Using
IHEN: How to get the most out of the network
benjamin
bennett
How do you get the most out of a statewide
network like IHEN?
Some would tell you that the best thing to do
is to click around on the IHEN.org web site and hope for the best.
I suppose that's one way to do it.
When I find myself chatting with new or potential
homeschooling parents, I usually find myself using the same old
axiom: "It never hurts to ask."
Asking questions, and getting advice and ideas
in return is the foundation that the Indiana Home Educators' Network
has been built on. Aristotle and Plato started it – learning
by discourse rather than lecture – and I guess that tired
old pedagogy is still around today. Go figure.
Communicating with other people who are willing
to help you find the answers has made the IndianaHomeschoolers
e-list the most subscribed to list in the sate of Indiana.
It must be popular for a reason. Lots of askin' going on.
We have tried to spill over all the extra advice,
ideas and suggestions into our web sites, so that people who aren't
so much into the e-list world can still benefit from all the wisdom
that comes across on the e-list. And let me tell you, it's a bear
to keep up! Try as we might, it's so much easier to just sign
up for the e-list, ask away, get answers within a few hours
or so and be done with it.
Nevertheless, we work hard to update our site
to give homeschoolers a variety of ways in which to research their
educational choices. We also keep a pretty good directory of local
support and resource information for most of the state. Our IHEN
Statewide Support and Resource Directory is the largest and
most complete directory of its kind in the state. Check it out
and see if there's more to do in your county than you ever thought
possible.
Did I mention IHEN
County Contacts? If you have a question that needs a more
local perspective, we just might have a homeschooler near you
to correspond with.
Articles, book suggestions, thoughts on curricula,
funny articles from the IHEN Journal newsletter archives (Off
the Deb End was my personal fav. Use the Google
Search Page to find some of them.)
The best thing to do, come to think of it, is
surf around the site and see if you find anything of interest.
You can even write to me and let me know where we could use a
little help.
How ever you get your information, we truly
want you to know that there are thousands of parents out here
who really want you to succeed at homeschooling. For many families,
its the best thing that ever happened to them.
See you around!
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It
never hurts to ask.
