Magazine to Feature PBS TeacherSource Lesson Plans and Curriculum Guides
(Alexandria, VA )- (July 28, 2004 ) To help ensure that the nation's growing audience of homeschooled children have access to top educational resources, PBS has established a strategic alliance with leading publication Homeschooling Parent magazine, in which each issue will highlight lesson plans and curriculum materials on PBS TeacherSource, PBS' Web site devoted to preK-12 educators.
Analysts estimate there were more than 2 million homeschooled children in the United States during the 2003-2004 school year, and the educators in those homes have a consistent need for trusted, high-quality and easily accessible materials covering a broad array of grade levels and subjects.
PBS TeacherSource (pbs.org/teachersource) extends the educational value of PBS' award-winning television programming by helping educators learn effective ways to incorporate digital media into instruction. TeacherSource includes more than 4,500 free lesson plans and online activities - all correlated to more than 230 sets of national and state curriculum standards.
"Homeschoolers are a critical audience for PBS," said Mary Kadera, director, PBS TeacherSource, "and based on e-mails and other feedback PBS and our local stations have received, they want to know the best ways to incorporate PBS educational resources into their lessons. Homeschooling Parent magazine - one of the most visible and widely-used publications in this market - is a great venue for us to provide information about PBS on-air and online content to homeschoolers across the country."
Cyndi Simmons, Editor-In-Chief of Homeschooling Parent said, "Homeschooling parents must under-gird the costs of teaching tools and curriculum from their own pocketbooks; unlike their public-schooled counterparts, there is no tax infusion for the enormous costs associated with teaching children in a home-classroom setting. In the spirit of providing broad educational programming and resources, Homeschooling Parent is privileged to be the conduit for PBS to educate the homeschooling community on how to utilize PBS' vast database of free lesson plans and help PBS in its mission to reach all of America's students."
About Homeschooling Parent Magazine
Homeschooling Parent is a bi-monthly magazine that focuses on stories of interest to homeschooling families, products that can be used in the home-classroom and ideas that assist parents in teaching their children at home. Launched in 2000, Homeschooling Parent is the largest circulated homeschooling magazine in the nation. For more information on Homeschooling Parent, visit www.homeschoolingparent.com.
About PBS
PBS is a private, nonprofit media enterprise that serves the nation's 349 public noncommercial television stations, reaching nearly 90 million people each week. Bringing diverse viewpoints to television and the Internet, PBS provides high-quality documentary and dramatic entertainment, and consistently dominates the most prestigious award competitions. PBS is the leading provider of educational materials for K-12 teachers, and offers a broad array of educational services for adult learners. PBS' premier kids' TV programming and Web site, PBS KIDS Online (pbskids.org), continue to be parents' and teachers' most trusted learning environments for children. More information about PBS is available at pbs.org, the leading dot-org Web site on the Internet. PBS is headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia.
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CONTACT:
Kevin Dando, PBS
703.739.5073
Cyndi Simmons, Homeschooling Parent Magazine
936.756.2226
csimmons@homeschoolingparent.com