The first full week of March is Newspaper in Education Week. People may wonder if newspapers are soon becoming obsolete. With all the information instantly available online, I understand how people can think that. However, I think newspapers are very important for our kids to still utilize as an educational tool. These various ways to use the newspaper in your homeschool will help your kids get the best out of newspapers at home.
There are reasons why newspapers are essential for our kids to experience. Most of those reasons have to do with promoting literacy. Newspapers hold a wealth of information and assist them to be better readers. It doesn’t necessarily have to end there.
Why explore learning with newspapers in your homeschool?
1. Kids can learn to read other sources aside from books.
2. Your kids can learn the basics of reading; like reading from left to right and in columns. They can see how the pictures, columns, headings, and captions all work together to tell the story.
3. Reading short articles in newspapers and giving writing assignments on them, can encourage a child to read — especially if they do not really enjoy reading whole books.
4. Students can learn all about facts and opinions using newspapers. Your child can determine if what they are reading is a fact or just the writer’s opinion. This is a great skill to have in life.
5. Kids learn new vocabulary they may never have encountered otherwise. You can have them search for ten words they don’t know and find the meaning for each.
6. Kids get experience with real-life, relevant articles – I feel kids need to read nonfiction.
7. They can also tackle crossword puzzles to improve critical thinking and research skills.
8. Have kids checkout and enjoy the comics as a fun reading source.
9. You can use it as a source to teach freedom of the press.
10. AND, it gets kids away from technology a bit. That is always a PLUS in my book.
Now, how is it that we can use them for learning?
Think about ways to use the newspaper in your homeschool with some of the ideas below:
Use newspapers to learn about current events
Current events combine social studies, reading, and writing just from a newspaper. They also keep kids in the know and aware of the world around them.
Article of the Week | The Colorful Apple
Twenty-Five Great Ideas for Teaching Current Events | Education World
Current Events | The Curriculum Corner
Current Event Newspaper Assignment-What’s the SCOOP? | The Literacy Loft
Current Events For Kids: Websites and Teaching Ideas |Teach Beside Me
Use newspapers to encourage writing in your homeschool
Back to School Newspaper Writing Activity | School and the City
Newspaper Article Writing Unit {Here’s the Scoop!} | The Literacy Loft
Newspaper Writing Activities | Grand Forks Herald
Writing Newsletters | Our Journey Westward
Newspapers: Editorials | The Curriculum Corner
Use your newspapers to explore science and STEM challenges
STEM Engineering: Will building a tower with a newspaper benefit my students? | Laura Candler Teaching Resources
Scientific Revolution Newspaper Project | Lesson Plan Ninja
Newspaper Templates {Editable Titles} | Tales from a Very Busy Teacher
Newspapers are great for chore time or hacks in your homeschool
Some examples are paper mache, for painting or table projects, cleaning windows, crafts, and more.
11+ Ways to Use Newspaper After You Are Done Reading | Reuse Grow Enjoy
Ways to Upcycle Newspaper – 10 “New” Uses for Newspaper | Six Dollar Family
Use it as busy-time for your preschoolers while teaching the older ones
How to Keep Preschoolers Busy with Newspaper | Teaching Mama
Newspaper playtime activities
Newspaper Playtime Activities Series | Cornerstone Confessions
FREE Newspaper Fun | Cynthia Vautrot – My Kind of Teaching
Newspaper weather forecasts learning
Using the Newspaper Weather Forecast for Sneaky Math Learning | Teach Mama
Random topics to use with a newspaper in your homeschool
All About Me Newspaper | Elementary School Creations
Newspaper Project for Social Studies with EDITABLE Rubric UPDATED | Education with DocRunning
BOOK REPORT- Newspaper Report Fun Easy Directions Artistic Creative Challenging | Upper LMNtary
Four Mini-Lessons on Fact vs. Opinion for Middle or High School Students | Bright Hub Education
Using Newspapers to Enhance Language Arts Skills | Reading Rockets
25 Way to Use Newspapers to Teach Informational Text! | Dragon’s Den Curriculum
FREE Newspaper Writing Prompts About Ancient Egypt
Learn all about newspapers in your homeschool
- Make a newspaper treasure hunt so children can find where different items of the newspapers are located.
- Have kids explore the job/classifieds section to get ideas of how the workforce recruits and what employers look for. (Note: You can develop mock resumes from that lesson.)
- Kids can read and summarize the articles for comprehension and writing structure.
- Have children find photos in the newspaper and write their own articles based on the photo alone. (Creative writing practice)
- Give your kids two minutes to write down as many sections of the newspapers as they can.
Learning about newspapers can be interesting, and your child can learn so much just from using them in different ways.
There are some things I am not quite willing to give up in rebellion to technology. A few things I won’t want to lose because of technology are newspapers, libraries, live field trips, and relationships. I hope we can keep all of these going, my friends. Enjoy and take advantage of them all.
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Jeannette is a wife, mother and homeschooling mom. She has been mightily, saved by grace and is grateful for God’s sovereignty throughout her life’s journey. She has a Bachelor in English Education and her MBA. Jeannette is bi-lingual and currently lives in the Tongan Islands of the South Pacific. She posts daily freebies for homeschoolers!
