In Today’s posts, I have discussed Homeschooling and Competition… or the lack of it, and Healthy vs. Unhealthy Competition. Now that we have established that some competition is harmful, and some is healthy (in my opinion), I now want to discuss where you can get your child active in competition.
When choosing competitions for your child you need to consider areas that, your child is interested, and hopefully passionate about. These competitions can include sports, academic, creative, and more. Entries to most competitions start locally, like with sports, spelling bees, and art shows. Unfortunately, for homeschoolers, many of these competitions are closed to homeschoolers since they start in the schools.
There is no need to give up however, homeschool groups and Co-ops are forming more and more teams and leagues each year. In addition, more and more academic, and arts based competitions are available online. Here are some you may want to consider:
Igniting Creative Energy, has a yearly challenge designed to promote excellence in creative energy and energy conservation. This challenge is open to homeschooling, but the homeschoolers cannot get the Grand Prize which is a trip to Hawaii (2007 Grand Prize) which is reserved for three students and one teacher.
Landmark Editions presents The 2007 David Melton Memorial writing contest created to produce young writers. It is open to all students age 6-19.
Online Math Leagues contests each year for second to twelfth graders. This is a great way to get your child excited about math.
Sylvan Dell Publishing recently announced “our first Picture Book Writing Competition for Home schooled Students. Publishers Lee and Donna German are former homeschooling parents, and they are excited to offer this opportunity and to give back to homeschooled students across the country.”
These are just a few of the online contests for homeschoolers available. I plan to start a homeschool contest forum in the homeschooling section of the families.com forum.
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