After an initial "cool" of meeting other unschooled kids that commonality won't keep them coming back.

Like adults, kids are drawn together by interests. And a Ning site limits the pool to kids who want to communicate through writing.

A site needs to offer a big enough return for the effort someone puts into it. You might be able to draw kids in with groups and folders around their interests ... right of the top of my head I'm thinking video games, television, manga and anime, drawing, writing ... but the content needs to be there to keep kids coming back. That's why sites devoted to interests keep kids returning. It's not just kids getting together, it's kids exploring something they find fascinating and then stumbling across each other to connect.

Geez, I was trying to make this not sound like discouragement of the idea! Because we can't succeed without trying things! But I think most people go into creating something like this without realizing what's needed to keep it going. And when it fails they have no clue what they did wrong.

The Field of Dreams adage of "If you build it they will come," is good when "it" doesn't exist. But the internet is full of places for kids to hang out and explore their interests. The point is that to create a place where unschooling kids want to return to again and again, it needs to offer more than just a meeting spot. To bring kids in and keep them coming back you need to offer something they need once they get there.

[jerritt]

Yeah, these are the forums I have set up for the kids. All the forums are open to the kids, the parent's place is the one that is open for the parents:

Welcome

Why We're Here

Online & Video Gaming

Good Reads

Music

Relationships

TV & Movies

Art and Design

Obsessions... er Loves

Family

Sports

Princesses, Fashion, All Things Pink

Other Kid Stuff

Parent Place


Do you think those are a good enough selection? My daughter and I came up with them.