Need Ideas For Teaching Stamp Class

I recently offered to teach a 10 week class on stamp collecting to a group of homeschoolers.
The kids will range in age from 7 to 17 and the classes will be 45 minutes long.

I have to come up with a syllabus to present to the home-school board.
My basic plan for each class is to spend about
30 minutes teaching an aspect of the hobby and the
other 15 minutes would be a fun activity. I have several
stamp games I have made that will be used for this part.
The kids will also receive lots of stamps.

Now I just need to come up with 10 lessons.
I was thinking the first class should be an overview of
the hobby and would focus on tools of the trade and
how to use them. This would include tongs,
hinges, stock pages, etc.

The second class would be on soaking,
which kids seem to love.

The third class would focus on terms- mint, used,
cinderellas, commemoratives, etc. I have a stamp
dictionary I have been working on that has
examples of all of these.

The fourth class might be on using a stamp identifier.

That is as far as I have gotten. Do you have any suggestions???

My main goal is to make this fun and maintain
their interest. I am hoping they get bit by
the the stamp collecting bug and will join
the stamp club in our town.

This is a great undertaking, spanishmoss! A topic dear to my heart is researching to various degrees some of the covers I get. As an example, you can read my discussion about a recent find at https://goscf.com/f/24.

dead countries, overrun countries, older kids can see types of paper, types of printing, make games with color identification, stamp shapes, inflation stamps from germany are always a looker, topical ideas, making your own stock book or stamp album. Just a couple of ideas. - jeff (Rod says don't forget the cinderellas)

Get a map of the world (or perhaps just the USA) and have them put the stamps with the correct countries or states. Maybe not too many countries as too many could be overwhelming.

Or a timeline of history (a simple one) from the first stamp through the years showing either history or perhaps design and colouring. Engraving and non-engraving. Things simple to see.

Flags could be another perhaps.

Topics of stamps like animals or maps or flowers or ships and sticking them on a map so they know where they come from yourself.

Cancels (my favorite but perhaps too involved for some), different types (RPO, Marine (paquebot), telegraph, Military, shapes of cancels, round (circular, corrugated circle (France) hexagonal (France, Spain, Portugal special delivery or marine or just towns., barrel cancels, target cancels, fancy cork cancels, bridge cancels, barred, numeral, etc. Small and large. Just the variety would spark interest. Special cancels for events or occasions.

Types of stamps like coils, booklet, souvenir sheets, airmail, special delivery,

How the mail is transported over the years from the Pony Express to railroads and airplanes to rocket mail and pneumatic to burros down the Grand Canyon and bicycle and balloon.

Why is it called a stamp, or a cancel, or a cover, or a postcard or mailing or the mails.

Why I type so much. That's a whole separate course for bonus credit. lol

And of course a website or two where they (being the connected generation) could access more information (www.stampcommunity.org) !

How to look something up in a Scott catalogue. (They can all access them for free at the library, so it is nice to show them how to do it.)

Actual examples of defects...thins, scrapes, pulled perfs, etc. I have some carded up and labeled on 102 cards for just such a purpose.

How to hinge (or how to cut mounts).

How to use a perf gauge.

How to check watermarks, maybe?

Topical collecting.

Famous events or people.

Clubs, shows, websites, etc. (Lists of them and/or what to expect with each.)

I think topicals are a good idea too. Perhaps for a final assignment have them choose a topic and they can put together a page or two presentation. Research the topics, design the page etc.

Here are several sites to get ideas from:
http://www.overlandtrailscouncil.or...LLECTING.pdf

https://facultystaff.richmond.edu/~...hrhu/stamps/

Unitrade has wonderful explanations of:
Stamps on Cover, FDCs, Condition Grading (extremely fine, very fine, fine for both MNH and very good, very fine and fine for used), Cancellations (slogan, POCON, ink jet, SOTN, CDS), Constant Plate Varieties, EFOs and Re-entries, Stamp Formats (sheets, panes, plate numbers, inscription blocks, coils, miniature panes, booklets, se-tenant, tete-beche), Perforations (imperforate, blind, line, comb, harrow, rouletting), Die Cutting, Gums (self adhesive,P.V.A), Tagging, Paper (wet, dry, fluorescence, types, manufacturers), Precancels, Philatelic Terms, Canadian Postal Rates (since inception to current).

Don't forget Cinderellas & Local Posts(could be a good History lesson!). Then of course you have My personal Favorites Revenues and Tax Paids

ncbuckeye--- thank you for suggesting FDC. That would make a great lesson. They would have a lot of fun designing their own. Thank you also for the merit badge link. I am always looking for ideas for the scouts since I am a merit badge counselor, too. I love the workbook idea for the requirements. If I had unlimited funds, I would come up with my own.

Thank you to everyone else for the suggestions.
I love the idea of teaching them to use the catolog to look up stamps, learning about cancels, and stamp grading. Another idea that would work well with kids is the history of the mail. Types of collections (topical, world, etc.) and types of stamps are also good ideas.






jhlovell, I'm afraid these are subjects beyond my knowledge. Would you like to be a guest speaker sometime. Also, please tell Ron I won't forget the cinderellas.



Blackjag, this is also something I know nothing about. Maybe you could also come teach a class!




Puzzler, this is one of the games I have for them to play.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!! You all are the best!
I am off to work on the syllabus.

Yet another topic I need to learn more about. Too bad we can't have a SCF night school for stamp dummies like myself.

This is why I teach kids and not adults. hehehehehe

spanishmoss,

Why not guest speakers? Another suggestion would to have a guest speakers from SCF using NetMeeting, Messager, Chalk Board or something along those lines. I suspect that within the SCF family you could have a 15 min demostration of anothers speciality or collecting interest. No, I am not volunteering just suggesting.

Art

1)Famous people and events has been suggested; but what about famous stamps? Of course the Penny black comes to mind but others like the most expensive (the story behind the Treskilling Yellow I always find fascinating and should appeal as it was found by a boy going through his grandma's stuff) the notorious forgereries, the famous errors (eg inverted jenny) etc. and tie it to the pitfalls in investing in stamps without proper authentication etc.

2) The class could design a stamp (or you could run a design competition and then use the winner) and then you could order copies from one of the many companies that produce made-to-order stamps (I am sure the parents would get involved and they could use them for postage once approved)

alex

Art, I will have to look into the NetMeeting idea. I would have to figure out how to hook everything up. I'm not very computer savvy.

Perf, I love your idea of having stamps made. I was actually thinking about having some made to use as rewards for our stamp club. Do you know any companies that make the "lick and stick" variety? I know about the computer-generated ones, but would prefer something a bit more old-fashioned. Plus, how many kids now-a-days have ever licked a stamp!

Thanks, guys!

Hi Spanishmoss,

For your third class where you introduce all the terms....
How about making up a crossword puzzle or wordsearch with all the new terms?

Dave N.
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Hey Spanishmoss

WTG

In addition to the ins and outs ogf stamps as a hobby link some of the lessons into "normal" education subjects (Geography, History, Literature, Mathematics etc) and dont forget the Internet

Good luck with the endeavour and am happy to help in any small way that I can