Free blog hosts make it easy to customize a personal blog website for a variety of purposes. These free platforms typically provide easy-to-fill-out online forms with buttons for illustrating posts with photos, clipart images, and video clips.
A basic blog includes two columns, one for posts and one for a menu, although a variety of free templates are easy to find. Posts are listed in reverse chronological order with the most recent displayed first.
As an example, you can check out my children's edu-blog, Dragon's Fire Learning, which I use as an online learning portal for the kids, or my daughter's blog, My Science World!, where she writes her own posts on topics of interest. For safety information on blogging with children, see 12 Safety Tips on Blogging for Parents and Kids.
How to Create an Online Homeschool Learning Blog in 3 Easy Steps
- Sign up with a free blog hosting website and set up a new blog.
- Create some posts.
- Categorize posts into subjects using a label or tag feature (for convenient homeschool recordkeeping).
Sign Up with a Blog Host
Sign up with one of the many free blog hosting websites (Blogger, WordPress, or Blogsome, to name a few). Follow the blog host's instructions for choosing options and setting up a blog.
Create a First Post
Write an introductory or summary paragraph of the homeschooler's topic of interest (dinosaurs or climate change, for example).
Example: "Dinosaurs walked the earth for over 160 million years. They are extinct now, but many scientists believe that birds and some modern reptiles are dinosaur descendants. Scientists who study dinosaurs are called paleontologists. They study fossils, bones, footprints, and other clues left behind by dinosaurs."
Using the blog host's photo adding function, probably a button on the post entry form, add a relevant image. Many websites provide free photos and clipart images (i.e., morgueFile, PD Photo, and FreeLargePhotos).
Follow the introductory paragraph with a list of links for further study. Link to relevant web pages.
Categorize Posts Into Subjects
Use the blog host's "categories" options (i.e., labels, tags, etc.) to collect posts into organized subject categories (i.e., dinosaurs or science). Before long, the child will have a sizable repository of information and links on his or her favorite subjects.
For example, all posts labeled "dinosaur" on the Dragon's Fire Learning blog can be displayed together on a dinosaur category page.
Many blog host's also provide methods for easily creating link lists for the sidebar (menu column) and other customizations and tools for the blog. Use this area to create lists for easy reference of the child's favorite websites.
Parents can use blogs to create fun and engaging learning websites for their homeschooled children. Blogs are easy to create and easy for children to navigate. They provide convenient repositories for the homeschooled child's continuing studies and can be used for easy reference for years to come.
You might also enjoy: The Online Homeschool Collection
Sara McGrath - Sara is a veteran homeschool mom of three, Usborne consultant, and the author of Unschooling: A Lifestyle of Learning.
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