Education Service Takes Hurricane Katrina to School
by Jim Brown
September 20, 2005
(AgapePress) - A nonprofit group that provides curriculum and supplies to home-school families is helping young people better understand the science and geography of Hurricane Katrina. Moved by news accounts of Hurricane Katrina, Maryland-based Calvert School Education Services set out to help teachers and families discuss with students the images coming from the Gulf Coast. The school is now offering free lessons that can help adults explain to children the science behind the storm.
Mike Wilmeth, head of Calvert School's Katrina Relief Committee, says the lessons teach about the power of hurricanes and how storm surges occur. He says kids will learn about how Katrina "gained strength, how she moved through the United States, and also, kind of a unique geography of New Orleans."
Wilmeth says the school's Katrina lessons are unique because most organizations are helping students cope with natural disasters only from a psychological standpoint. He feels it is helpful to students to understand why this hurricane was so exceptional.
The head of Calvert School's relief committee contends that youngsters will be less anxious if they learn "what made this kind of an extraordinary event -- so children would understand that, while this was something that was affecting a great number of people, it wouldn't necessarily happen in their neighborhood next time a thunderstorm came through."
The lessons have been well received, Wilmeth says. "Parents have been very grateful about the lessons, and the response has been somewhat overwhelming -- just the gratitude of parents and teachers, saying this is exactly what we've been looking for," he explains. "It's kind of a way to talk to our kids about this that isn't quite so scary. It doesn't deal with the personal devastation necessarily."
The Katrina lessons are available on the Calvert School website.
Jim Brown, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
