Elementary students tell dreams in published book
May 3—ASHLAND — Nearly two dozen homeschooled children of Greenup County partnered to publish their first book at a young age.
Twenty students between ages 5 and 10 of Greenup County Homeschool Co-op were handed certificates, walked down a red carpet and were recognized Friday for their drawings in the book entitled "The Crayon Box Collective: Our World, Our Words."
Rachel Workman, leader of the co-op group, said the process began in February 2023 with social networking on Facebook when she came across a publishing company, Student Treasures.
"I saw this opportunity with this company to do a book and I thought, this would be a really cool thing for them to get to do," she said. "Maybe eventually one of them will go on to write a book to become an author.
"I have been really excited," she added. "I had this book sitting in a box for about two to three weeks in my home and nobody has seen it until now."
The book depicts individual short stories ranging from a theme of sports to food to animals. Each student was allowed to illustrate one page in the book where they had the chance to tell any story they wanted.
Holden, an aspiring football player, fan of the Bengals and student in Workman's class, designed his story on him winning the Super Bowl with a long touchdown catch.
"It was Super Bowl night," Holden said. "The score was tied 12-12 with five seconds left. The quarterback looked around for somebody open. He found that I was open and threw a long pass to me. The crowd roared as I caught the ball for a touchdown! After that our whole team did the Griddy dance," he wrote on his page in the book.
Another student near him was Callie Kerns, who dedicated her page to a colorful unicorn named "Cupcake" telling a story about a wish come true.
"On my 6th birthday I wished for a unicorn. I waited until my wish came true. One day I woke up to a pile of glitter that led me to my living room. I followed the trail, and it brought me to a unicorn. I named my unicorn Cupcake and she is beautiful. I wish everyone could have a pet unicorn," she wrote on her page in the book.
She said she enjoyed the time spent on the project with her classmates.
Though some learned through trial and error, none of them gave up and were ecstatic about having a part in the book, Workman said.
"When I started this group a little over a year ago, I never dreamed of having such a wonderful group of kids and parents," Workman said in the book. "Over the last several months we have all gotten to know one another as we've learned and played and became friends."
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