Woogi World?

This is a game/site/virtual world that helps teach kids about how to be good people by using virtual gaming. I'm not endorsing it - just suggesting that it might bear some closer scrutiny.

According to the the blog entry (linked below):

http://www.woogiworld.com is the ONLY children’s virtual world that is benefiting society!

1. WW promotes BALANCE by bringing elementary children online to learn, and motivates them (through points and prizes), to apply their learning through offline experiences.
2. WW games, activities and adventures teach and promote positive behavior and character development.
3. WW actively promotes selfless serving as it discourages materialism, greed, and hoarding.
4. WW teaches the “Power of One” as it motivates and rewards families to get involved in charitable organizations.
   
5. WW promotes, teaches and rewards healthy, active living—physical, mental and emotional fitness.
6. WW’s full program is free to all children.
7. NO Fortune 500 corporation owns or controls CW, so we maintain complete autonomy over WW.
8. WW’s sponsorship model allows corporate America to actively participate in the process of teaching leadership, integrity, critical thinking and community participation.
9. WW is endorsed by lawmakers, government and private organizations.
10. WW is distributed to, and nationally endorsed by elementary schools.
11. WW games, activities, and adventures are critically-thinking couched, thus assisting elementary schools and staff to meet national NCLB (No Child Left Behind) mandates.
12. WW is committed to providing a meaningful environment where children and their families continually learn how unique and important they and their contributions truly are.

Caveat: I've only glanced through the site. Anyway, read the whole blog entry, and then check out the Woogi World for your kids, to see if you think it's worth considering. If anyone knows more about it, I'd love some feedback (polite, of course).

World Connections Fair - anyone up for getting it going again?

I found this page from 1993, about a World Connections Fair, and it had a lot of interesting ideas for kids. It appears to be defunct, as I couldn't find any web pages devoted to something like it (though I admit to not looking very hard).

The World Connections Fair is an annual creative problem solving program designed to encourage youth, ages 10 to 15, to be actively involved in making the world a better place.

Program Goals
=============

• To encourage and empower youth to really have an impact in making this world a better place.
• To promote greater understanding and acceptance between the world's diverse cultures.
• To promote creative solutions to the world's problems.
• To promote cooperative creative problem solving and teamwork.
• To promote computer literacy and the knowledge and use of multimedia technology.

Anyway, there's lots more detail in the original message, so if this sounds interesting, go take a look: World Connections Fair.

And if I was mistaken about it being defunct, I humbly apologize. Please feel free to post a comment with the correct info.

The kids' opinions

I asked my kids what they thought we should do to make the world a better place, and here's what they had to say:

Garrett (age 14): "Stop fighting wars."

and

Kivi: (age 6): "Clean the air, pick up the ground, and plant flowers to make things look pretty."

Sounds good to me.

Courage

I just bought a book for my six-year-old daughter. Couragewritten and illustrated by Bernard Waber. It's a cute book that starts (and ends) like this:

There are many kinds of courage. Awesome kinds. And everyday kinds. Still, courage is courage -- whatever kind . . . . Courage is what we give to each other.

This is a great book to get little kids thinking about what it means to be courageous, finding the will to do scary or risky things. Like standing up for the kid being picked on, instead of safely remaining a bystander. Like standing up for yourself when you are the one being bullied. Maybe if more kids are raised with these ideas, then those of us who are scared to try something for fear of failure (yes, I'm speaking of myself) might be better prepared to... just do it.