Thoughts About Starting a Stamp Club: Part 2

Where should I meet? It always best to meet at a neutral location such as a community center, library, recreation room, church area, etc. The only folks that seem to handle stamp clubs from the home is the homeschool people. Perhaps they have more practice with home events than most, but I highly recommend for most to meet somewhere more public.

Should I name my club? You can but it is not necessary or important unless the club is geared to a certain facet of stamp collecting like airmail or Spain, etc.

Do I need to be an expert on stamps? No. We can provide a great deal of information to help prepare a stamp club teacher or director. You simply need a monthly agenda. "Ok, class, this month we will examine the stamps of Italy and England.

What should my lesson plan or agenda look like? That is up to you. One important tip: teach to your supplies. You don't want to announce a month of stamps that have flowers on them and have few or no stamps with flowers. Choosing topical subjects can be limiting and sometimes self-defeating since it traps you into an area you might not be able to provide for the class. Review your supplies and build a lesson plan on what you have and not what you dream to have.

What should my class size be? I am not interested in limiting anyone from anything related to stamp collecting but sadly the smaller the class size the easier it is to maintain. Usually less than a dozen is best---not just for supply reasons but for time constraints. There will be lots of questions. You need the time to answer them.

The Teaching Environment: Clubs and Classrooms

The teaching environment for stamp collecting is by default a mentorship program. Meaning parents are a secondary support system. The true measure of success for stamp students solely rests with mentors insuring follow-up support from parents and stamp-peers. The basic definition of support from parents is positive encouragement and the procurement of necessary supplies to continue the hobby. The bonding of stamp-peers is also a valuable tool to assist the collector in approaching stamps in an non-academic setting. The trading of both stamps and ideas is a natural development of peer-bonding and becomes a prime catalyst to full engagement for stamp student to graduate to stamp collector.

Clubs and Classrooms are the best and most likely locations for the teaching environment of stamp collecting. Yet these traditional settings actually hold different approaches to how stamp collecting is presented to a student body. Take notice of the following:

Classrooms: Due to the academic setting of a school atmosphere--the mentor is a licensed teacher and will likely tailor their stamp teaching to topics, subjects, events, geographical locations, cultures, etc. that might be elements of normal classroom instruction or discussion. The good example would be a history teacher rolling out stamps that contain famous historical figures or battles or locations that he/her can expound upon in greater detail.

Clubs: Clubs are normally based out of libraries, community centers and churches and are either free-form and can simply focus on stamp collecting in the most basic manner: how to find stamps, how to mount stamps, how to id stamps, etc., or completely theme-oriented on one country such as Italy or topical like stamps with airplanes, birds, cars, etc. The club setting permits more time for students than a classroom, but this isn't always an advantage over classrooms since clubs tend to have more experienced participants who often add to the instruction.

Kids Need Stamps stand ready to help teachers and mentors, clubs and classrooms with stamps for every interested student. The informational segment attachments are an excellent resource to guide students in understanding the vast world releasing stamps to preserve their art, heroes, culture, religion and even athletic achievments. While the core ambition of Kids Need Stamps is to be clearinghouse of cost-free assistance to further one-on-one stamp instruction between parent and child--we recognize this ideal is always possible and wish to lend a caring hand to stamp teaching mentors from every walk of life.