Media

The kids have been asking to start a YouTube channel. The boys wanted to start fires and blow things up. The girls ideas were more amicable, they wanted to do nails and make up. I told the boys, ‘No, neither one of you will have hands by the end of the week. Besides, I don’t know how to do any of that.’ I don’t know anything about nails and make up, so I poo-pooed the girls ideas.

Over the next few weeks, I started paying attention to the stuff they watch on the internet. A lot of it is drivel, silly, and pointless. Some of these channels have tons of views. I started thinking, ‘Why not try and make something that would benefit them long term’.

They like watching people try weird food. I had a camera and I found out that Hit Film Express had a free version of their video editing program. So, I told them we could try doing a few videos of us trying foods. I found a can of boiled peanuts and brought it home. We filmed out first video that week end.

Later Katie wanted to make a cooking video. I promised her I would help her make a video if the memorized a recipe. We had an easy recipe that we use quite frequently. She memorized it and so I held up my end of the deal and filmed her making bread.

The Covid-19 virus started to slow things down a bit and school was changed to internet and packets that the kids would complete at home. As I looked through the packages I thought they were pretty simple. I concocted an idea to help them with their written and oral communication skills. I told them I would pay them for making a video and doing a short write up about what they did.

Now, I’m neck deep at night and on the weekends figuring out how to edit videos, learning how YouTube works, and figuring out how to keep a blog.